In Service to Wisdom: Proposing an Egalitarian Governance Model for Post-Secondary Nursing Programs

Coffey S*, Anyinam C, Graham L and Da Silva C

Post-secondary nursing programs in Canada operate within institutional structures shaped, often without examination, by hierarchical and historically masculine models of academic governance. These models have a certain efficiency. They also systematically suppress the distributed wisdom, experience, and perspectives available within nursing program communities, undermining both the quality of educational decision-making and the professional development of those who work and study within them. This paper proposes the Wisdom Council as an alternative model of program governance, one grounded in feminist, emancipatory, and servant-leadership theory, and informed by traditions of consensus-based and participatory decision-making found in both Indigenous governance and contemporary civic deliberation scholarship. The Wisdom Council does not displace formal institutional structures but operates at a higher level of principled intent, convening faculty, staff, and students to respond collectively to identified needs, dilemmas, and opportunities. Central to the model are principles of egalitarian relationships, radical participation, and the recognition that leadership and followership are not fixed identities but fluid, situational practices. The Wisdom Council further holds that active observation is a form of full participation, and that silence, far from absence, may represent the most thoughtful form of contribution. The paper explores the theoretical lineage of this model, articulates its design and operational principles, and examines the institutional, relational, and personal conditions that must be cultivated for it to take meaningful root in nursing education contexts.

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Published on: May 22, 2026 Pages: 14-21

Full Text PDF Full Text HTML DOI: 10.17352/2581-4265.000070
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