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

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.