Dr Sam Ellis, SFHEA & Dr. Jenny Lawrence, PFHEA, AFSEDA

The programme leader or director role is a complex and important one, crucial to higher education institutions core business: the delivery of under- and post-graduate programmes of study.

As student experience data feeds into the metrics that inform TEF and other university rankings university senior management teams are increasingly looking to programme leaders to take more responsibility for the curriculum and learning and teaching practice on the programmes they lead. However, the role of programme leadership is relatively new; within an institution or faculty there is often lack of clarity regarding remit; many programme leaders are responsible for multiple programmes; and support for those practicing varies enormously across the sector.

The key responsibilities of the programme leader include academic leadership – that is creating a unified and coherent academic programme made up of an (often inherited) collection of modules, and the leadership of academics – supporting peers in delivering effective learning and teaching across the programme. Attempting to do this without clear authority or managerial power can be demanding.

This #LTHEchat will be based on our co-edited work ‘Supporting Programme Leaders and Programme Leadership’ (Lawrence and Ellis, 2018), a collection of articles and case studies exploring the programme leader role and interventions and practices that have supported successful programme leadership.

Evidence suggests the most effective and preferred developmental exercise is, for the programme leaders, peer-to-peer conversation (Senior 2018; Moore, 2018). We invite programme leaders, directors and convenors and all those invested in the role – aspiring programme leaders, educational developers, deans and HR managers, to share their collective wisdom as we explore how you address some of the programme leaders key challenges.

References

Lawrence, J. and Ellis, S (2018) Supporting Programme Leaders and Programme Leadership. London: Staff and Educational Development Association.

Moore, S. (2018) Beyond Isolation: Exploring the relationality and collegiality of the programme leader role. Lawrence, J. and Ellis, S (2018) Supporting Programme Leaders and Programme Leadership. London: Staff and Educational Development Association.

Senior, R. (2018) The shape of programme leadership in the contemporary university. Lawrence, J. and Ellis, S (2018) Supporting Programme Leaders and Programme Leadership. London: Staff and Educational Development Association.

Dr. Jenny Lawrence, PFHEA, AFSEDA is Teaching Enhancement Advisor at the University of Hull @jennywahwah

Dr Sam Ellis, SFHEA is Senior Lecturer in Academic Development at Glasgow Caledonian University @xSamEllis