In this conceptual article the authors outline an approach to leadership in higher education that foregrounds attention to wholeness and wellbeing, framing emotion as inherent to the practice of leadership, with all organizing actions inseparable from and influenced by emotion. The article is framed within findings from their research on wellbeing in schools and positive organizational scholarship that intentionally foregrounds virtues and positive human capacities as essential and vital to thriving for individuals and groups in organizations. The authors reflect on the benefits and potentials of re-orienting leadership toward the more life-giving qualities of work in higher education, and suggest that this generative reflection may serve to counter the predominant stances of competition and scarcity-mindsets that seem to pervade academia. This positive organizational stance toward leadership in higher education is timely given the increasing focus on encouraging wellbeing among administrators at all levels of the education system.

Purpose: This paper documents findings from a qualitative research project on flourishing in schools using a positive organizational research approach. The purpose of this paper is to uncover and bring to description educators’ experiences of the conditions, forces and influencing factors for flourishing in their context. The main objectives were to inform research and practice in school improvement from a positive perspective, provide knowledge and practice about noticing and growing well-being for educators and to encourage an attention on individual and collective well-being as an organizational imperative. Design/methodology/approach: To gain a rich description of what it means for educators to feel a sense of flourishing in their work, the researchers used qualitative, case study methods and appreciative research activities. For the case study reported on in this paper, data were collected through open-ended, appreciative, focus group conversations and researcher observations in the participants’ classrooms. Conversations were recorded and transcribed. The researchers analyzed the transcripts using an iterative process of coding, categorizing and abstracting data. Findings: Participants grew their adaptive communities through balancing structures (collaboration, purpose, administrator support) with flexibilities (synergy, creativity, tinkering, friendships) for adaptation and co-creation. Well-being was connected with feeling collegial support, care, shared meaning and engagement and where positive relationships were central in their work. These relational conditions seemed to contribute to building a social container that promoted flourishing. This led to innovation as teachers worked together in ways that promoted their learning and growth as a group, and increased their sense of vitality in their work. The researchers found that the principal plays a vital role in fostering, encouraging and sustaining conditions for teachers to cultivate adaptive community. Research limitations/implications: While small in scale and not generalizable across contexts, this research offers particular examples of what is working well for these teachers. Insights from these examples are intended to be generative, potentially resonating with and inspiring others to examine the possible benefits and potentials that may come from a positive approach to research and practice in school improvement in their own contexts. Engaging in positive organizational research in schools led to new insights on the work of teaching, learning and leading in schools. The researchers suggest that this positive, appreciative and generative perspective offers potentials and benefits for new understandings on school improvement. Practical implications: The findings from this case study indicate that more attention is needed to supporting educators to cultivate the conditions necessary to experience rich and meaningful relationships within which they will thrive, grow and innovate in their teaching. At a system level, the authors argue for a re-orientation of schools toward well-being and a more holistic and human-development perspective on schooling. Social implications: Currently and internationally, schooling is under re-design as the authors learn more about the need to organize the schools in ways that encourage the kinds of teaching and learning necessary to prepare young people for an increasingly unpredictable future. The findings from this study highlight the importance of attending to teacher well-being as a fundamental aspect of encouraging the kind of teaching needed for the kinds of learning desired in schools across all contexts. Originality/value: This case study provides the findings that illustrate the potential and benefits of research on school organizations from a positive organizational perspective. Additionally, this study is a reminder of the systemic nature of all living systems, such as schools, and the associated need to ensure well-being for all members of the learning community.

Schools do not always reflect the diverse cultural reality of our global societies. Educational leadership is an essential component of establishing school culture. Ensuring school leaders reflect deeply on the issues of diversity, multiculturalism and how leadership plays a role in constructing cultures that inhibit or promote inclusion as a way of life is an essential component of creating sustainable changes in our schools. However, leadership is no longer the sole purview of the principal or vice-principal. This article provides new lenses for viewing the notion of educational leadership and argues that creating conditions for increased leadership capacity among teachers in a learning community is an essential component of developing learning cultures where issues of diversity, multiculturalism, sustainability, and inclusion are explored and addressed.

This paper documents the first year of a qualitative case study investigating the experiences of reciprocal learning teams of teachers within a small, rural secondary school. The purpose of this study was to examine how teachers experienced collaborative professional development (PD) and how their experiences contributed to developing the culture and structure of their school. Collected data were analyzed using an iterative process of coding, categorizing, and abstracting data. Three themes emerged: (a) self- and co-regulated learning in teams invigorated collegial relationships and contributed to a sense of agency toward change at the school level; (b) differentiating support for collaborative inquiry among teachers and within teams is critical; and (c) creating structures to support collaborative inquiry among teachers engages teachers in their ongoing professional learning. This case study of a rural secondary school demonstrates how deep and substantial school change can happen when teachers co-construct and co-regulate their PD.

In this chapter, we advocate for centering teacher and leadership education on human flourishing, emphasizing positive emotions, engagement, and meaningful relationships as essential to professional formation. We critique the normalization of incivility in academic settings, often disguised as intellectual rigor, which erodes self-esteem, productivity, and collegiality and which worryingly instills cultures of incivility and bullying. We examine the neoliberal pressures shaping academia, where competition, performative culture, and metric-driven evaluation undermine faculty morale and student development. Through a vignette, the deep emotional toll of bullying and incivility is explored, illustrating how toxic environments leave lasting scars and hinder professional growth. While individual well-being practices are valuable, we argue that systemic change is necessary to address the broader toxic culture in educational institutions. We also advocate for teacher educators to be reflexive about the cultures we are both working within and creating. Future educators and leaders require environments that model caring, democratic cultures, and that integrate empathy, respect, and community over competitiveness and efficiency. Ultimately, we propose a cultural rewiring of higher education, fostering inclusivity and explicitly aligning academic structures with the core values of education beyond rhetoric to lived practice. By reclaiming human flourishing in teacher and leadership programs, we aim to inspire transformative change that sustains individuals and strengthens learning communities. <!----> <!----> <!----> <!---->