Teaching Leadership Through the Lens of Gender as a Practice of Transformative Learning

Abstract

Leadership education is undergoing a paradigm shift to redevelop and redefine leadership utilizing theoretical lenses as tools to examine and critique traditional, hegemonic narratives. Through an instrumental case analysis of a gender and leadership course, this study examined the phenomenon of transformative learning by teaching leadership through the lens of gender within an environment of critical feminist/engaged pedagogy. Findings include the importance of the learning environment in building affective and cognitive frames for scaffolding student learning, the relevance of engagement in vulnerable storytelling as a peer-to-peer learning device, and the need for strong preparation as a facilitator of the engaged learning environment. We call on higher education educators to transform their learning practice and consider gender theory and critical feminist-engaged pedagogy as tools to facilitate a new learning perspective.