Short Version AAEL 2.1

Lese­zeit: 19 Minu­ten

AAEL – Ambidextrous Agile Educational Leadership.

A framework for the joint design of (higher) education in the post-digital age

Localisation and classification

AAEL ist eine spe­zi­fi­sche Auf­fas­sung und Pra­xis von Lea­der­ship im Bil­dungs­be­reich im Bezugs­rah­men von Agi­li­tät und Ambi­dex­trie, um unter dyna­mi­schen und mit­un­ter kri­sen­haf­ten Rah­men­be­din­gun­gen agil und sou­ve­rän hand­lungs­fä­hig zu blei­ben.

Das Rah­men­werk AAEL – Ambi­dex­trous Agi­le Edu­ca­tio­nal Lea­der­ship für die gemein­sa­me Gestal­tung von (Hochschul-)Bildung in der Post-Digi­ta­li­tät (kurz: AAEL-Rah­men) – bis­her benannt als Rah­men­werk Agi­le Edu­ca­tio­nal Lea­der­ship bzw. AEL-Rah­men 1.0 – ent­steht seit 2020 ite­ra­tiv und inkre­men­tell. Es wird bis auf Wei­te­res unter der bis­her bekann­ten URL https://ambidextrous-agile-educational-leadership.de frei und offen publi­ziert. Das trans­dis­zi­pli­nä­re Rah­men­werk AAEL ist dyna­misch zu ver­ste­hen und ent­wi­ckelt sich mit zuneh­men­der empi­ri­scher Fun­die­rung kon­ti­nu­ier­lich wei­ter zu einer nächs­ten, mit Blick auf die Pas­sung zum Anwen­dungs­kon­text (Hoch­schul-) Bil­dung, ver­bes­ser­ten Ver­si­on.

Der AAEL-Rah­men schließt an vor­an­ge­gan­ge­ne For­schungs­ar­bei­ten, Ent­wick­lungs­pro­jek­te und Trans­fer­ak­ti­vi­tä­ten von Prof. Dr. Kers­tin Mayr­ber­ger an. Ihm zugrun­de liegt dem­nach als Kon­text im wei­te­ren Sin­ne die Rol­le und Gestal­tung von Umge­bun­gen und Rah­men­be­din­gun­gen für ein par­ti­zi­pa­ti­ves, offe­nes sowie ver­netz­tes Ler­nen unter den Bedin­gun­gen der digi­ta­len Trans­for­ma­ti­on und in der Digi­ta­li­tät1. AAEL erwei­tert die­se Per­spek­ti­ve durch Adap­ti­on der Kon­zep­te von Agi­li­tät und Ambi­dex­trie auf den Bil­dungs­be­reich. Und bezieht sich expli­zit auf die Gestal­tung von (Hochschul-)Bildung als Umge­bung für Ler­nen und Bil­dung in der (Post-)Digitalität im wei­te­ren Sin­ne als Gan­zes, d.h. über alle Ebe­nen hin­weg als Zusam­men­spiel von Mikro‑, Meso- und Makro­ebe­ne.

Zur bes­se­ren Ver­ständ­lich­keit und Nach­voll­zieh­bar­keit wird das AAEL-Rah­men­werk an die­ser Stel­le als inte­grier­tes Gan­zes sei­ner wesent­li­chen Tei­le beschrie­ben und visua­li­siert. Die­ses Kapi­tel gibt also einen funk­tio­na­len Über­blick in Form einer eigen­stän­dig les­ba­ren Kurz­ver­si­on, die die wesent­li­chen theo­re­ti­schen wie hand­lungs­ori­en­tier­ten Ele­men­te des AAEL-Rah­mens in kom­pri­mier­ter Form beschreibt und argu­men­tiert. Auf die­se Wei­se soll hier sowohl ein ers­ter wie auch erleich­ter­ter Zugang zum AAEL-Rah­men­werk ermög­licht wer­den.

Der Fokus der Kurz­ver­si­on liegt also auf einer prä­gnan­ten Dar­stel­lung der zen­tra­len Inhal­te. Wer tie­fer ein­stei­gen möch­te, fin­det inhalt­li­che Ein­ord­nun­gen, Aus­wahl­be­grün­dun­gen und berück­sich­tig­te Quel­len in den wei­ter­füh­ren­den Kapi­teln die­ses AAEL-Online-Buches. Auch die­se wer­den wei­ter­hin fort­lau­fend ergänzt und aktua­li­siert.

Das Rah­men­werk AAEL lässt sich im Wesent­li­chen ent­lang spe­zi­fi­scher Ele­men­te kom­pakt dar­stel­len, die in den Ver­tie­fungs­ka­pi­teln aus­führ­li­cher beschrie­ben zu fin­den sind. Die­se lie­fern zugleich auch Grün­de dafür, wie­so es unter den der­zei­ti­gen Bedin­gun­gen sinn­voll erscheint, ein Rah­men­werk wie AAEL als lösungs­ori­en­tier­ten Weg zur gemein­sa­men Gestal­tung von Ver­än­de­run­gen für eine zukunfts­fä­hi­gen (Hochschul-)Bildung in der Post-Digi­ta­li­tät anzu­bie­ten.

Die Moti­va­ti­on für die Ent­wick­lung die­ses Rah­men­werks über die letz­ten Jah­re speist sich vor allem aus dem beob­ach­te­ten Umgang mit den kri­sen­haf­ten Situa­tio­nen in die­ser Zeit, der Her­aus­for­de­rung die die digi­ta­le Trans­for­ma­ti­on seit Jahr­zehn­ten dar­stellt sowie die Per­spek­ti­ve nach vor­ne auf Kom­ple­xi­tät und Wan­del als all­täg­li­che Kon­text­be­din­gun­gen für die­je­ni­gen, die Bil­dung gestal­ten und den Bil­dungs­auf­trag für die nächs­te Gesell­schaft erfül­len sol­len. So zielt Ambi­dex­trous Agi­le Edu­ca­tio­nal Lea­der­ship für die gemein­sa­me Gestal­tung von (Hochschul-)Bildung in der Post-Digi­ta­li­tät (AAEL) dar­auf ab, kon­zep­tio­nell wer­te- und hand­lungs­ori­en­tier­te Prin­zi­pi­en zu beschrei­ben und mit­ein­an­der in Ver­bin­dung zu brin­gen, die einen stim­mi­gen Weg anbie­ten, um die Rah­men­be­din­gun­gen für Bil­dung im all­täg­li­chen Wan­del gemein­sam bes­ser zu gestal­ten und dar­in mit­ein­an­der agie­ren zu kön­nen. Damit ist der Anspruch ver­bun­den, per­so­na­le wie orga­ni­sa­tio­na­le und gar poli­ti­sche Akteur_innen in die Lage zu ver­set­zen, Bedin­gun­gen zu schaf­fen, um gegen­wär­ti­ge Bil­dung mit Blick auf poten­zi­ell kom­men­de An- und Her­aus­for­de­run­gen trotz­dem ste­tig ver­bes­sern und sou­ve­rän mit­ent­wi­ckeln zu kön­nen. Dabei wird neben ande­ren gesell­schaft­li­chen Trans­for­ma­ti­ons­pro­zes­sen ins­be­son­de­re die digi­ta­le Trans­for­ma­ti­on als Kon­text­be­din­gung betrach­tet und her­aus­ge­stellt, die ver­än­der­te Rah­men­be­din­gun­gen, Inter­ak­ti­ons- und Lern­for­ma­te und Per­spek­ti­ven auf Bil­dung in der Post-Digi­ta­li­tät mit sich bringt.

Dabei ist zu beto­nen, dass sich die Umset­zung und Ermög­li­chung eines AAEL glei­cher­ma­ßen an Per­so­nen wie Orga­ni­sa­tio­nen in der (Hochschul-)Bildung rich­tet und kon­se­quen­ter­wei­se auch Poli­tik und gesell­schaft­li­che Bedin­gun­gen für Bil­dung mit­be­rück­sich­tigt. Ent­spre­chend adres­sie­ren die Merk­ma­le von AAEL immer alle Akteur_innen sowie Ebe­nen, also Mikro‑, Meso- und Makro­ebe­ne, im Sys­tem von (Hochschul-)Bildung.

AAEL visualization

The fol­lo­wing visua­li­sa­ti­on pro­vi­des an abs­tract repre­sen­ta­ti­on of the ele­ments of the cur­rent ver­si­on AAEL 2.1 and con­tex­tua­li­ses their mea­ning in the con­text of AAEL here in the neces­sa­ry brevity.

Figu­re: Visua­li­sa­ti­on of the AAEL frame­work – Ambi­dex­trous Agi­le Edu­ca­tio­nal Lea­der­ship for the joint design of (hig­her) edu­ca­ti­on in the post-digi­tal era, ver­si­on 2.1.1.

The visua­li­sa­ti­on was deve­lo­ped on the basis of a con­s­truc­tion kit. Within the given frame­work (of post-digi­ta­li­ty), the­re are indi­vi­du­al colou­red buil­ding blocks that tog­e­ther fill the space within the frame­work. Blocks with cor­ners and edges in dif­fe­rent shapes were cho­sen that can be com­bi­ned in more than one way to form a who­le and can thus be con­nec­ted to each other in any case. One can ima­gi­ne three-dimen­sio­nal, mova­ble ele­ments here.

The sel­ec­ted colours and shapes indi­ca­te direct con­nec­tions or uni­que posi­ti­ons. They are taken up again for bet­ter ori­en­ta­ti­on for the trans­fer of prac­ti­ce to (hig­her) edu­ca­ti­on with its methods and prac­ti­ces. In the visua­li­sa­ti­on, the respec­ti­ve buil­ding blocks repre­sent the the­ma­tic ele­ments that tog­e­ther model and fill the AAEL frame­work.

In the fol­lo­wing, the­se buil­ding blocks are brief­ly descri­bed and cate­go­ri­sed indi­vi­du­al­ly, and a refe­rence is given for fur­ther explo­ra­ti­on of the respec­ti­ve chap­ter. In the pre­sent vari­ant of a deduc­ti­ve pre­sen­ta­ti­on, this is done from the gene­ral to the spe­ci­fic. This means from post-digi­ta­li­ty as a con­text to the cen­tral epony­mous con­cepts and an emer­gent AAEL cul­tu­re at the centre. 

Post-Digitality

Post-Digi­ta­li­tät ist in die­ser Visua­li­sie­rung als der­zeit pri­mä­re Her­aus­for­de­rung und wich­ti­ges Bezugs­feld für Bil­dung die Grund­flä­che der gesam­ten Gra­fik. Sie liegt wie eine Folie hin­ter den übri­gen Bau­stei­nen und kann bild­lich auch als Kas­ten des Bau­kas­tens ver­stan­den wer­den. Hier ist das Rah­men­werk ent­spre­chend der Titel­ge­bung sinn­bild­lich in der Digi­ta­li­tät ein­ge­bet­tet und kon­tex­tua­li­siert. Post-Digi­ta­li­tät steht für das Digi­ta­le und den der­zei­ti­gen kul­tu­rel­len Zustand des digi­ta­len Wan­dels als die viel­fach the­ma­ti­sier­te Kon­text­be­din­gung für (Hochschul-)Bildung in der eher tech­no­lo­gisch zu ver­ste­hen­den digi­ta­len Trans­for­ma­ti­on. Weil Post-Digi­ta­li­tät der­zeit wie­der­holt als zen­tra­le Kon­text­be­din­gung und gesell­schaft­li­chen Her­aus­for­de­rung für (Hochschul-)Bildung the­ma­ti­siert wird und sie zugleich tief­grei­fend gesell­schaft­li­chen Wan­del prägt, bil­det sie der­zeit die zen­tra­le Kon­text­be­din­gung für den AAEL-Rah­men2

