“Guilty face” – middle managers of Russian origin in UK universities and problematic cultural gendered leadership identity construction

Authors
LINAKER T.
Affiliation
King’s College London
Issue 56
Pages
137-162

The UK Institution Wide Language Programmes (IWLPs) face existential threat due to their unique positioning both within and outside the University structure, due to lack of funding provision and challenges with students’ recruitment due to the general decline of language learning at schools and optional language module choices for students. In this context Russian, categorised as a “less commonly taught” language, become particularly vulnerable due to addition geopolitical pressure, affecting students’ and staff motivation. This study explores problematic leadership experience of middle managers of Russian origin and highlights the ways they resist or conform to global societal discourses through the intersectional of personal and professional. By adopting the method of narrative inquiry and positioning analysis of data emerging from unstructured interviews with five participants, the study makes a unique contribution to the body of research on educational leadership identity.

For citation

Linaker, T. (2024). “Guilty face” – middle managers of Russian origin in UK universities and problematic cultural gendered leadership identity construction. Issues of Applied Linguistics, 56, 137-162. https://doi.org/10.25076/vpl.56.06

This artiсle is available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.