Development as a leader (5 cr)

Evaluation scale

Pass/Fail

Content scheduling

Autumn 2025 – 2 ECTS
1 ECTS Competence Assessment and Learning Objectives
1 ECTS Self-awareness and Leader Identity

Spring 2026 – 3 ECTS
1.5 ECTS Leadership Theories and Ethical Leadership
1.5 ECTS Self-leadership, Agency, and Career Development for Leaders

Objective

Purpose of the course
Leadership is a key skill in various organisations in working life. Development as a leader course helps students in understanding leadership, enhancing their self-awareness, identifying their personal strengths and areas for development, as well as analysing, reflecting, and developing themselves as leaders. Through self-awareness and reflection, understanding of one’s own leadership is increased, and enabling the planning of a leadership career and potentially even improving one’s career prospects.

It is important to be able to adapt the leadership style to the organisation’s goals. Leadership has various effects on different functions of the organisation, such as communication, conflict management, and decision-making. Understanding the principles of ethical and responsible leadership is important so that a leader can take ethical responsibility for their organisation and employees. This creates a framework for growing responsible, fair, sustainable, and ethical leaders.

The course aims to develop the following competencies:

Learning to learn
You can evaluate and plan your leadership career in a versatile and goal-oriented way.

Ethics
You can promote the realisation of ethical principles in work communities and organisations with your leadership.

The learning objectives of the course are:
You will increase your self-awareness, which will enable you to analyse and evaluate your leadership from the perspectives of self-management, leadership, and management in general. You can apply key leadership theories and concepts to strengthen your own leadership identity.

You can promote the implementation of ethical principles in your work community and/or organisation by reflecting on your ethical leadership and acting as a role model in your organisation. You can plan your leadership career through self-reflection.

Developing as a leader is a process that requires time and self- and peer reflection to grow. Considering this development, the course lasts for a semester/year.

Content

In this course, you will learn about self-awareness, self-leadership, leader identity, agency in leadership, leadership theories and concepts, ethical leadership, and career development for leaders. You will apply the competence gained to develop and enhance your leadership.

Location and time

Course Schedule
The course begins on September 1, 2025, in the Moodle learning environment.

Webinars:
1. Wed, September 3, 2025, 16:30–18:00: Introduction Webinar
2. Wed, January 14, 2026, 16:30–18:00: Orientation to Sections C and D
3. Wed, February 11, 2026, 16:30–18:00: Leadership Theories
4. Wed, April 15, 2026, 16:30–18:00: Agency and Leadership Career

You can find the detailed schedule in the Moodle learning environment. The course ends on May 20, 2026.

Attendance will be checked three weeks after the course start date. Participation in the course requires that you submit Learning Task 1 by September 30, 2025.

Scheduled Online Course
Development as a Leader is a multidisciplinary course conducted entirely online. Your studies will follow the schedule provided in Moodle.

Materials

During the course, you will utilize various learning materials available in Moodle, such as videos, online lectures, and articles.

Northouse, P. G. (2021). Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage publications.

Anttila, K. (2023). Johtajana kasvamisen ytimessä on johtajaidentiteetin kehittyminen. Finnish Business Blog. https://blogit.jamk.fi/fbb/2023/02/01/johtajana-kasvamisen-ytimessa-on-johtajaidentiteetin-kehittyminen/

Goller, M., & Harteis, C. (2017). Human agency at work: Towards a clarification and operationalisation of the concept. Ed. M. Goller & S. Paloniemi. Agency at work: An agentic perspective on professional learning and development. Cham: Springer, 85–103.

Eteläpelto, A., Vähäsantanen, K., Hökkä, P., & Paloniemi, S. (2013). What is agency? Conceptualizing professional agency at work. Educational research review, 10, 45–65.

You will utilize your chosen scientific article and other materials based on independent information gathering.

Teaching methods

In the course Development as a Leader, it is important to understand that leadership is not a destination, but a journey that can take years. You can consciously develop your leadership skills through continuous learning and self-reflection. You will reflect on your leadership development together with fellow students and a workplace mentor, which will broaden your thinking and enable your leadership growth. You will define the levels of development for your leadership identity and thinking, learn about leadership theories and ethical leadership, and develop self-awareness, emotional intelligence, agency, and self-leadership. Additionally, you will plan your leadership career.

The course Development as a Leader is a multidisciplinary online course. Due to the nature of the subject matter, your studies will last for a semester/year. Your studies will take place in the Moodle learning environment, where you will find course instructions, schedules, assignments, and study materials. You will also participate in webinars. Webinars will feature expert presentations, and you will reflect and share your learning through collaborative learning methods. Participation in webinars is a requirement for completing the course. You will need a camera, headphones, and a microphone. You will compile your learning and assignments in the Development as a Leader workbook.

Guidance
Guidance will be provided in the Moodle learning environment (question and answer forum) and webinars, as well as by contacting the teacher via email. You will also receive guidance from peers and through mentoring.

Feedback
You will receive feedback on your learning assignments. You will provide feedback on the course (mid-term and final feedback on the implementation).

Employer connections

Your student group will form a work-life-oriented peer learning network.

In the course assignments, you will utilize the organization of your choice.

Exam schedules

There is no exam for this course.

International connections

In this course, you will utilize international research literature and reflect on the cultural dimensions of leadership.

Completion alternatives

You cannot complete this course through any alternative methods, such as studification.

Student workload

Your recommended time allocation for a 5 ECTS course is 135 working hours, distributed as follows:
Online lectures and webinars 6 hours
Studying course materials 27 hours
Individual assignment 90 hours
Collaborative learning 6 hours
Mentoring 6 hours

Assessment criteria, approved/failed

You are able to evaluate and analyse yourself and your leadership based on leadership theories and course assignments. You are able to analyse the implementation of ethical principles in your work community and/or organisation by reflecting on your ethical leadership. You are able to plan your leadership career in a goal-oriented and versatile way.

Qualifications

No prior knowledge required.

Further information

Assessment Methods
Your learning in the course will be qualitatively assessed based on the learning objectives using various methods: feedback and mentoring from the teacher, self-assessment by the student, and peer feedback received during webinars. The assessment of learning is developmental.

The assessment is based on learning objectives, qualitative, criterion-referenced, and self-assessment by the student plays an important role.