Centre for Excellence in Leadership
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FE leaders discuss leadership vision at CEL policy seminars
A series of six policy seminars recently hosted by the Centre for Excellence in Leadership (CEL) brought together an influential group of senior leaders from colleges, education and training providers, sector agencies and the DfES to discuss and debate key themes around leadership, the public sector and changes currently being faced by sector leaders.
"Leading the FE System – shaping the world of tomorrow" is a summary of the series and future perspectives, published by CEL in May.
CEL’s chief executive, Lynne Sedgmore, said, "The seminars provided a forum for considered and challenging discourse, and we were struck by the enthusiasm for these policy discussions. As the series progressed and the elements of a vision began to emerge, so too did some key elements of the leaders we aspire to be." The seminars highlighted the aspirations of FE sector leaders to: * exercise their potential as strategic, proactive leaders, confident in their role and mission, exploiting their full capacity to act and innovate in the interests of their learners and wider community * understand how they secure legitimacy and authority for action to create public value through engagement with the learners, stakeholders and citizens in their communities * articulate a clear and independent mission that is aligned with DfES and LSC priorities and also takes into account broader public service and reform themes and the local community, employer and learner context * take their place as leaders in their locality alongside other public services and agencies to ensure that the FE system is contributing to wider public service outcomes such as social mobility, civic inclusion and integration, and well-being * understand FE as a whole system with clarity of intention for all its parts so that leaders are prepared to take joint responsibility for its effective operation. Mrs Sedgmore said, "We will discuss with the DfES and other national partners how the seminar themes can best be taken forward, including through the national improvement strategy. We will take these themes into account within our curriculum development processes and ensure that they inform our own programmes and activities." NOTES TO EDITORS The report, "Leading the FE system – shaping the world of tomorrow", authored by Caroline Mager, CEL’s director for strategic policy, may be downloaded from CEL’s website at
www.centreforexcellence.org.uk/UsersDoc/LeadingtheFEsystem.pdf
About CEL The Centre for Excellence in Leadership (CEL) was launched in October 2003, as a key national agency within the Success for All initiative. CEL has a crucial role to play in developing organisational leadership in the further education system to anticipate, influence and respond to government policy initiatives, including, for example, the 2006 white paper, "Further Education: Raising Skills, Improving Life Chances". CEL's remit is to foster and support leadership improvement, reform, transformation, sustainability and quality improvement. It serves the existing and future leaders of all providers within the further education system, including FE colleges, training and work-based learning providers, adult and community providers, offender learning, specialist colleges and voluntary organisations. Following the publication of the white paper, CEL is involved in the introduction of a mandatory principal's qualification and the development of the quality improvement strategy for further education. The white paper also heralded an expansion of CEL's diversity and equality remit. CEL now operates through a charitable trust formed by its operating company on 1 April 2006. To date, more than 680 different organisations and 17,800 individual participants have engaged with CEL. No fewer than 15 participants from recent cohorts of CEL's Senior leadership development programme (SLDP) have been promoted to the role of principal. For more information, visit the website at www.centreforexcellence.org.uk
CONTACT
Centre for Excellence in Leadership: Lindsay Baugh: (07736) 246 697 or (01707) 392 552
