Leading program curriculum reform
Reflections on challenges and successes
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21600906 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Helen Yang (0000-0003-1130-6825, La Trobe University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 33 |
| Issue | 5 |
| Pages | 852-870 |
| Publication date | 2025-10-20 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Educational Action Research (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0965-0792 • E-ISSN: 1747-5074 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/09650792.2024.2385410 |
| OpenAlex | W4401113120 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 27 |
Major curriculum review and redesign at the higher education level demand transformative academic leadership and significant time commitment. However, the traditional university culture characterised by change aversion, complex bureaucratic processes, and a research dominated academic workload allocation and promotion system poses significant obstacles to teaching quality enhancement. This article presents the critical reflections of a Program Director (academic middle leader) at an Australian university on the challenges and successes experienced while leading a major accounting curriculum reform project. Conducted between October 2019 and May 2021, this project encountered constant disruptions due to the Global Covid-19 pandemic, organisational restructuring, the new external professional accreditaiton requirements. Academic middle leader’s insights on the positive impacts and obstacles of major curriculum reform at the whole of a program level within a constantly evolving institutional environment provide valuable perspectives for both business education practice and policy reforms. The reflection has policy implications for university management to reassess strategic priorities with more balanced support for teaching and research in practice
Action research · Curriculum · Curriculum development · Engineering ethics · Mathematics education · Pedagogy · Political science · Program evaluation · Sociology · Adult and Continuing Education Topics · Education Systems and Policy · Engineering · Higher Education Learning Practices · Psychology · Public Administration
Communities of Practice and Social Learning Systems
Understanding Transformation Theory
Positionality and reflexivity
A scoping review of action research in higher education
Reflection as pedagogy in action research
Action learning
Enabling leadership capacity for higher education scholarship in learning and teaching (Sotl) through action research
Redesigning curriculum at the higher education level
Adaptive leadership during challenging times
Action Research
Using Assessment for Learning and Learning from Assessment
Academic middle leaders, middle leading and middle leadership of university learning and teaching
Resilience of higher education academics in the time of 21 st century pandemics
University curriculum development – stuck in a process and how to break free
Business education in Australia
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 3 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |