The Education and Training Foundation launches Diversity in Leadership programme

The Education and Training Foundation (ETF), with our selected delivery partner, Association of Colleges (AoC), has today launched a new programme that aims to challenge bias, remove obstacles to attaining leadership roles and to use tools to build confidence in aspiring leaders. It is aimed at senior leaders, managers and governors.

The Diversity in Leadership programme includes four strands of activity:

• A series of one-day workshops across England that will address the issue of Unconscious Bias, giving FE leaders the knowledge and tools to overcome it, an important step in enabling those from diverse backgrounds to progress.
• Coaching for aspiring BAME leaders and Governors that will support 20 aspiring BAME leaders to achieve a promotion or move into a new role to advance their careers in the sector, and one-to-one coaching for 10 Governors from the BAME community to grow their governance capacity and understanding of the sector to put them in the running for a Chairing role within two years.
• The creation – through consultation with stakeholder bodies across the sector – of an FE Diversity Charter that will help organisations to identify areas of challenge, self-reflection and action so that they can better support diverse staff teams to achieve the career progression they desire and deserve.
• The creation of a Good Practice Guide to support performance management with BAME and diverse staff and the development of tools and resources to support managers, leaders and Governors to challenge and resolve structural bias in their organisations.

The Education and Training Foundation’s Chief Executive Officer, David Russell, said:

“The Diversity in Leadership programme aims to challenge bias and remove obstacles to achieving leadership roles, pushing this agenda forward and making a real difference. Quite apart from the moral imperative to better represent the workforce and learner communities, we know that diverse leadership teams and boards tend to be stronger and more sustainable.

“We hope it will help the FE sector address the challenges that the diverse workforce faces in progressing into senior leadership roles and help to foster a culture of respect, understanding and celebration of diversity that will be a catalyst for change.”