Ambidextrous, Agile, Educational, Leadership

Die namens­ge­ben­den kon­zep­tio­nel­len Ele­men­te des Rah­mens AAEL sind Ambi­dex­trous, Agi­le, Edu­ca­tio­nal und Leadership.Es wird hier die eng­li­sche Bezeich­nung bevor­zugt, weil sie neben inter­na­tio­na­ler Anschluss­fä­hig­keit an bestehen­de Dis­kus­sio­nen auch die Ver­wen­dung von Begrif­fen im wei­te­ren Ver­ständ­nis ermög­licht. Die­se vier kon­zep­tio­nel­len Ele­men­te sind durch vier ver­schie­den far­bi­ge Recht­ecke visua­li­siert, die selbst wie­der­um als Ein­fas­sung für die nächs­ten inne­ren Bestand­tei­le des hier als Bau­kas­ten visua­li­sier­ten Rah­men­werks gese­hen wer­den kön­nen.

Der Bau­stein Ambi­dex­trous ((sie­he aus­führ­li­cher zu For­men von per­so­na­ler und orga­ni­sa­tio­na­ler Ambi­dex­trie im ent­spre­chen­den Ver­tie­fungs­ka­pi­tel hier im AAEL-Buch 1.0)) steht für eine ziel­ge­rich­te­te Erkun­dung von dem nächs­ten sinn­vol­lem Schritt in Form von gleich­zei­ti­ger Opti­mie­rung von Bewähr­tem und Erpro­bung, Ent­wick­lung und Ent­de­ckung von Neu­em in Form einer inte­grie­ren­den und aus­ba­lan­cie­ren­den Per­spek­ti­ve auf Wan­del. Der nächs­te Bau­stein Agi­le ((sie­he aus­führ­li­cher zu Agi­li­tät und Agi­li­tät im Bil­dungs­be­reich im ent­spre­chen­den Ver­tie­fungs­ka­pi­tel hier im AAEL-Buch 1.0)) weist auf den Pro­zess der schritt­wei­sen, ler­nen­den Anpas­sungs­be­reit­schaft an kom­ple­xe, dyna­mi­sche Kon­tex­te hin, wie es auf (Hochschul-)Bildung zutrifft. Ambi­dex­trie und Agi­li­tät las­sen sich in die­ser Logik durch­aus auf viel­fäl­ti­ge Berei­che anwen­den. In die­sem Bei­trag steht mit dem Bau­stein Edu­ca­tio­nal ((sie­he aus­führ­li­cher zum Fokus auf Bil­dung und ihre Rele­vanz zukunfts­ori­en­tier­te Hand­lungs­fä­hig­keit im Wan­del im ent­spre­chen­den Ver­tie­fungs­ka­pi­tel hier im AAEL-Buch 1.0)) allein der (Hoch­schul-) Bil­dungs­be­reich mit sei­nen Beson­der­hei­ten im Fokus. Er wird daher mit Edu­ca­tio­nal umschrie­ben, um über Leh­re und Ler­nen hin­aus zu ver­deut­li­chen, dass Bil­dung im wei­te­ren Sin­ne, min­des­tens im struk­tu­rel­len, per­so­na­len, kul­tu­rel­len und poli­ti­schen Kon­text betrach­tet gehört, um nach­hal­tig zu gelin­gen. Der vier­te recht­ecki­ge Bau­stein Lea­der­ship ((sie­he aus­führ­li­cher zum Ver­hält­nis von Manage­ment und Lea­der­ship sowie For­men von Lea­der­ship im ent­spre­chen­den Ver­tie­fungs­ka­pi­tel hier im AAEL-Buch 1.0)), das auf die Ermög­li­chung (Eigen-)Verantwortung und Lea­der­ship zu über­neh­men bzw. über­neh­men zu kön­nen abzielt, adres­siert in einem die Ebe­nen über­grei­fen­dem Ver­ständ­nis von Pro­fes­sio­na­li­tät, das Sub­jekt oder die Per­so­nen in ihren jewei­li­gen Hand­lungs­be­rei­chen und Rol­len inner­halb orga­ni­sa­to­ri­scher Struk­tu­ren und insti­tu­tio­nel­ler Bedin­gun­gen von Bil­dung. Die­se vier Ele­men­te las­sen sich trans­dis­zi­pli­när ver­bin­den.

