Senior Leader Apprenticeship leads to promotion
Dr Angela Glynn began her career as a physiotherapist, and was working at the University of Brighton as Associate Dean for the School of Sport and Health Sciences in 2019, when she decided to undertake the Senior Leader Masters Degree Apprenticeship. She was appointed to the position of Dean of the School of Health and Sports Sciences just prior to her graduation from the apprenticeship in 2022.
“I was confident in my teaching and academic expertise – I already had a PGCE and a PhD, but I didn’t have any kind of business background, and I realized that if I was to gain a promotion to Dean, this was the missing bit of the jigsaw.
“It’s been empowering to step out of my normal world and understand the overarching HEI landscape, its political drivers and my place within it. It’s this strategic vision and approach which has resulted in my promotion to the post of Dean.
“I was the only academic in my cohort, but I didn’t have an issue with doing something different. The programme content was all completely embedded in my day-to-day role from the beginning, but it also encouraged me to look at areas of my department that I wouldn’t previously have thought I had time to do. And more widely, we have a good policy of work shadowing at the university and the course gave me license a to explore bits of the organisation that are not strictly part of my department or job.
“My dissertation explored the experience of course leaders – I surveyed them about various aspects of their role, and will be working with them to develop and support a community of practice.
“For the marketing module I looked at recruitment to small and struggling health professions, to inform their approach to recruitment. I also looked at leadership and service development in health and social care, particularly around working with colleagues in the health sector to develop proposals. This resulted in tangible changes within local trusts, from proposals they developed.
“An important part of the Senior Leader programme was working with a mix of people from different backgrounds and sectors, to gain insights from other perspectives. This was a very valuable part of the whole experience and it’s been completely transformative.”
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Alex Petrovic • 01/09/2022