A note on versions:The version presented here may differ from the published version or, version of record, if you wish to cite this item you are advised to consult the publisher's version. Please see the 'permanent WRAP url' above for details on accessing the published version and note that access may require a subscription.For more information, please contact the WRAP Team at: wrap@warwick.ac.ukDeveloping an identity as an Ed.D leader: A reflexive narrative account Abstract This paper considers the challenges encountered by a recently appointed assistant programme leader in establishing an identity as a leader of an Ed.D programme. In discussing literature on the development of the Ed.D the paper recognises an existing concern with student identity but highlights a need to consider the development of the Ed.D leader's identity as a leader. Employing a reflexive narrative the paper emphasises the centrality of the leader's disabled identity in considering the role and in becoming a leader. The Ed.D is identified as a social space where colleagues are often engaged their professional learning with the Ed.D leadership team support. This paper tracks some of the commonplace behaviours around such learning, in a post 1992 institution, and discusses the implications for Ed.D leadership and management teams, when trying to consider and implement changes to established organizational cultures.Word count 140 /150.Key words: Doctorate of Education; Disability;; Higher Education; Identity; reflexive narratives; social spaces; Stammering.Developing an identity as an Ed.D leader: A reflexive narrative account Introduction Employing a reflexive narrative to explore the contested site of the Ed.D, the paper focuses on the experiences of one member of the Academy, a sociologist, currently working in an education department of a post 92 institution and contributing to the leadership of an Ed.D as part of the programme leadership team. Working in an education department which is vocationally orientated and situated outside of the social sciences the reflexive narrative explores how an identity of a social science academic in the role of a leader on an Ed.D programme is produced within an education department.Additionally, identifying as a disabled academic and person who stammers, the narrative explores the ways in which a precarious identity, conscious of an expectation to perform aesthetic labour as a 'leader' is produced. Beginning with an overview of the growth in professional doctorates the paper goes on to consider identities within the Academy. The narrative is focused on the management of identity for one member of the Academy, the first author who has a leadership role on an Ed.D programme. The discussion is supported from a recent graduate of that programme, currently a programme leader of an MA Education programme in a Russell Group university.The Landscape of the Ed.DThe landscape of higher education has evolved in recent years, reflecting a context of internationalisation, marketization and the demands of the 'knowl...