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Date: 11 Mar 2010
Address: http://www.nationalcollege.org.uk/index/professional-development/lftm/lftm-programme-details

LftM programme details

Leading from the Middle (LtfM) is delivered via a combination of face-to-face sessions, online activities and school-based activity (the Leadership Focus).

Face-to-face sessions Details
Leadership coach development day (leadership coaches only) Leadership coaches are provided with a full day's training to equip them for their role. The emphasis of this day is on the development of the interpersonal and process skills associated with coaching individual participants and understanding their role of leadership coach on the programme.
Induction: Engagement twilight session (leadership coaches and participants) This twilight session brings together leadership coaches and middle leader participants as a learning set. They will be introduced to the programme as well as experiencing the online learning tools.
Development day 1: Self-awareness (participants only)

The focus of this day is to help middle leaders explore their leadership role and who they aspire to be within their leadership roles. Participants will explore:

  • understanding the need to change; developing a deeper understanding of leadership and the changing role of middle leaders in the national education agenda
  • processing the outcomes from the online diagnostic tool, starting to identify current strengths and areas for development
Leadership coach twilight session (leadership coaches only) Between development days 1 and 2, coaches attend their second face-to-face session, a twilight session focusing on developing their skills beyond the one-to-one and into one-to-group coaching and facilitation.
Development day 2: Leading innovation and change (participants only) The focus of the day is on exploring the processes of change, setting goals and planning for action. The outcome will be a development plan to enable the participants to develop their leadership behaviour and skills in a sustained way. Participants will also consider overcoming barriers to change.
Development day 3: Leading teams (participants only)

Participants will focus on areas arising from team leadership including:

  • extended coaching and listening skills
  • understanding your team's openness to change through processing outcomes from the online team healthcheck tool
Twilight celebration: A learning conversation (participants and leadership coaches)

This session focuses on:

  • sharing learning and key themes from LftM
  • celebrating achievements for participants
  • enhancing communication skills of participants and coaches
Leadership Focus Leadership Focus is a planned activity that allows participants to develop their leadership skills in practice in school. The activity may be based on an aspect of the participant's current role, such as the development of their team, or the delivery of a current initiative.
Online learning Details
 

The online tools are a core element of the programme and form part of a blended approach to learning that includes both online and face-to-face elements as well as practical school-based activities.

LftM participants and leadership coaches will access online resources such as Learn to Lead and Virtual School. The online diagnostic activities will help participants understand their leadership strengths, team effectiveness and personal style preferences. Online learning is also a social activity where participants can engage with each other through online communities.

Completion criteria

In order to gain maximum benefit from the programme it is important that participants play a full role in the programme. In order to receive a programme completion certificate, participants are required to fulfil the following completion criteria.

  • Attendance at all face-to-face sessions (or authorised absence agreed by regional provider)* .
  • Completion of the middle leader development diagnostic for presentation at development day one and following development day three.
  • Completion of the mid programme evaluation questionnaire.
  • Completion of the leadership abstract for presentation at the celebration.
  • Completion of the online end of programme evaluation questionnaire.

(*Examples of authorised absence include, but are not exclusive to, Ofsted visits, illness and unavoidable medical appointments. Forthcoming reasons for absence should be discussed in advance with regional providers during office hours and alternate arrangements explored.)