Umrun­det von die­sen vier Bau­stei­nen Ambi­dex­trous, Agi­le, Edu­ca­tio­nal und Lea­der­ship, fin­den sich wei­te­re Ele­men­te. Die­se adres­sie­ren den Ent­wick­lungs- und Hand­lungs­raum der Akteur_innen ein­schließ­lich Prin­zi­pi­en und Wer­ten, wie auch die Emer­genz einer spe­zi­fi­schen Kul­tur im Rah­men von AAEL. Im Ein­zel­nen sind das die fol­gen­den Ele­men­te in Form von Bau­stei­nen bzw. die Baustein-Gruppe:

People, Being, Organisation, Doing

Das Zusam­men­spiel von Per­so­nen mit ihrer Per­sön­lich­keit und Hal­tun­gen sowie Orga­ni­sa­tio­nen mit ihren Regeln und Struk­tu­ren einer­seits und einem AAEL Doing und Being ande­rer­seits, wird in die­sem Bau­kas­ten als vier gleich­wer­ti­ge und gleich­far­bi­ge Drei­ecke dar­ge­stellt. Sie bil­den zusam­men selbst ein inne­res Qua­drat und for­men so die Mit­te des Bau­kas­tens inner­halb der kon­zep­tio­nel­len Ele­men­te AAEL. Die vier Ele­men­te Per­so­nen, Being, Orga­ni­sa­ti­on und Doing wer­den im Rah­men von AAEL als die wesent­li­chen Ent­wick­lungs- und Hand­lungs­räu­me der Akteur_innen begrif­fen3.

Doing und Being wie auch ihr Zusam­men­spiel mit Per­so­nen und Orga­ni­sa­ti­on sind nur begrenzt fest­schreib­bar, weil sie sich im Han­deln über Metho­den und Prak­ti­ken (neu) aus­bil­den und im Zuge von per­sön­li­chen Refle­xi­ons- und erfah­rungs­ba­sier­ten Wachs­tums­pro­zes­sen (wei­ter) ent­wi­ckeln. Sie ste­hen in die­sem Rah­men gemein­sam für eine spe­zi­fi­sche Pra­xis im Han­deln und Sein einer Per­son in und mit der Bil­dungs­or­ga­ni­sa­ti­on ent­lang geteil­ter Zie­le oder auch einer Visi­on, jeweils mit ihrer Geschich­te und Zukünften.

Values, principles

At the cent­re of the visua­li­sa­ti­on are spe­ci­fic AAEL values and prin­ci­ples in the form of two tri­an­gles of the same colour that com­ple­ment each other to form a rhom­bus. Both values and prin­ci­ples ari­se from the post-digi­tal con­text and the con­cep­tu­al ele­ments of AAEL. Both are united by the fact that they are deve­lo­ped by the per­sons in inter­ac­tion with their orga­ni­sa­ti­on and its edu­ca­tio­nal mis­si­on. They are to be codi­fied and, whe­re neces­sa­ry, spe­ci­fi­cal­ly nego­tia­ted in order to be shared. Ins­tead of a sta­tic set of rules, they form situa­tio­nal and con­text-depen­dent gui­de­lines for all actors in the inter­play bet­ween Being AAEL and Doing AAEL in their ever­y­day actions in the com­ple­xi­ty of edu­ca­ti­on. They are the­r­e­fo­re pla­ced as a core within the rhom­bus and the­re in turn form the frame­work for the last, cen­tral buil­ding block (see below for more details in this summary). 

Culture

In the visua­li­sa­ti­on, cul­tu­re is loca­ted in the cent­re of the buil­ding block with a squa­re. In the inter­play of the pre­vious­ly men­tio­ned buil­ding blocks, a sui­ta­ble cul­tu­re can emer­ge and deve­lop over time within the frame­work of AAEL (in short, AAEL cul­tu­re), which is seen here as a com­mon, nego­tia­ble, sus­tainable and dyna­mic basis for a long-term cul­tu­ral chan­ge in (hig­her) edu­ca­ti­on and is named as such. 

AAEL game rules

For the AAEL frame­work, the image of a modu­lar sys­tem is used, and the fol­lo­wing expl­ana­ti­ons can accor­din­gly be read as a kind of set of rules.4 The­se rules aim to enable a poten­ti­al­ly suc­cessful inter­play of the indi­vi­du­al com­pon­ents, their hand­ling, and their rela­ti­onships with one another.

Every brick counts!

One of the­se rules is that, despi­te fle­xi­bi­li­ty and adap­ta­bi­li­ty, each buil­ding block ser­ves a spe­ci­fic pur­po­se and has its value in the struc­tu­re of the AAEL con­s­truct, so that AAEL can deve­lop con­sis­t­ent­ly as a who­le.

The most important rule of the game is the­r­e­fo­re not to com­ple­te­ly igno­re any of the buil­ding blocks and to con­scious­ly deal with all per­spec­ti­ves – each with a dif­fe­rent weight­ing – in a sys­te­mic way. In the sen­se of a con­s­truc­tion kit and simi­lar to a tang­ram game (see https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangram), the aim is to sym­bo­li­cal­ly and con­cre­te­ly inter­wea­ve all the parts with each other and con­sider them tog­e­ther for each ‘figu­re’ or each new ite­ra­ti­on.

Par­ti­al accep­tance of the AAEL core or com­ple­te­ly omit­ting buil­ding blocks (‘cher­ry-picking’) could lead to not addres­sing and deal­ing with all the ques­ti­ons and issues addres­sed in AAEL. In case of doubt, inten­tio­nal omis­si­on is more likely to con­tri­bu­te to the fail­ure of AAEL

Winning together!

The AAEL frame­work is not a reci­pe or a step-by-step gui­de that is equal­ly the one way or the one sui­ta­ble solu­ti­on for all and can be work­ed through accor­ding to plan. Rather, the AAEL frame­work offers buil­ding blocks that, when used in a joint, dyna­mic inter­ac­tion bet­ween actors in the respec­ti­ve edu­ca­tio­nal orga­ni­sa­ti­on with a view to the next, future deve­lo­p­ment steps, result in a sui­ta­ble, coher­ent who­le. The AAEL frame­work always starts from what is alre­a­dy the­re in the orga­ni­sa­ti­on and in the peo­p­le. What is important for AAEL is a shared per­so­nal and orga­ni­sa­tio­nal wil­ling­ness to enga­ge in chan­ge in the form of an ongo­ing lear­ning pro­cess or lear­ning jour­ney. To stay with the image of the con­s­truc­tion kit, a jour­ney during which ever­yo­ne has and is given the oppor­tu­ni­ty through test­ing and feed­back to repea­ted­ly touch the buil­ding blocks and to be able to rebuild and rebuild them. 

