A National View

When Arthur Levine, then the president of Teachers College at Columbia University, wrote a scathing report in 2005 on the preparation of American school leaders, the one institution he singled out as a "promising model" was not even in the United States. This article describes England's National College for School Leadership. Created by the government of then-Prime Minister Tony Blair in 1998, with the mission of "every child in a well-led school, every leader a learner," the college was designed to modernize the way school leaders are developed and supported at every stage of their careers, and to elevate their status. Located in Nottingham in a state-of-the-art conference facility, with soaring glass windows overlooking a lake, the college is a free-standing institution, independent of any university and almost wholly funded by the government. The focus is on developing individuals who can lead instructional improvement in their schools by drawing on both research and practice, aligned with the country's national standards. One of the college's key responsibilities is the National Professional Qualification for Headship (NPQH). Introduced in 1997 to prepare candidates for the headship, or principalship, and underpinned by a set of national standards, the credential will become mandatory for all newly appointed head teachers by April 2009. In addition to the NPQH, the college offers programs for teachers who are just beginning to take on leadership roles, school business managers, school teams wishing to improve their effectiveness, and experienced heads who want to exercise leadership beyond their own schools.