OTSA Exploring Leadership Programme

The Exploring Leadership Programme is aimed at early career teachers, people who have completed their NQT/ECT period and who have limited or no leadership responsibility yet, who have demonstrated that they are effective classroom practitioners, with a high commitment to professional learning, as well as support staff seeking to broaden their options for career progression. It is a highly reflective programme that enables participants to recognise and nurture the leader within.

Participants will gain a deeper understanding of effective leadership, a greater awareness of their own leadership strengths and areas for development, and identify their next steps in pursuing leadership opportunities and further professional learning within their schools.

Online Programme dates – run as virtual twilights from 4pm to 5.30pm

• Session 1 – Thursday 16th January 2025
• Session 2 – Thursday 27th February 2025
• Session 3 – Thursday 27th March 2025
• Session 4 – Thursday 22nd May 2025
• Session 5(a) – Tuesday 1st July 2025 and 5(b) – Thurs 3rd July 2025

Participants are expected to actively participate in all sessions and complete inter-sessional tasks. An OTSA Exploring Leadership Programme certificate is awarded upon successful completion.

Programme Outline:

Session 1: What is Leadership?
Consideration of aspects of management and leadership. Participants will consider aspects of leadership they already have in leading learning. Case studies of effective leaders to draw out the underlying principles of effective leadership will be used.

Session 2: Self Awareness
Review outcomes from a 360 diagnostic leadership survey, carried out previously, followed by exploration of conscious leadership.

Session 3: Building Relationships
The importance of positive relationships for effective leadership. There will be opportunities to consider frameworks for effective conversations, enrolling staff in shared visions and modelling positive behaviours.

Session 4: Managing the Demands of Leadership
Presentation and discussion of a toolkit for supporting teachers in managing the demands of a leadership role, whilst maintaining the quality of their teaching.

Session 5: Reflections and Next Steps
Participants will present their reflections on leadership and the impact this has had on their own professional development. They will provide a plan for their next steps for their continuing professional learning.

Additional Elements:

• Leadership self-analysis
• Shadowing of a middle leader within their own school
• Visit to another school to see leadership in a different context
• Completion of a planning and reflection document, followed by final presentation of findings.

Accessing the online event

Following registration for this event you will receive an email from Eventbrite confirming your place. If you do not receive the email within a few minutes, please check your junk or spam folders and check that the correct email address was provided at the time of booking. If you did not create an account at the time of booking or someone else booked on your behalf, you will need to create an Eventbrite account. Open your booking confirmation email, select ‘Claim Your Order’ and then choose a password. Make a note of your email address that was used to make the booking and your new password – you will need these to access the Eventbrite page containing the link to the event.

A minimum of 48 hours before the event begins you will receive another email from Eventbrite containing a direct link to the event and to the Eventbrite Online Event page. Login to Eventbrite, using the same email and password you used to create your account. You will now have access to the online event link and any pre-event materials. This link must not be shared with other people.

Please test the link the day before the event to make sure you can connect. If you need help please email info@otsa.org.uk or call 01865 647999 in good time before the event begins. We will be unable to help during the event itself. Please note, if you unsubscribe from Eventbrite before the event takes place you will not receive any further emails from Eventbrite and therefore will not receive the email with the link to the event.

We do not provide refunds if you are unable to access the event due to technical issues that are beyond our control.

Participation in online events

In all cases, at the beginning of the session to confirm your identity please ensure that your camera is on, your username matches the name you registered with and that you register in ‘chat’ with your first name, second name and organisation. This is for security and registration purposes and we may remove, without refunds, participants who have not confirmed their identity as described above.

Our online events aim to be interactive and at times you may be expected to have your camera and microphone on during the session, although usually your microphone should be muted.

We may use ‘Raised Hands’, ‘Reactions’, ‘Chat’, ‘Polls’, shared whiteboards and shared screens during the session. We may also use ‘Breakout Rooms’ to allow you to work in a smaller group.

This event will not be recorded for copyright and privacy reasons.

Refunds

No refunds will be given with less than 30 days notice.

In the event of a refund request, please note that the Eventbrite booking fee of 6.95% plus 0.59p per ticket is not refundable.

To keep our event fees as low as possible, we are not able to issue invoices for payment by cheque or bank transfer and we are not able to reserve places without payment.

We strongly recommend that you take out ‘event ticket insurance’ which may cover the cost of your fee should you be unable to attend the event.

Technical difficulties

Should an online session encounter any technical difficulties we will do our best to continue with the session, this may be on a different online platform. In the event that we are unable to do this we will rearrange the session, if you are unable to attend the new date a full refund will be given.