What does not fit is not made to fit!

If it is cle­ar­ly not pos­si­ble to reach a com­mon under­stan­ding about the inter­ac­tion of the AAEL buil­ding blocks, it is bet­ter to choo­se and pur­sue a dif­fe­rent start­ing point as a path for fur­ther deve­lo­p­ment. In this respect, a reaso­ned or inten­tio­nal omis­si­on or avo­id­ance of buil­ding blocks in AAEL can be a first deve­lo­p­men­tal step towards fin­ding a way for the respec­ti­ve edu­ca­tio­nal orga­ni­sa­ti­on to deal with chan­ge and trans­for­ma­ti­on. If this is the case, AAEL is not suitable. 

AAEL values

AAEL is to be unders­tood as a pri­ma­ri­ly value- and prin­ci­ple-based frame­work for making decis­i­ons and taking action in com­plex situa­tions, such as tho­se that ari­se in the (hig­her) edu­ca­ti­on sec­tor on a dai­ly basis. This frame­work is desi­gned to help indi­vi­du­als and groups make inde­pen­dent, value-ori­en­ted decis­i­ons and take action in order to coun­ter­act arbi­trar­i­ne­ss. This basic idea of a frame­work for action, which is span­ned across spe­ci­fic values and prin­ci­ples, was adapt­ed from the con­text of the Agi­le Mani­festo for the field of (hig­her) edu­ca­ti­on with the AAEL frame­work.

Sta­ting values in the AAEL frame­work is dou­ble-edged. Becau­se only as shared values accept­ed by all actors as a basis for the joint action pro­cess do they make sen­se and build trust and at the same time can­not sim­ply be pre­scri­bed. So the task remains to under­stand values from the out­set as the result of con­stant com­mu­ni­ca­ti­on and app­re­cia­ti­ve nego­tia­ti­on. With agi­li­ty in mind, it can be con­cluded that con­sen­sus as a demo­cra­tic form of co-deter­mi­na­ti­on regar­ding the com­mon value base can alre­a­dy enable sus­tainable and meaningful coope­ra­ti­on. AAEL values are the­r­e­fo­re always sub­ject to ren­ego­tia­ti­on in their respec­ti­ve forms in the respec­ti­ve edu­ca­tio­nal are­as in order to crea­te a com­mon basis. The AAEL frame­work thus stands for a fun­da­men­tal demo­cra­tic con­vic­tion. It is about mutu­al faci­li­ta­ti­on of actu­al par­ti­ci­pa­ti­on, wil­ling­ness to self-orga­ni­se and to take respon­si­bi­li­ty in a trus­ting envi­ron­ment, while all par­ti­ci­pan­ts are awa­re that power is tra­di­tio­nal­ly dis­tri­bu­ted dif­fer­ent­ly in (hig­her) edu­ca­ti­on. (For more on the dif­fe­ren­tia­ti­on bet­ween forms of par­ti­ci­pa­to­ry design of envi­ron­ments for col­la­bo­ra­ti­ve lear­ning, see pre­vious work at: https://partizipative-mediendidaktik.de.)

For this reason, trust and respon­si­bi­li­ty are regard­ed and empha­si­zed as cen­tral values in the AAEL framework.

Trust
… becau­se trust is the basis for suc­cessful coope­ra­ti­on and mutu­al sup­port and streng­thens rela­ti­onships and (psy­cho­lo­gi­cal) secu­ri­ty. Trust in each other and among each other – as well as in for­mal, struc­tu­ral, legal and social con­di­ti­ons – is a con­di­ti­on and con­se­quence of all other values. Becau­se trust can­not be pre­scri­bed, it is acqui­red in respon­si­ble coope­ra­ti­on with each other, it is streng­the­ned and it can be lost in the same way. 

Respon­si­bi­li­ty
…becau­se taking on and dele­ga­ting respon­si­bi­li­ty is fun­da­men­tal to par­ti­ci­pa­to­ry (lear­ning) pro­ces­ses at all levels, to col­la­bo­ra­ti­ve work con­texts and to func­tio­ning self-orga­ni­sa­ti­on in groups, teams and orga­ni­sa­ti­ons. Respon­si­bi­li­ty also means long-term com­mit­ment to sus­tainable edu­ca­tio­nal pro­ces­ses and the wil­ling­ness to cri­ti­cal­ly reflect on the effects of one’s own actions in edu­ca­ti­on in the post-digi­tal age. 

The fol­lo­wing are equal­ly rele­vant values as the basis for an AAEL and its prin­ci­ples as future-ori­en­ted lea­der­ship in the edu­ca­ti­on sec­tor within the refe­rence frame­work of agi­li­ty and ambidexterity:

Cou­ra­ge
…becau­se AAEL invi­tes you to be cou­ra­ge­ous and to take risks in view of an uncer­tain future, to proac­tively approach chan­ge as a long-term pro­cess despi­te uncer­tain­ties. Cou­ra­ge also includes the wil­ling­ness to see rapid test­ing and mista­kes as lear­ning oppor­tu­ni­ties and to crea­te an envi­ron­ment in which inno­va­ti­ve ide­as can be tes­ted and risks taken. AAEL sup­ports the wil­ling­ness to inno­va­te and to mana­ge uncer­tain­ty in com­plex situations. 

