The History
Future Leaders began in London in 2006 with 20 participants. Today, there are now over 280 Future Leaders working in more than 200 challenging schools across five regions impacting on the life chances of at least 200,000 pupils in disadvantaged areas.
Our Story
(1) Source: National Pupil Database (final data). Includes pupils at the end of Key Stage 4 in 2008/9 and resident in England, attending LA maintained schools, including CTCs and academies.
Future Leaders is founded on the premise that every child can succeed regardless of background.
Evidence supports that effective, inspirational school leadership can stamp out educational disadvantage - school leaders improve teaching and learning indirectly and most powerfully through their influence on staff motivation, commitment and working conditions1. School leadership is therefore the most determinative factor on pupil outcomes and even more so in challenging schools.
This is one of the main reasons that some schools outperform their more affluent peers, despite high levels of disadvantage. But in the UK, demographic changes combined with the changing nature of schools and the education system, are driving a significant shortage of quality leaders.
To address these needs, the children-focussed charity Absolute Return for Kids (ARK), the National College and the Specialist Schools & Academies Trust (SSAT) established Future Leaders in 2006. These organisations shared the vision for a programme to improve the life chances of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds by raising their attainment through effective, inspirational school leadership. The programme has grown tenfold since.
- 2006 - The Future Leaders Programme launches with a cohort of 20 participants in London.
- 2007 - Having demonstrated early success, Future Leaders gains approval to roll-out the programme to another cohort of participants with 29 new participants beginning their journey towards headship in September 2007.
- 2008 - 52 participants are recruited and the programme expands to Greater Manchester in the September of 2008.
- 2009 - 57 participants are recruited for cohort 09 and the programme expands to the West Midlands. The Future Leaders Charitable Trust is awarded a contract to recruit across a new national programme and to continue a full roll-out of the Future Leaders programme for Cohorts 2010-2012. This clearly endorsed our ability to add value in a competitive and highly contested marketplace.
- 2010 – The largest ever Future Leaders cohort is recruited with 68 participants. The programme expands to Yorkshire and the Humber, the Midlands (to include Leicester, Nottingham and Derby) and the South Coast.
- Future - We are developing other business development opportunities, such as building strategic partnerships with Academy groups to become their leadership development partner.