NEU Leadership

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.

NEU is the second largest union for leaders and managers across the entire education sector. 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.

On this page you can find advice and information for leaders on:

NEU Leadership

As part of the NEU Leadership support and advice package you will have access to:

  • NEU Leadership Guild, the exclusive professional messaging app for our leadership members to allow networking and peer support;
  • Annual Leadership Conference, to share effective leadership models, policies, research and collaborative action for change in education;
  • LEAD, the magazine for NEU Leadership members focused on your professional interests and needs;
  • NEU advice and guidance to leadership members in key professional issues including ethical leadership, equality matters and workload;
  • NEU Adviceline for advice on employment rights, and support from our experienced staff including solicitors based in the regions and nations;
  • Leadership CPD that maximises your opportunity to apply knowledge and practice new skills in a changing education environment

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STRB

School leaders and teachers are united in their opposition to the Government’s pay freeze. ASCL, NAHT, NEU and Voice have said that all education staff deserve a significant pay increase, to begin to restore the huge pay cuts against inflation since 2010.

With the economy recovering from the pandemic and earnings across the economy rising significantly, school leaders and teachers are being left behind.  As well as being unfair and undervaluing school leaders and teachers, this will inevitably create new recruitment and retention problems to add to the existing ones.

Read the full press release.

The NEU is campaigning against the school teacher pay freeze in England and for fair pay for all school leaders, teachers and support staff.

Join the Pay campaign.

Latest leadership Covid update on risk assessments and investing in improved ventilation

Joint union letter on workplace safety - GMB, NEU, UNISON & UNITE will support you to keep students and staff safe in the classroom from September

We still await the full details of the guidance that the Government will be giving for next term. The Government seems to have abandoned their responsibility to try to suppress the virus in schools and prevent pupils and staff from contracting Covid-19 and reducing transmission in the wider community. Letting the virus spread unchecked in schools and colleges will lead to further educational disruption, increased long Covid cases in children and create the perfect environment for variants to develop.

For that reason, we will be asking leaders and education employers to continue to take appropriate and necessary measures in September. We hope you will endorse and share that approach.

New risk assessment guidance for September

We want to do all that we can to support you to put in place appropriate measures for September that will keep students and staff safe. It is clear that the Government’s guidance will permit you to adopt measures in addition to their minimal requirements. So much will depend on how the virus continues to spread and increase over the summer and how the Government then reacts. We will therefore publish new risk assessment guidance for leaders before the start of the new term. This will reflect the situation and the latest science at that time and will set out the measures which we will ask you to adopt. So please look out for this guidance in mid-August.

Invest in improved ventilation in time for September

In the interim, we are urging the Government to do more to support you to improve ventilation in your buildings. It is now well accepted that good ventilation can reduce airborne risks; and SAGE has recommended financial support to enable investment in ventilation and air cleaning technologies.  We are campaigning hard to persuade Government to provide further financial support for this purpose.

While we campaign for financial support, however, we still urge you to invest now in CO2 monitors and, where necessary, air filtration devices in time for the new term. The Health and Safety Executive advises that, while CO2 levels are not a direct measure of possible exposure to Covid-19, using a monitor can help identify poorly ventilated areas and also advises that classrooms are well suited to this type of monitoring.

Investment in clean air will continue to reap benefits even when the risks from Covid-19 recede.  Some studies have shown that the air inside a building can be more polluted than the air outside.

Visit this page regularly for further updates in relation to advice on Health and Safety for all school staff and pupils. We are committed to continuing to work with you to keep students and staff safe and in school next term.

Directed time and whole school well-being

Leadership educators continue to make a huge contribution during this pandemic, working well over what is expected in contractual terms.  School Leaders deserve a fair workload, during a time when there is political pressure for recovery education.

As ethical leaders, the importance of addressing directed time can effectively begin to tackle workload for you and your staff.  Listen to Headteacher and NEU President, Robin Bevan, talking about why he places importance on the directed time calendar in his school.

Let us know the the positive stories you have around directed time and workload.

Leaders holding school communities together

Leaders are continuing to make incredible efforts to maintain student’s education and staff wellbeing in the face of the current crisis.

Access more videos and articles on the Remote Education Hub which puts educational professionals at the heart of developing practice which supports teaching and learning during lockdown.

Code of Ethical Leadership in Practice

Headteacher and NEU president, Robin Bevan, presents in this video, the Code of Ethical Leadership in Practice and gives examples of how he has used it in his school context. Download the guide below.

Leadership
Code of Ethical Practice in Leadership

The National Education Union believes ethical leadership should be at the heart of everything we do. Please use this document to help support and inform your leadership style, whether new to management and leadership or experienced. 

Download PDF

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Advice for leaders