New Education Leadership Academy set to transform inclusive leadership in Schools

The Education leadership Academy (ELA) at the University of Birmingham was officially launched on Monday 9^th September.

The Academy will combine academic-led education and values-driven leadership and be the first of its kind to focus on social inclusion and developing the very best school leaders to help transform the lives of children from different backgrounds.  

The Academy will help address some of the big leadership challenges facing education today such as staff and student wellbeing and how schools can be better structured to meet this challenge. It will also focus on researching schools that, in spite of adverse social circumstances, succeed in obtaining “gravity defying” results for their pupils.

A formal event was held at the Edgbaston Park Hotel at the University of Birmingham to officially launch the Academy with keynote speeches by leading educationalists such as Dame Rachel de Souza, CEO at Inspiration Trust, Dr Kulvarn Atwal, headteacher at Highlands Primary School and renowned author of ‘The Thinking School.’

Professor Colin Diamond CBE, Director of the ELA said: “This is a very exciting time as we launch the Education Leadership Academy. It brings together the very best of academic research in partnership with today’s education leaders. We are already working with a number of exceptional leaders from schools and Multi-Academy Trusts in Birmingham to design and deliver our programmes to students. The Academy’s work is based in genuine, quality assured research that informs practice. We are also working internationally, starting with tailor made programmes for middle leaders in Dubai where the University of Birmingham opened its new campus in 2018. Our programme of seminars for education leaders will be provided by some of the most influential people in the country starting with Steve Munby in February 2020.”

With collaboration at its core, the Education Leadership Academy’s programmes have been developed in partnership with schools leaders across the world. The Academy currently offer the longstanding MA School Improvement and Education Leadership and the new MEd Education Leadership Higher Degree Apprenticeship programmes. They also have ambitions to extend the programme of courses for 2020.

For more information or interviews, please contact:  Chloe Ainslie, Communications Manager (College of Social Sciences) on +44 (0) 121 414 8301 or contact the press office out of hours on +44 (0) 7789 921 165.

• The Education Leadership Academy at the University of Birmingham was formally launched on Monday 9^th September at the Edgbaston Park Hotel, Edgbaston Park Rd, Birmingham.
• Colin Diamond has worked in the field of educational leadership for many years in England. He has been a Head of Faculty, Associate Headteacher, Local Education Authority Adviser, Assistant Director and Director of Education/Children’s Services. He led improvements in two local authorities taking them from government intervention to strong performance. He has also worked for the Department for Education in England as Head of Education Advisers for the Academies and Free Schools Programme. He was Deputy Education Commissioner in Birmingham and he was also an OfSTED inspector. He was an associate lecturer at three universities before taking the chair of education leadership at Birmingham.
• The School of Education has a long-standing reputation as a centre of excellence for teaching and research in a wide range of areas of educational practice and policy. It is an international leader in education and has a history of top rated research.
• The University of Birmingham is ranked amongst the world’s top 100 institutions. Its work brings people from across the world to Birmingham, including researchers, teachers and more than 5,000 international students from over 150 countries.