Investigating the realist networks of the Chief Executive Officer of a multi-academy trust

ABSTRACT

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) as a corporate leader of a multi-academy trust (MAT) is an emerging new construct of headteacher in England. Core to this position and practice is the construction and membership of specific networks that I conceptualise as realist. Such networks provide access to privileged policy influencers and corporate actors resulting in an important exchange relationship and reciprocity of resources. I examine these realist networks as a particular mode of governance, that is dialogic. The article reports on research from the larger Leadership of the Lawrence Trust Project, undertaken over a year using an ethnographic approach focusing on the case of KT Edwards, CEO of the Lawrence Trust. The article investigates Edwards’ networks relationally; in so doing it examines the power exchanges that occur. The article uses empirical data to conclude that realist networks for Edwards are complex, dynamic sites of exchange, contingent upon trust, strength of ties and provide significant opportunities for entrepreneurial practices and dialogic governance.

KEYWORDS:

• Realist networks
• CEO
• multi-academy trusts
• governance
• school leadership

Acknowledgments

I am most grateful to Professor Helen Gunter and Dr Steven Courtney and the anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments on earlier drafts of this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Various terms for policy networks are used in policy science: partnerships, interactive governance, interactive policy making, policy community, issue networks (Davies, 2011).

2. The National College of School Leadership (NCSL) became the National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL) in April 2013 and is an Executive Agency sponsored by the DfE.

3. The Regional School Commissioners (RSCs) act on behalf of the Secretary of State for Education accountable to the National Schools Commissioner. They make decisions on academisation, underperforming academies and intervening in academies where governance is inadequate (DfE, 2018b).

4. Headteacher boards (HTBs) are responsible for advising and challenging RSCs on academy-related decisions (DfE, 2018b).

Additional information

Funding

The author received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.