Regional Inclusive Leadership Network cohort 2

Across Yorkshire and the Humber, schools and local authorities are working to create more inclusive systems in which every child and young person can belong, participate and thrive.

There is significant expertise across the region. Many leaders have developed strong and innovative approaches to inclusion that have value both within their own organisations and for the wider system.

Yet leaders often report challenges in sustaining this work, learning from practice beyond their own setting and connecting improvement across schools, organisations and localities.

The challenge is not simply understanding what inclusive practice looks like. The challenge is creating the conditions that enable it to develop and endure within schools, between organisations and across localities.

The Yorkshire and Humber Regional Inclusive Leadership Network has been designed to support leaders to meet this challenge.

Building on the learning from Cohort 1, this fully funded programme will bring together established inclusive leaders from secondary schools and local authorities across the region.

Participants will strengthen their leadership practice, deepen their understanding of inclusive systems and develop their capacity to influence change within, between and beyond their organisations.

This programme addresses that leadership and system-change challenge.

Rather than asking:

“How do we introduce more inclusive practices?”

the programme asks:

“How do we collaborate to create the conditions for inclusive values to shape culture, systems and practice within, between and beyond schools?”

The programme brings together inclusive leaders from secondary schools, trusts and local authorities across Yorkshire and the Humber.

Through regional collaboration, peer support and purposeful practice-sharing, participants will learn with and from colleagues working in different contexts. They will exchange effective practice, explore common challenges and develop a stronger collective understanding of the conditions that enable inclusion to flourish.

The programme is built around a simple development model:

Experience → Understanding → Agency → Collective Action → System Change

Through inclusive learning experiences, practical leadership tools and sustained collaboration, participants will deepen their understanding of the systems in which they work and develop the confidence to influence them.

Regional collaboration is central to this process. It reduces professional isolation, creates opportunities for constructive challenge and helps leaders build the shared language, relationships and collective capacity required to achieve sustainable change.

During the academic year 2025/26, Cohort 1 established the Yorkshire and Humber Regional Inclusive Leadership Network. It brought together 43 leaders, with participation from all 15 local authorities across Yorkshire and the Humber. School, Trust and local authority leaders worked collaboratively to explore inclusive leadership, refine practice and contribute to a stronger regional approach to inclusion.

Early evaluation by the Equity by Design team from Oxford University identified increased confidence among participants in:

• Developing shared definitions of inclusive and relational practice
• Embedding equity within policy language and professional discourse
• Contributing to collaborative local infrastructure
• Developing positive school cultures
• Communicating inclusive practice within their locality
• Exercising personal influence locally

Cohort 2 builds on this learning and the Theory of Change developed through the first programme.

Values-aligned leadership connects inclusive purpose with decisions, resources, organisational design and action. The programme will help leaders consider how this alignment can be strengthened at three interconnected levels:

Within Schools

Creating coherent, values-led practice

Between Schools
Building collective capacity across schools in localities

Beyond Schools
Connecting education with the wider system around children

These are not separate areas of work. Each can reinforce or undermine the others.

Values-Aligned Leadership → Within-School Alignment → Between-School Collaboration → Wider-System Alignment

Participants will apply their learning within their own organisations and through engagement with relevant locality partners.

The programme combines leadership development, collaborative learning and practical application across five fully funded development days.

The programme includes:

• Four full-day leadership workshops
• One free place at the Leeds Learning Alliance Inclusive Leadership Conference
• Practical tools from the Inclusive Cultures Model
• Structured reflection on participants’ organisations and local systems
• Regional peer support and purposeful practice-sharing
• Application of learning within schools and through engagement with locality partners
• Membership of the developing regional inclusive leadership network

Participants will be expected to attend all five days and apply their learning between sessions.

A Growing Regional Network

Participants will join a growing regional network of inclusive leaders.

Cohort 2 will welcome new leaders into the network while strengthening the relationships, shared language and collective capacity developed through Cohort 1.

Future opportunities will support ongoing collaboration between Cohort 1 and Cohort 2 participants as the network continues to develop. This will create opportunities for continued professional dialogue, peer support, practice-sharing and constructive challenge beyond the five programme days.

[Insert a Cohort 1 participant quotation]

Peer Support and Practice-Sharing

A trusted space in which to exchange effective practice, explore leadership dilemmas and learn from the experience of colleagues working in different contexts.

Leadership Thinking Tools

Practical tools and frameworks to examine organisational and local systems, interpret evidence and identify priorities for improvement.

Greater Leadership Agency

Increased confidence to challenge assumptions, influence system conditions and lead purposeful, values-aligned change.

A Clear Improvement Focus

Time and support to identify and pursue a meaningful, context-specific priority within a school, organisation or locality.

Wider System Understanding
A stronger understanding of how leadership, culture, relationships, organisational structures and local partnerships interact to shape inclusion.

Participant Commitment
To maximise the impact of the programme, participating leaders are asked to:

• Attend all five programme days
• Contribute openly to dialogue, reflection and practice-sharing
• Apply programme learning within their own organisation
• Identify a context-specific area for development
• Engage relevant colleagues and locality partners
• Contribute their experience and expertise to the wider network

The programme is designed for a mixed cohort of senior leaders from Secondary Schools, Trusts and Local Authorities across Yorkshire and the Humber.

It will be particularly valuable for:

• Headteachers, trust and executive leaders
• Local authority education leaders
• Established inclusive leaders with strong or innovative practice and the capacity to influence within and beyond their organisation.

Local authorities and Trusts are encouraged to nominate established inclusive leaders who can contribute their expertise while remaining open to professional reflection, challenge and learning.

The involvement of both school and local authority leaders was identified as a particular strength of Cohort 1, supporting stronger relationships and more connected local work.

Participating leaders can expect to strengthen:

Leadership Practice
More confident, reflective and values-aligned leadership, with a stronger capacity to translate inclusive purpose into decisions and action.

Shared Vision

A clearer and more consistent understanding of inclusive and relational practice.

Shared Responsibility
Greater collective ownership of inclusion across organisations and local partnerships.

System Understanding

A stronger ability to identify and interpret the values, relationships, structures and routines shaping inclusion and exclusion.

Cultures of Inclusion

Greater alignment between inclusive values, organisational systems and the everyday experiences of children, young people and adults.

Collaborative Infrastructure
Stronger relationships and more coherent ways of working between Schools, Trusts, Local Authorities and locality partners.

[Insert a Cohort 1 participant]

If you have any questions about the programme, please email Tom Shaw at [email protected]