Open­ness
…becau­se AAEL thri­ves on per­so­nal open­ness and open struc­tures and a wil­ling­ness to be trans­pa­rent and to free­ly exch­an­ge mate­ri­als, infor­ma­ti­on and ide­as in the broa­der sen­se of an Open Edu­ca­tio­nal Prac­ti­ce (OEP). Open­ness also means con­ti­nuous­ly inte­gra­ting new insights and tech­no­lo­gi­cal deve­lo­p­ments and con­stant­ly deve­lo­ping both per­so­nal­ly and in (hig­her) edu­ca­ti­on, thus being able to react fle­xi­bly to new chal­lenges and opportunities. 

Respect
…becau­se an AAEL is about having respect for peo­p­le and reco­g­nis­ing and app­re­cia­ting the con­tri­bu­ti­ons and per­spec­ti­ves of ever­yo­ne invol­ved in the col­la­bo­ra­ti­on – and giving feed­back with respect for the per­son. Respect in this sen­se means inter­ac­ting with all actors and per­spec­ti­ves on an equal foo­ting and ensu­ring that all voices are heard and valued. 

Diver­si­ty
…becau­se AAEL con­scious­ly seeks the pos­si­bi­li­ties bey­ond dua­li­ties in the in-bet­ween and out­side, and the frame­work, with a view to diver­si­ty in edu­ca­ti­on in post-digi­ta­li­ty, inte­gra­tes cor­re­spon­din­gly dis­cur­si­ve and inclu­si­ve per­spec­ti­ves and back­grounds in order to design a sui­ta­ble sus­tainable edu­ca­ti­on for all. Diver­si­ty is thus a con­ti­nuous framing pro­cess that must be actively cul­ti­va­ted and pro­mo­ted to crea­te an inclu­si­ve environment. 

Feed­back
…becau­se con­s­truc­ti­ve feed­back moti­va­tes rapid lear­ning in terms of out­co­me with a view to achie­ving the goal and pro­mo­tes per­so­nal growth within the orga­ni­sa­ti­on. Feed­back is important in both a for­ma­ti­ve and a sum­ma­ti­ve sen­se to pro­mo­te con­ti­nuous lear­ning and the achie­ve­ment of goals. 

Enga­ge­ment
…becau­se the AAEL frame­work reli­es abo­ve all on the wil­ling­ness and (self-)commitment to achie­ve com­mon goals in order to con­ti­nuous­ly impro­ve edu­ca­ti­on through rapid feed­back. Enga­ge­ment requi­res a balan­ce bet­ween indi­vi­du­al respon­si­bi­li­ty and coll­ec­ti­ve com­mit­ment to the ite­ra­ti­ve achie­ve­ment of com­mon goals. Goals such as pro­cess design requi­re a relia­ble commitment. 

Focus
…becau­se in the com­ple­xi­ty of edu­ca­ti­on, focus and con­cen­tra­ti­on on the next task at hand is important. In this respect, focus means set­ting clear goals and inter­me­dia­te goals and pur­suing them con­sis­t­ent­ly, while remai­ning moti­va­ted, effi­ci­ent and effec­ti­ve as you take the next steps towards your goal. 

Com­mu­ni­ca­ti­on
…becau­se com­mu­ni­ca­ti­on, espe­ci­al­ly in the post-digi­tal age, is essen­ti­al for the coor­di­na­ti­on and con­stant exch­an­ge bet­ween indi­vi­du­als, within teams and orga­ni­sa­ti­ons, in order to con­ti­nuous­ly impro­ve edu­ca­ti­on tog­e­ther. This appli­es to all forms of com­mu­ni­ca­ti­on, whe­ther ver­bal, non-ver­bal or digital.

AAEL Principles

The AAEL frame­work is not a detail­ed set of rules and it is not a step-by-step or pha­sed gui­de. Rather, it estab­lishes cen­tral prin­ci­ples along the con­cep­tu­al ele­ments. The AAEL values and prin­ci­ples are inten­ded to crea­te a basis for a coope­ra­ti­ve, inno­va­ti­ve and sus­tainable design of (hig­her) edu­ca­ti­on. They are aimed at the fea­si­bi­li­ty of imple­men­ting AAEL in prac­ti­ce and are to be unders­tood as gui­ding our joint beha­viour as a way for­ward and as a road­map for action5.

The fol­lo­wing AAEL prin­ci­ples are essen­ti­al, value-based gui­de­lines that struc­tu­re actions and decis­i­ons, pro­mo­te fle­xi­bi­li­ty and adap­ta­bi­li­ty in dif­fe­rent situa­tions, and can be appli­ed across and bet­ween disci­pli­nes. In the con­text of agi­li­ty and ambi­dex­teri­ty, the­se prin­ci­ples pro­vi­de ori­en­ta­ti­on and a basis for coor­di­na­ted and coher­ent per­so­nal and coll­ec­ti­ve action in a varie­ty of situa­tions, for exam­p­le in teams, in depart­ments and across all levels, in the sen­se of future-ori­en­ted lea­der­ship in edu­ca­ti­on.

The fol­lo­wing prin­ci­ples for action can be sum­ma­ri­sed for ver­si­on 2.1 of the AAEL framework:

Value-based action for sustainable higher education

The prin­ci­ple of value-based action within the frame­work of AAEL aims to faci­li­ta­te a cul­tu­re in hig­her edu­ca­ti­on that is based on shared values and prin­ci­ples. This crea­tes a trus­ting, respectful and inno­va­ti­ve envi­ron­ment that pro­mo­tes par­ti­ci­pa­to­ry lear­ning and self-orga­ni­sa­ti­on. By empha­sis­ing respon­si­bi­li­ty, trust, cou­ra­ge, open­ness, respect, diver­si­ty, feed­back, com­mit­ment, focus and com­mu­ni­ca­ti­on, a sus­tainable and future-ori­en­ted edu­ca­ti­on is joint­ly crea­ted and shaped. 

