What is it?
At UBC, educational leadership is about creating meaningful impacts on teaching and learning—not just within classrooms, but across programs, departments, and the broader higher education community. Educational leadership initiatives enhance learning experiences, drive innovation, and reaffirm teaching as a scholarly, research-informed, and collaborative pursuit central to UBC’s mission.
For faculty in the Educational Leadership stream, this work is formalized within their roles, focusing on teaching excellence, curriculum design, and systemic educational improvement. However, educational leadership is not confined to specific appointments. Faculty in any stream can engage in educational leadership by mentoring colleagues, contributing to curriculum development, or sharing innovative teaching practices. Such contributions benefit the entire university community and its learners.
By recognizing and valuing educational leadership, UBC demonstrates its commitment to teaching as a central and scholarly endeavour. Regardless of their role, instructors participating in educational leadership can enrich their teaching practice and enhance the learning experiences of UBC students.
Considerations
Educational leadership at UBC offers meaningful ways to shape student learning and contribute to university-wide priorities.
Many faculty members in the Educational Leadership stream manage a mix of teaching, service, and leadership responsibilities that can be both energizing and demanding. Although there is growing recognition of educational leadership contributions across UBC, the clarity and consistency of that recognition can differ by department. If you’re unsure how your efforts are valued or evaluated, it may be helpful to ask about local practices or invite conversations with a mentor or your department head.
For faculty members outside the Educational Leadership stream, it can take time to identify where educational leadership fits within the scope of their role. Some begin by mentoring a colleague or offering a guest workshop. Others might contribute to curriculum conversations or engage in a small teaching project. These contributions—large or small, formal or informal—can all be part of an educational leadership journey.
Innovating in teaching is often collaborative and rarely quick. It may involve working across units, navigating limited resources, or learning new institutional systems. Finding people who share your interests, or even asking one colleague how they got started can help make the work more sustainable.
Where to start
- Join the EL community: Connect with UBC’s Educational Leadership Network or similar groups within your faculty to share ideas, find mentorship, and access resources that support your development.
- Experiment: Consider what teaching and educational challenges you want to address and determine how you want to get involved. If you’re not sure where to direct your focus, experiment and start small before getting over-committed.
- Leverage UBC resources: The Educational Leadership stream was established in 2012, which means there now exists more awareness and understanding of educational leadership. Take advantage of that, as well as existing workshops, funding opportunities, and tools to enhance your work in this area.
- Document your contributions to educational leadership: Document your efforts, your learning, and your contributions to support your own career progression and to inspire others.
Go further
- The UBC Educational Leadership Network is a community of faculty members in the educational leadership stream at the University of British Columbia.
- The EL@10 project, launched in 2023, evaluated the impact of the Educational Leadership Faculty Stream, highlighting its successes and future opportunities to support UBC’s strategic goals.
- The Teaching and Learning Framework was created to help you document and track the tangible outputs and impacts from your teaching and educational leadership activities.
Faculty story
Jason Yeung, Assistant Professor of Teaching
Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences
“You’re engaging in educational leadership because you enjoy and see the rewards of teaching. However, at some point teaching may start feeling like work as you may start putting expectations on yourself, especially in your first couple years as you learn about yourself as a teacher and as your teaching philosophy matures.
My advice is to try to stay inspired and motivated as a teacher and not get jaded. I personally get inspiration by staying a learner myself and finding teachers who inspire me to remind myself the joy of learning. I am lucky to have a network of like-minded teachers and educators on campus (which I also recommend you find), however some of my biggest teaching inspiration are teachers and coaches outside the university walls in a non-academic setting for my other passions and hobbies. “
