Headship Next
Teach First. Headship Next.
Join a growing community of diverse, aspiring heads and drive meaningful change in the most disadvantaged communities.
Developing future school leaders
Headship Next is a fully funded 8-month programme for senior leaders who want to become headteachers.
The programme combines expert coaching, real-world job shadowing, and innovative leadership development to inspire the next generation of school leaders.
Designed in partnership with Big Education, this programme builds a powerful community of forward-thinking educators committed to driving meaningful change in schools serving disadvantaged communities.
It also addresses a critical pipeline and diversity challenge in headship.
Headship Next Programme
Duration: September 2026 – April 2027
Combining in-person and online experiences, Headship Next will equip you with leadership skills, expert coaching, and a strong professional network.
What your journey includes
- A mandatory one-night residential Saturday 10 October (9 am) to Sunday 11 October (3 pm) at Jamie’s Farm near Bath. You can stay over on the Friday night if helpful travel wise.
- Personalised coaching sessions with an experienced school leader (your coach).
- A school visit hosted by a member of our leadership ally community.
- Collaborative online group sessions to share insights and tackle leadership challenges.
- One in-person conference day to connect with peers and deepen your learning.
Coaching and leadership development
The programme’s coaches are experienced school leaders who work at Teach First on this and other leadership programmes. They will provide six personalised coaching sessions to one or more programme members.
Key leadership modules
- Leadership of self
Develop your personal leadership philosophy, identify strengths, build resilience, and establish sustainable leadership practices that align with your values and vision.
- Collective leadership for complex puzzles
Learn about leadership approaches to develop dynamic, co-creative practice that empowers collective intelligence and action, and enables diverse teams to solve complex puzzles together.
- The invisible curriculum
Shadow experienced headteachers to understand the day-to-day reality of headship and develop technical skills. You will also learn strategies for navigating complex challenges facing schools in disadvantaged communities.
The benefits of taking part
Programme members
- One-to-one expert coaching from a former headteacher
- Connections to serving headteachers through our leadership ally community
- Ongoing support and access to headship opportunities after the programme
- A safe, collaborative peer community of aspiring leaders
- Two-day immersive residential to explore the Big 8 Empowering Leadership toolkit and build deep cohort connections
Through expert-led training, personalised coaching and a strong peer network, you will:
- Explore your personal philosophy of educational leadership
- Identify your unique strengths and areas for growth
- Understand the mindset, behaviours and culture that support sustainable school leadership
Leadership allies
- Help shape the next generation of school leaders
- Access exclusive content, including videos and a guide to the Big 8 Empowering Leadership toolkit
- Speak on online panel discussions as a guest
- Share your expertise through in-person subject matter expert (SME) sessions
- Host small groups of programme members at your school to share the practical realities of headship — including how you lead cultural change, set a vision, secure improvement and thrive in role
If you have any questions, please contact us.
Such a wonderful and memorable experience. This is no usual leadership retreat.
Partnering for transformational leadership
Headship Next is designed in partnership with Big Education, a Multi-Academy Trust and charity working to transform the education system.
Big Education champions a balanced approach to learning, focusing on the head (academics), heart (character and wellbeing), and hand (creativity and problem-solving).
Through its schools, leadership development programmes, and national coalitions, Big Education is driving meaningful change in education.
Your questions, answered
- What is a ‘Teach First’ eligible school?
As a charity focused on reaching pupils and schools from low-income backgrounds and communities, we have set criteria agreed with the Department for Education (DfE) to identify schools that may benefit most from working with us. We use the Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index (IDACI) and pupil premium information for each school to guide us.
This focuses on schools that are ranked in the top 70 per cent most deprived areas (based on IDACI) and where the proportion of pupils eligible for pupil premium is in the top 50 per cent of all state-funded schools.
We understand that no set of criteria will ever perfectly capture the many forms that deprivation can take, so if you are not sure whether your school may be Teach First eligible, and you’re interested in the programme, please apply and we’ll get back to you.