Performativity in Higher Education: An autoethnographic commentary and call to servant leadership in UKHE

The presentation offers an autoethnographic reflective exploration of the author’s experience as an expatriate member of academic staff in the United Kingdom and the increasingly performative nature of teaching and learning in Higher Education. A central theme is the potentially detrimental impact of university operations characterized by administrative Taylorism, megalomaniacal performance indicators, and excessive standardization on learning and teaching culture. The talk proposes that the way we define educational quality—in terms of performance or values—merits reconsideration. Concluding remarks call for a critical reevaluation of linear, causal conceptions of teaching and learning and a revival of holistic learning, and consider servant leadership as a potential guiding principle. A key objective of this approach is to impact student motivation by increasing their sense of competence and autonomy inside and outside the classroom.