National leaders of education and national support schools

National leaders of education (NLEs) are outstanding headteachers or principals who, together with the staff in their schools (designated national support schools (NSS)), use their skills and experience to support schools in challenging circumstances. In addition to leading their own schools, NLEs work to increase the leadership capacity of other schools to help raise standards.

In November 2010, the Schools White Paper announced the expansion of the NLE/NSS programme. The target is to designate 1,000 NLEs by 2014-15.

What’s involved?

Once recruited onto the programme, you and your school will work with schools and academies in the most challenging of circumstances. What’s involved will depend on what is required by the school in need of support. Each deployment is negotiated separately with the relevant local authority or appropriate commissioning body. Find out more about what’s involved.

Duration

Once recruited, you will remain designated until you no longer meet the criteria.

Costs

Commissioning bodies pay for costs associated with deployments. The College provides an annual bursary to contribute to the infrastructure costs of running a NSS (such as contributing towards meeting the cost of a school business manager). The College also provides a free induction programme and organises NLE regional networking events and annual conferences for NSS staff at no extra cost.