Post-digitality as a matter of course

The gui­ding prin­ci­ple of self-evi­dent post-digi­ta­li­ty aims to design hig­her edu­ca­ti­on in such a way that it takes place con­fi­dent­ly in both the ana­lo­gue and the digi­tal. The AAEL frame­work assu­mes ubi­qui­tous media­li­ty and a pro­found­ly media­tis­ed socie­ty. In this socie­ty, digi­ta­li­ty is inte­gra­ted as a cul­tu­ral con­di­ti­on for action for inter­ac­tion and com­mu­ni­ca­ti­on in the digi­tal trans­for­ma­ti­on. The post-digi­tal per­spec­ti­ve on edu­ca­ti­on reco­g­ni­s­es the ever­y­day per­me­a­ti­on of digi­ta­li­ty and stri­ves to crea­te a fle­xi­ble, resi­li­ent and sus­tainable edu­ca­tio­nal land­scape that meets the chal­lenges and needs of a demo­cra­tic society. 

Bridging the duality of exploration and exploitation

The prin­ci­ple of bridging dua­li­ty aims to streng­then a cul­tu­re in edu­ca­tio­nal orga­ni­sa­ti­ons and in the edu­ca­ti­on sec­tor in gene­ral, inclu­ding hig­her edu­ca­ti­on, that values and pro­mo­tes both risk-taking and crea­ti­vi­ty as well as effi­ci­en­cy and opti­mi­sed rou­ti­nes. Such a cul­tu­re makes it pos­si­ble to navi­ga­te fle­xi­bly and con­fi­dent­ly bet­ween new approa­ches and exis­ting pro­ces­ses and to adapt to chan­ging con­di­ti­ons. This cul­tu­re sup­ports indi­vi­du­al initia­ti­ve and self-orga­ni­sa­ti­on as well as sys­te­ma­tic effi­ci­en­cy and opti­mi­sed rou­ti­nes in order to sus­tain­ab­ly pro­mo­te both per­so­nal and insti­tu­tio­nal deve­lo­p­ment. By inte­gra­ting orga­ni­sa­tio­nal and indi­vi­du­al ambi­dex­teri­ty, it is pos­si­ble to proac­tively shape (hig­her) edu­ca­ti­on and streng­then the situa­tio­nal adap­ta­bi­li­ty, deve­lo­p­men­tal capa­ci­ty and inno­va­ti­ve abili­ty of edu­ca­tio­nal insti­tu­ti­ons and edu­ca­ti­on in the broa­der sen­se in a fast-paced, com­plex and uncer­tain world. 

Sovereign agility in the education sector

The prin­ci­ple of sove­reign agi­li­ty aims to design (hig­her) edu­ca­ti­on in such a way that (hig­her) edu­ca­ti­on orga­ni­sa­ti­ons can con­fi­dent­ly meet deve­lo­p­ment requi­re­ments and chan­ges from both insi­de and out­side, thus mana­ging com­ple­xi­ty in an agi­le man­ner and with appro­pria­te qua­li­ty. This appli­es both to the mode of explo­ita­ti­on (opti­mi­sa­ti­on and effi­ci­en­cy of exis­ting pro­ces­ses) and to that of explo­ra­ti­on (new and inno­va­ti­ve). An agi­le edu­ca­tio­nal orga­ni­sa­ti­on is cha­rac­te­ri­sed by fle­xi­bi­li­ty, adap­ta­bi­li­ty and a con­ti­nuous wil­ling­ness to learn and impro­ve. Agi­li­ty makes it pos­si­ble to react quick­ly and effec­tively to new chal­lenges while main­tai­ning sta­ble and effi­ci­ent pro­ces­ses. Agi­le col­la­bo­ra­ti­on in the indi­vi­du­al edu­ca­tio­nal orga­ni­sa­ti­on reli­es on agi­le values, as inte­gra­ted in the AAEL values. 

Social responsibility and educational mission

The prin­ci­ple of social respon­si­bi­li­ty and the edu­ca­tio­nal man­da­te aims to shape the frame­work con­di­ti­ons for (hig­her) edu­ca­ti­on in such a way that they pro­mo­te both per­so­nal deve­lo­p­ment and the assump­ti­on of social respon­si­bi­li­ty, while also enab­ling fun­da­men­tal edu­ca­tio­nal tasks to be ful­fil­led. Edu­ca­ti­on con­tri­bu­tes to the deve­lo­p­ment of a cri­ti­cal, value-based and demo­cra­tic socie­ty. A stra­te­gi­cal­ly meaningful ori­en­ta­ti­on through a shared visi­on for net­work­ed (hig­her) edu­ca­ti­on streng­thens the under­stan­ding of the edu­ca­tio­nal mis­si­on, which shapes values and prin­ci­ples for joint action. 

