Supporting Course and Programme Leaders in Higher Education

Practical Wisdom for Leaders, Educational Developers and Programme Leaders

Jenny Lawrence, Sue Morón-García, Rowena Senior, Jenny Lawrence, Sue Morón-García, Rowena Senior

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN:
  9780367610388
• eBook ISBN:
  9781000536850
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Offering research- and evidence-based approaches that explore the essential components of programme leadership in higher education, this book is designed to define, develop and support the programme leadership role and all those who undertake it.

The book is split into three parts, taking into account the three different lenses through which programme leaders and their professional practice and relationships are generally viewed: the institution, the individual and the programme team. Chapters and case studies address key elements crucial to the holistic development of programme leadership and programme leaders. These include:

• Understanding and developing programme leadership in context
• Developing organisational structures and processes so programme leaders can thrive
• Growing programme leaders' educational leadership, team working and communication

Crucial reading for programme leaders, as well as academic and educational developers and leaders working across faculties and whole institutions, this text includes contributions from teaching- and research-focused higher education institutions, as well as established and modern college- and university-based providers in both the northern and southern hemispheres.

Part 1Institutional development of programme leadership and programme leadersUnderstanding and developing the role

Introduction

Jenny Lawrence, UK

DOI: 10.4324/​9781003127413-3

Taking a strategic, whole-institution approach to understanding and then developing the role of programme leader (PL) is crucial to PL and so institutional success. Before PLs can be supported and developed, it is crucial to understand their professional environment, the policies, processes and people they work with. As such, this section explores methods for understanding the nature of programme leadership in specific contexts, organisational development of programme leadership, methods to identify developmental needs and cross-institutional approaches to academic and professional development for PLs. Contributions written by strategic leaders and educational developers working across their institutions or sector offer detailed accounts of their work, successes and lessons learned and spotlight PLs' experience and voices. Here the importance of a comprehensive role descriptor or compendium of activity undertaken by PLs and socially mediated professional development emerge as crucial to PL success.

Institutional development of programme leadership and programme leaders will be of interest to

HE managers, educational developers or programme leaders working at a strategic level across their organisation, faculty or academic unit.

Chapter and case study relevance to specific tasks and activities

1. Understanding programme leadership across a nation/discipline
   Chapter 1. A National Approach: Foregrounding programme leadership in Scotland. Martha Caddell, Sam Ellis, Christine Haddow and Kimberly Wilde Davis
2. Understanding programme leadership in your specific HEI
   Chapter 2. Understanding and defining programme leadership in a large institution. Rachel Forsyth and Stephen Powell
3. Defining programme leader responsibilities
   Chapter 2. Understanding and defining programme leadership in a large institution. Rachel Forsyth and Stephen Powell
4. Writing a role descriptor
   Case Study 1. Developing a role statement for programme leadership. Louise Maddock, Samantha Carruthers, Karen van Haeringen, Helen Massa and Christopher Love
5. Building a programme of development for programme leaders
   Chapter 2. Understanding and defining programme leadership in a large institution. Rachel Forsyth and Stephen Powell
   Chapter 3. Developing program leadership in an Australian university: An institutional approach to professional learning and development. Louise Maddock, Samantha Carruthers and Karen van Haeringen
   Chapter 4. A collaborative and comprehensive approach to designing an institutional development for programme leaders. Petia Petrova
6. Principles for design, delivery and update of a cross-institutional development programme
   Chapter 4. A collaborative and comprehensive approach to designing an institutional development for programme leaders. Petia Petrova
7. Facilitating a programme leader network
   Chapter 5. Harnessing the potential of formal networks and informal communities to support the holistic development of programme leaders, Graham Scott and Jenny Lawrence
8. Supporting PLs understanding of the role and managing their responsibilities
   Case Study 2. Academic almanac: A practical workshop for programme leaders to plan the academic cycle. Juliet Eve
9. Growing the esteem of programme leadership and the academic agency of programme leaders
   Chapter 1. A National Approach: Foregrounding programme leadership in Scotland. Martha Caddell, Sam Ellis, Christine Haddow and Kimberly Wilde Davis
   Chapter 2. Understanding and defining programme leadership in a large institution. Rachel Forsyth and Stephen Powell
   Chapter 3. Developing program leadership in an Australian university: An institutional approach to professional learning and development. Louise Maddock, Samantha Carruthers and Karen van Haeringen
   Chapter 5. Harnessing the potential of formal networks and informal communities to support the holistic development of programme leaders. Graham Scott and Jenny Lawrence

Chapter 1A national approachForegrounding programme leadership in Scotland

Martha Caddell, Sam Ellis, Christine Haddow and Kimberly Wilder-Davis, UK

DOI: 10.4324/​9781003127413-4

Introduction

Within the institutional landscape of the university, programme leadership occupies a pivotal position between student learning, academic leadership and strategic decision-making. Yet this critically situated role is often undervalued and under-recognised (Senior, 2018), treated as a repository for the multitude of tasks that simply need to be done. While each may be vital to student support and institutional process, they are often lacking in prestige and institutional recognition (Blackmore and Kandiko, 2011). Programme leaders (PLProgramme leader) experience this as hidden labour, work under recognised and often unrewarded (Murphy and Curtis, 2013), with limited ring-fenced time in an already-complex workload. This labour can be sidelined and masked, particularly in discussions of staff recognition and reward, where ‘programme management’ may be seen as the poor relation of ‘academic leadership’, where research is valued over teaching.

