Being an Effective Programme Leader – Challenges, Developments and Opportunities

The aim of this workshop is to explore the role of programme leaders in delivering good student outcomes and an effective learning experience. Programme leaders must engage with a diverse range of stakeholders and are often placed in the role with little or no training or guidance beforehand. The role does not usually confer line management or operational authority but tends to be the focal point for students through their learning journey. Thus various tensions and challenges exist that programme leaders are not automatically equipped to deal with. In order to be effective, however, programme leaders need to be able to overcome these challenges and work effectively with all stakeholder groups. Further, programme leaders form a critical part of a school’s wider management infrastructure, often sitting on committees that make decisions on policy and feeding into the work of more senior colleagues in education-focused roles at school and institution level.