Integrated leadership in education

The prin­ci­ple of inte­gra­ted lea­der­ship means deve­lo­ping lea­der­ship in hig­her edu­ca­ti­on as a vari­ant of trans­for­ma­tio­nal lea­der­ship. With a view to par­ti­ci­pa­ti­on and self-orga­ni­sa­ti­on, this includes inte­gra­ting both the fle­xi­bi­li­ty and adap­ta­bi­li­ty of agi­le lea­der­ship and the simul­ta­neous opti­mi­sa­ti­on and inno­va­ti­on of ambi­dex­trous lea­der­ship. This requi­res an over­ar­ching lea­der­ship cul­tu­re that pro­mo­tes the per­so­nal respon­si­bi­li­ty and self-orga­ni­sa­ti­on of all actors equal­ly and enables a bridge to be built bet­ween lea­der­ship in tra­di­tio­nal and modern orga­ni­sa­tio­nal struc­tures. Indi­vi­du­als who want to and are able to take on lea­der­ship in the sen­se of the AAEL frame­work act, among other things, with a coa­ching atti­tu­de to sup­port, inspi­re and encou­ra­ge indi­vi­du­als, groups or teams to take on respon­si­bi­li­ty. A par­ti­ci­pa­to­ry lea­der­ship cul­tu­re of this kind can con­tri­bu­te to con­ti­nuous deve­lo­p­ment and com­mu­ni­ty enga­ge­ment, and com­pre­hen­si­ve­ly streng­then hig­her edu­ca­ti­on, both in terms of mee­ting the com­plex and dyna­mic demands of modern socie­ty and in terms of joint­ly sha­ping fur­ther development. 

Conclusion

AAEL is a spe­ci­fic con­cep­ti­on and prac­ti­ce of lea­der­ship in the field of edu­ca­ti­on in the con­text of agi­li­ty and ambi­dex­teri­ty, in order to remain agi­le and con­fi­dent in the face of dyna­mic and some­ti­mes cri­sis-rid­den con­di­ti­ons.

The long-term goal is to arri­ve at a sove­reign, joint imple­men­ta­ti­on of goals for edu­ca­ti­on in all its com­ple­xi­ty in the post-digi­tal age through the con­sis­tent prac­ti­ce of AAEL, joint imple­men­ta­ti­on of goals for edu­ca­ti­on in its com­ple­xi­ty in the post-digi­tal age, so that a spe­ci­fic AAEL cul­tu­re can emer­ge and grow in rela­ti­ve calm and rela­xa­ti­on along the way – and over time, in the con­stant inter­play bet­ween AAEL-Doing and AAEL-Being, it can be dif­fe­ren­tia­ted in the joint action and design of hig­her edu­ca­ti­on (see the detail­ed chap­ter AAEL Prac­ti­ce). This means that a fore­seeable next cri­sis or com­plex chall­enge can be mas­te­red as con­fi­dent­ly as pos­si­ble by ever­yo­ne on the basis of the­se indi­vi­du­al and shared resour­ces. The AAEL frame­work thus offers actors in edu­ca­ti­on an oppor­tu­ni­ty to open up a com­pre­hen­si­ve lear­ning space of par­ti­ci­pa­ti­on and self-orga­ni­sa­ti­on for indi­vi­du­als and orga­ni­sa­ti­ons ali­ke. It con­tri­bu­tes to the agi­le joint design of edu­ca­ti­on in order to be able to act respon­si­bly, pur­po­seful­ly and con­ti­nuous­ly in the in-bet­ween, both indi­vi­du­al­ly and tog­e­ther, along shared values and prin­ci­ples, in order to be able to act proac­tively and con­fi­dent­ly in the in-bet­ween, both indi­vi­du­al­ly and tog­e­ther, along a shared visi­on and a meaningful goal, in order to be able to act respon­si­bly, pur­po­seful­ly and con­ti­nuous­ly in the in-bet­ween, under uncer­tain con­tex­tu­al con­di­ti­ons in the post-digi­tal age.

The con­cep­tu­al AAEL frame­work is both part of and a refe­rence point for its trans­fer for appli­ca­ti­on and inte­gra­ti­on into (hig­her) edu­ca­ti­on prac­ti­ce, which is con­stant­ly being pro­du­ced, co-deve­lo­ped and fur­ther deve­lo­ped by all actors in their respec­ti­ve fields of action at the micro, meso and macro levels, in order to impro­ve (hig­her) edu­ca­ti­on tog­e­ther ( see the fol­lo­wing inde­pen­dent chap­ter on the trans­fer of the AAEL frame­work to edu­ca­tio­nal prac­ti­ce using the exam­p­le of hig­her edu­ca­ti­on (in preparation) )). 

Letz­te Aktua­li­sie­rung am 14.03.2025 (Chan­ge­log)

  

  1. Digi­ta­li­tät wird hier im Ver­hält­nis zur Digi­ta­li­sie­rung im Sin­ne Felix Stal­ders ver­stan­den; vgl. dazu u.a. fol­gen­den Bei­trag, sowie aus­führ­li­cher zur Post-Digi­ta­li­tät im Ver­tie­fungs­ka­pi­tel Digi­ta­li­ät (hier die aktu­ell gül­ti­ve Ver­si­on 1.0) im AAEL-Buch []
  2. sie­he aus­führ­li­cher zu Digi­ta­li­tät, Digi­ta­li­sie­rung und Post-Digi­ta­li­tät im ent­spre­chen­den Ver­tie­fungs­ka­pi­tel hier im AAEL-Buch 1.0 []
  3. sie­he aus­führ­li­cher zur Per­so­nen­ori­en­tie­rung und Par­ti­zi­pa­ti­on im Rah­men von AAEL im ent­spre­chen­den Ver­tie­fungs­ka­pi­tel hier im AAEL-Buch 1.0; ein geson­der­tes Kapi­tel zum Fokus Orga­ni­sa­ti­on ist in Vor­be­rei­tung []
  4. In line with the crea­ti­on approach of the Scrum Gui­de, the AAEL frame­work not only fol­lows a ver­si­on-based evo­lu­ti­on but also adopts the idea of a ‘set of rules’ (‘Rules of the Game’) to estab­lish boun­da­ries for arbi­tra­ry modi­fi­ca­ti­ons. []
  5. cen­tral prin­ci­ples for the AAEL frame­work are descri­bed based on the crea­ti­on of the Agi­le Mani­festo. []
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