The Educational Leadership (EL) stream at the University of British Columbia was established in 2012 following agreement in Collective Bargaining in 2010. The shared aims were to build capacity for UBC to excel in the delivery of its educational mandate and to enhance the career progression for faculty who were Instructors / Senior Instructors. Establishing the new rank of Professor of Teaching served to recognize and promote teaching excellence parallel to research excellence, an approach that broke new ground in Canadian higher education at the time. The creation of the EL stream also introduced revised expectations for instructors and senior instructors in terms of engaging in educational leadership activities.
EL@10: An impact evaluation of 10 years of the Educational Leadership stream at UBC
The Educational Leadership Faculty Stream 10-year review project (EL@10), started in 2023, aimed to evaluate the impact of the introduction of this stream, identifying and highlighting successes over this period and highlighting future opportunities to support UBC's strategic goals.
The study, led by Dr. Simon Bates, was co-authored by Debbie Hart, Antonia Tykei and Glory Apantaku.
This work used a mixed-methods design conducted in four overlapping phases, between Oct 2022 and April 2024. Our methodology involved collection and analysis of quantitative data on faculty demographics and appointment timelines, alongside quantitative and qualitative insights through structured interviews with current and former academic leaders (N=24), faculty surveys (N~500), and focus group discussions (N~100). The research engaged a wide group of stakeholders, including current and past leaders who played pivotal roles in implementing the EL stream, and faculty in all roles and streams, in order to capture a comprehensive view of impact and areas for future improvement.
The EL stream saw significant growth in faculty appointments over the last decade, from around 200 in 2012 to nearly 350 in 2023. Most of the growth occurred in Faculties with low numbers of EL faculty in 2012, representing a diversification of roles within Faculties and units. A majority of EL faculty identify as female (58%), and this proportion is substantially greater than in the research stream (41%).
The evaluation of perspectives from the stakeholders consulted through the various methods used in this work highlighted that the EL stream has positively influenced teaching quality, curriculum innovation, and the broader student experience. Faculty feedback consistently supported the view that EL roles contributed significantly to educational enhancement at UBC. Despite this positive impact, there remains a perception of disparity in the esteem and value accorded to EL roles compared to research roles. This perception aligns with findings from similar studies in other academic contexts, suggesting a need for ongoing efforts to elevate the recognition of teaching-focused roles in academia.
Our study sets forth 10 recommendations for the future in five thematic areas: enhancing recognition of educational excellence, ensuring adequate representation, increasing clarity in career progression requirements, ensuring equitable workloads, and improving support systems for EL faculty. Progress towards these recommendations will begin with the construction of an Action Plan, to ensure that the EL stream remains a vibrant and integral part of UBC’s academic landscape, and will support the institution realizing its current and future strategic goals.
Full report
This document is the full public version of the final report for this work. It comprises a quantitative analysis of the growth in EL positions over time, together with a synthesis of quantitative and qualitative data from leadership interviews, faculty survey and focus groups.
Abridged report
This document is the abridged version of the final public report for this work. It contains all sections from the full report, but contains only a subset of quotes from interviews, surveys and focus groups used in the full report. It also omits Appendices, which are available as a separate document.
Short report
This document is the shortened version of the final public report for this work. It contains the summary, background, methodology, EL snapshot data, and synthesis and recommendation sections from the full report. For brevity, it omits qualitative and quantitative analysis of the interview, survey and focus group data, as well as the Appendices, which are available as a separate document.
Appendices
This document contains the Appendices removed from the Short and Abridged versions of this work.
For any questions on this project, please contact:
Debbie Hart, Senior Manager Strategic Projects, Office of the Provost and Vice-President Academic, or
Dr. Simon P Bates, Vice-Provost and Associate Vice-President, Teaching and Learning