Leagility in Pedagogy: Applying Logistics and Supply Chain Management Thinking to Higher Education

Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are commercial organisations facing the same operational problems as any business organisation, thus needing an appropriate business model, particularly for the teaching and learning processes which we refer to as the pedagogical system. The Logistics and Supply Chain Management (LSCM) paradigms are suggested as this new business model. The terminology of "agile education", "agile pedagogy", "the agile classroom", and "lean education" imply similar constructs for education derived from the literature on LSCM, and the intention is to overcome the perceived 8 wastes of education, based on the 8 wastes of manufacturing from the lean thinking model. The Internet is discussed in terms of it being both a disruptive and enabling technology for educationalists and students alike. A high level of digital literacy is now required of both. This paper is a discursive discussion, based on personal experience and perceptions of the author in the university sector. The educational research paradigm known as the "teacher-researcher" or "the teacher as researcher in the classroom" is elaborated, together with Educational Action Research, to meet the possible criticism of this proposal and discussion as being based on the personal opinions of the author.