Overview

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

This course critically examines organizations in which educational leaders work from different theoretical perspectives and in light of research evidence. It also critiques several past and current reform initiatives, and explores specific topics in-depth. A central and pervasive question of the course concerns organizational purposes, especially with respect to learning, and how these purposes are served by organizational structures and processes.

COURSE DETAILS:

Meeting Dates:

January 8^th, January 15^th, January 22^nd, January 29^th

February 5^th, February 12^th, February 26th (no class during reading break)

March 5^th, March 12^th, March 19^th, March 26^th

April 2^nd, April 9^th

Meeting Times: 

Thursdays, 5:30 – 8:30 pm

Additional Details:

In this course, students will use organizational theory to understand how educational organizations work, change, and adapt to the current challenges. It explores how people, policies, and power relations shape institutional behaviour and decision-making. Students will examine organizations’ purpose and goals, governance structure, culture, power, and politics using different conceptual frameworks. These frameworks include functional frameworks to critical theories such as intersectionality, race theory, and decolonial theories. A central goal for students is to apply these frameworks in postsecondary settings, to examine how missions, cultures, leadership, and external forces (e.g.,    government policy, funding, etc.) influence what institutions do and how they change. Students will apply these frameworks to everyday examples to interrogate whether educational organizations are advancing social justice, equity, and Indigeneization.

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

• Apply organizational theories—from structural and functional approaches to critical, intersectional, and decolonial frameworks—to analyze how educational organizations operate, change, and adapt within postsecondary contexts.
• Examine how people, policies, and power relations shape institutional behaviour, governance, and decision-making across different levels of the organization.
• Critically evaluate how institutional missions, leadership practices, and cultures advance or hinder equity, social justice, Indigeneization, and sustainability goals.
• Interpret the relationship between organizational structures and broader contexts, including government policy, funding systems, and socio-political environments influencing higher education.
• Synthesize theoretical and practical insights through organizational analysis and self-reflection, connecting personal and professional experiences to the study of organizational life in education.

Grading

Materials

REQUIRED READING:

REQUIRED READING NOTES: