ABSTRACT
This chapter compares two programme leader (PL) networks at a UK research-focussed university. The first is a cross-university central-formal network led by an educational development unit, the Teaching Excellence Academy, the second a local-informal network led by PLs in an academic department. This second network we can understand as a community of practice (CoP). Both offer personally constructed, socially mediated and inherently situated development, recognised as effective in growing educational leadership (e.g. Hubball et al., 2013; Hubball et al., 2016). Interrogation of the networks suggests they have different implications for members' understanding of the opportunities afforded by the role and development of their practice of programme leadership. This chapter offers useful intelligence for HE leaders, educational developers and PLs looking for a holistic approach to building programme leader capability, and makes explicit the professional and personal benefits of these similar, yet distinct, kinds of socially mediated academic development. The chapter concludes with six-point guides to building and sustaining both a central-formal network and local-informal CoP. Diamond's indigenous Mauri reflection attests to the importance of relationships in professional practice.
