Learning to Lead, Leading to Learn: Lessons for Language Educators
Andy Curtis
​(Leadership in Language Education Series)
Launch date: May 16, 2026

Learning to Lead, Leading to Learn: Lessons for Language Educators offers a bold and original exploration of leadership in language education - one that moves beyond abstract theory and managerial checklists. Based on extensive reviews of leadership research in healthcare, higher education, and the non-profit sector, the book distils decades of scholarship into clear, accessible insights that language educators can apply meaningfully to their own contexts. These literature-based perspectives are complemented by deeply personal narrative vignettes that bring leadership dilemmas, ethical tensions, and professional turning points vividly to life.
​
Written for language educators already in leadership roles (or likely to assume them), this book challenges readers to reflect on who they are as leaders, not just what they do. With clarity, candour, and a distinctive narrative voice, Andy Curtis invites readers to derive their own leadership lessons through reflection, dialogue, and critical engagement. The result is a book that is intellectually rigorous, emotionally resonant, and refreshingly human, designed to be read selectively, reflectively, and revisited over time.

About the author

Andy Curtis, PhD, is an international educator, researcher, and author with over 40 years of experience working in healthcare, higher education, and non-profit organisations across the UK, North America, Asia, and beyond. He has published widely on leadership, language education, and professional identity, and is known for bridging research with lived experience.

Endorsements

In this book, Dr. Andy Curtis draws on decades of a highly unusual professional journey – from being a clinical biochemist working in hospitals in England in the early 1980s to being elected as the 50th President of the TESOL International Association 30 years later. Such a pathway is certainly a rarity in our field, but that has enabled him to draw on a much broader range of work experiences than most of us can claim, which forms the basis of this unique contribution to the literature on leadership in language education. The book is beautifully organized and full of delightful (and sometimes sad) stories and anecdotes. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in becoming a better leader.
 
Professor Kathleen M. Bailey
Middlebury Institute of International Studies
Monterey, California, USA
While language education is a field that draws people from different professional areas, Dr. Andy Curtis has worked in more than most. And as he notes in this highly engaging and original work on leadership in language education, having followed such a non-traditional career path has given him unique insights into language and culture, teaching, and learning that are the result of him having taken a number of roads far less travelled. I know of no other book in our field which brings together such extensive reviews of the leadership literature from different areas combined with powerful personal narratives and lessons for leaders.
 
Professor Joyce Kling
Centre for Languages and Literature
Lund University, Sweden
Tapestry is a profound, intoxicating cocktail of leadership wisdom that transcends the boundaries of language education. By weaving together a systematic review of cross-disciplinary literature with the raw honesty of a semi-autobiography, Dr. Andy Curtis explores the complex intersections of history, politics, and race relations across England, Canada, Hong Kong and elsewhere. It offers both a window into a remarkable life and a mirror for leaders in any field. This compulsive read challenges leaders to confront difficult questions regarding their stewardship and intended legacy. It is an essential, transformative guide for the modern, reflective leader.
 
Professor Okon Effiong
College of Education
Lusail University, Doha, Qatar

Target audience

This book is for language educators in leadership or management roles, as well as those preparing to take on such responsibilities. It will also be of interest to teacher educators, graduate students, and researchers in TESOL and applied linguistics.

Contents

  • Foreword by Kevin Knight
  • Chapter 1. Introduction and Overview
  • Chapter 2. Research on the Relationships Between Leadership and Management
  • Chapter 3. Auto/Biographies and Auto/Ethnographies in Language Education
  • Chapter 4. Part 1. 50 Years of Research on Leadership in Healthcare
  • Chapter 4. Part 2. Narrative Vignettes From My Years Working in Healthcare
  • ​​Chapter 5. Part 1. 50 Years of Research on Leadership in Higher Education
  • ​Chapter 5: Part 2. Narrative Vignettes From My Years Working in Higher Education
  • ​Chapter 6. Part 1. 50 Years of Research on Leadership in Non-Profit and Not-for-Profit Organizations
  • ​Chapter 6. Part 2. Narrative Vignettes From My Years Working in NFPs
  • ​Chapter 7: Concluding Reflections​
  • Annotated Resources

Key takeaways

  • A clear, research-informed understanding of leadership and management
  • ​Leadership lessons grounded in lived experience
  • Cross-sector perspectives uniquely applied to language education
  • A reflective, non-prescriptive approach to leadership development
  • Insights for current and aspiring leaders
  • An honest examination of power, identity, and responsibility
  • A modular structure for selective reading and reflection
  • Reflection questions after key chapters
  • Annotated resources for further reading

Publication details

Publication date: May 16, 2026
Series: Leadership in Language Education
ISBN (print): 9798248228232
​DOI: https://doi.org/10.47908/43
240 pages