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Leaders

Schools and colleges need to be effectively led by leaders and managers who are well supported and developed to meet and succeed in an immensely challenging education environment.

The National Education Union is the largest education union in Europe. School leaders and college managers are vital to the NEU as they are in a strong position to influence and implement policy. The union sees the great value of supporting and helping to develop ethical leaders who lead and shape the future of education.

The NEU understands the complex and professionally demanding work done by school leaders and college managers. We offer advice that will assist leaders in finding their way through these challenges.   

We support leaders to stand together with other educational professionals to inform NEU policy that benefits teaching and learning and the education system.

Pay and recruitment

Our priority this term, is to ensure that the national pay award is implemented in full at every school, so that every teacher receives their cost-of-living rise and all eligible teachers receive pay progression.

In your leadership role, you will know that there is a workforce crisis as the Government abjectly fails to meet its teacher training recruitment targets and fails to stem the tide of teachers leaving the profession within five years. You will know of the difficulties in recruiting support staff because their pay levels are uncompetitive with private sector jobs which require far less skill and dedication.

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Middle leaders

Heads of department, curriculum leaders, SENCOs and ECT mentors flourish in their roles when they are provided with adequate time, development opportunities and collaborative support.

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NPQs

The NPQs are a suite of qualifications designed to support the development of leaders working across primary and secondary schools.

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School leadership in current times

The working lives of school leaders in the UK and how they are changing, how school leaders feel about their jobs and how school leadership can be best supported and developed.

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Belonging and leadership

The NEU’s ‘Belonging’ research highlights that where school leaders developed an intentional approach focused on changing learning and teaching.

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Retrofitting schools

Retrofitting school buildings is not a quick fix to current high energy bills but in the longer term can cut carbon emissions and enable schools to make much-needed savings.

Code of ethical practice in leadership

Ethical leadership should be at the heart of everything we do. Staff and students will only experience support and care if school leaders are ethically motivated and well-prepared for their roles.

Keeping ethics at the heart of your practice

As a leader, you may find yourself pulled between what you believe is right, what the students need, what other members of the senior leadership team expect, what school or college policy dictates and what the Government or law requires.

Wellbeing: leading and managing a well workplace

The wellbeing of school and college leaders and their organisation are inextricably linked. Once the leadership is coming from the ‘right place’ the foundation is set to develop the wellbeing of the organisation.

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