"We are looking for outstanding school leaders who will help to perform key system leadership roles across schools, and whose own school has the capacity to provide effective assistance to other schools."
The next round of recruitment for National Leaders of Education will be opening in October 2009. Find out more about the application process.
National Leaders of Education (NLE) are outstanding school leaders who, together with the staff in their schools, use their knowledge and experience of teaching to provide additional leadership capacity to schools in difficulty. Many NLEs will have previously worked to support schools in difficulty and all have worked beyond their own school. National Support Schools (NSS) are the schools for which the NLE is a serving headteacher.
The first tranche of 60 NLEs was designated in October 2006, with a further 68 designated in July 2007. A third cohort took on the role in September 2008. The longer-term aim is to establish 500 NLEs by 2012, with 300 in primary schools and 200 in secondary schools, so creating a critical mass of system leaders across the country.
"Effective support from a National Leader of Education has reversed the decline and standards are now rising. The school has clearly benefitted from the support of the NLE." (Ofsted inspection report)
(68kb, 5 pages)"The NLE programme is making a major contribution to leadership development and succession planning." (Peter Matthews)
"The NLE programme is becoming one of the most effective levers of school improvement in recent years...We potentially have the means to consign mediocre schooling to history." (Steve Munby)
"The improvement since the last inspection has been outstanding. This remarkable improvement has come about as a result of the outstanding leadership of the executive headteacher (an NLE)." (Ofsted inspection report)
The deployment of NLEs and their NSS staff has been tailor-made to suit the needs of each school in challenging circumstances (the client school), and is the responsibility of local authorities. However, the following features will be common to all circumstances:
(482kb, 32 pages) Note: The NLE/NSS criteria have changed since this guide was produced. (168kb, 6 pages) (344kb, 11 pages)The Fellowship Programme is the pinnacle of NCSL provision and offers an exciting opportunity to those who want to influence the wider education landscape as system leaders.
Read more about our programme of support for National Challenge advisers.
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