We explore in this chapter how collaboration – at national, institutional and individual team levels – can cast a positive light on programme leadership to bring it out from the academic shadowlands. Exploring this in a multi-institutional context, in this case bringing together colleagues from across the nation of Scotland, offers opportunities for greater depth of learning among PLs, a deepening of confidence in individual and institutional decision-making and opportunities for PLs to build networks that enhance both the value and prestige of their leadership position.

This collaborative initiative is built on existing cross-sector enhancement work embedded in the Scottish university landscape – the Quality Assurance Agency Scotland's Enhancement Theme model (www.enhancementthemes.ac.uk). Our chapter explores the formation of a ‘Collaborative Cluster’ focused on programme leadership to bring together PLs and those responsible for enhancing institutional practice to explore key challenges including leading without authority, role confusion, working with programme-level data and a lack of role-specific opportunities for professional development. Drawing on insights from this work, the chapter highlights the multiple layers of engagement required to bring these key roles into the institutional and sectoral spotlight and ensure their pivotal position in enhancing the student experience is supported and rewarded.

Specifically, our narrative explores the recognition and value associated with programme leadership, the key role such posts play in relation to the evidence landscape and the action required to enhance practice across multiple layers of intervention – from sector-wide support to the refining and reframing of individual roles. As we do so, we offer opportunities to:

1. Explore specific vignettes of practice from the frontline of programme leadership
2. Consider the importance of collaboration for developing institutional and individual conversation to initiate changed practice
3. Reflect on the value of external, multi-institutional collaboration in offering routes for recognition and reward for those in PL roles

Throughout, we reflect on the challenges associated with developing and sustaining such collaboration and highlight how even modest additional resourcing can boost prestige and practical support for PLs.

Programme leadership: Building an agenda for action in Scotland

As highlighted by Lawrence and Ellis (2018), the centrality of the role runs counter to the (limited) visibility and status it generally affords The PL role remains ‘fuzzy’ in nature (Mitchell, 2015), the significant variations in the role both between and within institutions, and that day-to-day leadership activities remain ‘largely in the shadows' (Murphy and Curtis, 2013). This is surprising, given the linchpin role that PLs occupy in determining the coherence of the student experience and translating university policies into practice (Milburn, 2010).

Exploring the disjuncture between the pivotal institutional position of PLs and their relatively low status and esteem in Scottish institutions was a central concern as we moved forward with the Collaborative Cluster work (c.f. Cunningham and Wilder, 2019; Haddow, 2019). Working across institutions, sharing practice and a common agenda for exploration and change, we sought to identify where practical action was both possible and required. In doing so, we actively sought to reposition these roles often hidden within the institutional landscape, to positions of acknowledged and valued academic leadership.

Framing this work required a multi-layered approach, encompassing four interconnected spheres of enhancement: sectoral, institutional, programme team culture and practice and individual PL support (see Figure 1.1).

Figure 1.1 Understanding programme leadership: Spheres of enhancement (adapted from Caddell et al., 2020a)

Exploring programme leadership through this lens opened space to look at the practical steps to enhance understanding of the programme leadership role, extend its visibility and introduce the everyday changes required to amplify the impact of PLs.

Colleagues from across the Scottish sector were invited to participate in a collaborative activity on programme leadership under the umbrella of the nation's wider quality enhancement activity. A culture of collaboration is strongly embedded in the Scottish sector, with its 19 universities working together on shared themes, and developing strategic and practical initiatives together with support from the Quality Assurance Agency Scotland [www.enhancementthemes.ac.uk]. This platform provided the springboard into discussion of programme leadership and the development of a shared agenda for action.

Casting light on programme leadership: The Enhancing Programme Leadership Collaborative Cluster

From the outset, the Enhancing Programme Leadership Collaborative Cluster adopted an action-learning approach, exploring and enhancing individual, institutional and sector practice through collective learning. The Cluster activity sought to create a wide span of involvement, encompassing PLs, educational developers, planners, those with responsibility for learning analytics and other relevant roles. Sh...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half-Title Page
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication Page
• Contents
• List of contributors
• Foreword
• List of acronyms and abbreviations
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction: Supporting course and programme leaders in higher education: Positioning programme leadership as central to HE success
• Part 1 Institutional development of programme leadership and programme leaders: Understanding and developing the role
• Part 2 Individual programme leaders: The development of leadership through experience and collaboration
• Part 3 The practice of programme leadership: Leading programme teams
• Index