Introduction

Dear colleague,

Research conducted for the Teaching Schools Council in the West Midlands (TSCWM) showed that there are significant numbers of staff acting in school-to-school support roles at middle leadership levels. Many of these have been officially designated as specialist leaders of education (SLEs) but many more carry out the role without that ‘badge’

Some SLEs have had some induction training and now the TSC in the Region has secured some funding to develop a larger programme for middle system leaders and it wants to design that programme collaboratively with the potential participants. This online questionnaire is the first stage in that process. That will be followed by a design workshop in November (see details later) and we hope that some of the people completing this survey will be able come to the workshop and help specify the programme content and methods

This survey is being conducted by The Centre for the Use of Research and Evidence in Education (CUREE) on behalf of the Teaching Schools Council in the West Midlands. Find out more about CUREE here and about the TSC here.
 
This survey is in three sections:

A – About you
B – The current challenges faced by middle system leaders
C – The topics, foci and methods of the programme

The survey is not designed to be anonymous – if possible we would like to be able to contact you about the next stages of the design process – but the name and contact details sections are not compulsory. We promise that your contact details will not be provided to third parties nor will they be used for any other purpose without your prior permission.

This survey has been designed to be easy to use and quick to complete and we hope you will find the time to make some comments to help us develop a highly relevant and practically feasible programme. We would really appreciate your input.
 
Best wishes,

Paul Crisp
Managing Director 
CUREE
[recently Teaching and Leadership Adviser, West Midlands]

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