A developmental pathway toward leadership for educational change: the Educators’ experiences of the educational scholar program

Abstract

Introduction The Educational Scholar Program (ESP) is a creative method to focus on the quality of education and the scholarship of education. This paper critically investigated how educational educators perceived the Educational Scholar Program. Method The ESP was developed according to the project-based learning method. An interdisciplinary strategy was used by participating educators from different schools, including nursing, medicine, public health, dentistry, and pharmacy. (n = 27). Semi-structured interviews explored the experiences of the participants in the ESP. A conventional content analysis approach introduced by Graneheim and Lundman was used for data analysis. Results A theme of “a developmental pathway toward leadership for educational change” was explored into four categories: “Motivated for educational change,” “collaborative learning through the application of knowledge,” “tensions of change agent,” and “a perceived responsibility of a change agent.” Conclusion The participants perceived the ESP as a platform for improving leadership capabilities for educational change through the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). Using the ESP as a faculty development program to train educational leadership for change is suggested.