Hi,

welcome to course ELSS340 Implementing Pedagogical Leadership!

This course is a joint project by Doctoral Student Meng Tian, students in the 2012-2014 cohort of our Master's Degree Programme, myself and YOU.

My name is Mika Risku and I work as a director of the Institute of Educational Leadership and as a project researcher conducting a research programme for the Finnish Ministry of education and Culture on educational leadership in the provision of general education in Finnish municipalities. I have been involved with our institute form its very beginning in 1996. I have piloted all the programmes we have had and I have been part of the development and teaching group from the start, too. My working experience in school life consists of 15 years as a secondary school school principal and as a teacher of English and Swedish in secondary and community college education for 10 years.

Meng Tian´s doctoral studies are focusing on comparing distributed leadership in Chinese and Finnish schools. Being a student as well as an employee at the Institute of Educational Leadership, she has a profound familiarity in the Institute´s learning philosophy and courses. She has translated both research and educational materials to Chinese including research papers, presentations, and virtual MEd courses in educational leadership and management. In addition, she is involved in the Institute´s reasearch projects and teaching.

The course ELSS340 Implementing Pedagogical Leadership you are going to study is aimed at giving you the basics of pedagogical leadership. The MEd course you are studying was realised with the students in the 2012-2014 cohort of our Master's Degree Programme in the autumn term of 2012. I hope that you can dive into the athmosphere we had with the wondersful student group and enjoy the lively dialogues we had during the campus course. If you feel like studying as one of the students in the campus cohort we have succeeded. If you feel like not getting the opportunity to express your opinion do not worry. Both the students and the teacher had the same problem from time to time during the campus course because the dialogue could really get intense, Your virtual cohort and the virtual platform are to serve you so that you can reflect on your thinking and get feedback for it.

The way we understand for example pedagogical and shared leadership evolves the whole time so the theory you are advised to study and the scopes you are given for your assignments also evolve the whole time. So, that is something that is updated again and again. And, when you and I are at the end of the present course we will both think a little differently. That is how our thinking and theories develop. At this point, there is one thing I would like your to dedicate special consideration to.

We live in a Newtonian world where everything is interconnected, ambiguous and unclear, and changes the whole time. Pedagogic leadership is definitely an central part of the core mission of the school i.e. learning. But, in today's context pedagogical leadership is also part of the leadership of every organisations. Organisations need to be able to learn to survive in the present and future worlds. So, pedagogical leadership is an essential part of change leadership.

I hope you will enjoy the course and benefit from your experiences during the course!

Mika Risku