Marginal influence or leading from the edge? Repositioning EAP administration as agentic academic leadership

This chapter focuses on the role of the English language programme administrators (ELPAs) in post-secondary English for Academic Purposes (EAP) programmes. It outlines the historical background and key conceptual issues impacting the field, and provides a typology of the most common forms of contemporary EAP provision in post-secondary settings. From this overview of the current state-of-the-art, we consider the implications for programme development and administration, and foreshadow likely developments in EAP in the coming years as the changes to the centres of control over EAP and the use of technology continue to impact. Occupying the so-called Third Space between professional and academic domains, a key theme in the EAP literature has been one of marginalisation. The chapter notes that, while EAP may be a cog in the wheel of the neoliberal machine that is contemporary tertiary education, ELPAs can and should seek ways to (re)assert agency, meaning, and influence to ensure the recognition, growth, and effectiveness of the field. This chapter suggests ways in which ELPAs might take steps towards professional and personal empowerment, and develop individual or collective influence for more agentic leadership.