Course summary

Inclusive leadership is critical in ensuring positive educational outcomes for all learners, particularly those at risk of marginalisation and exclusion. The PG Cert Inclusive Leadership course has been developed specifically to move discourse on inclusion away from 'organic' issues such as 'special educational needs and disabilities' towards interrogating social and cultural contexts that create notions of advantage and disadvantage. It aims to provide opportunities for managers, leaders and aspiring leaders within education or associated settings to engage with leadership theory and research within the context of inclusive practices. As well as supporting career progression into leadership roles, the course offers a pathway to further postgraduate qualifications, including a PG Dip or MA Education. The course will explore ways of creating an environment and culture of inclusion, along with strategies for developing and maintaining effective inclusive policies and practices. Throughout your studies, you'll be encouraged to reflect critically on dominant or traditional leadership approaches, which are concerned to maintain the status quo, and more inclusive leadership approaches, which focus on identifying and addressing barriers to inclusion and challenging underlying assumptions that perpetuate exclusive practices. You’ll work with experts and professionals with diverse backgrounds and experiences to understand how to create and sustain cultures of inclusion in which opposing perspectives are authentically valued. The skills and attributes for those leading inclusive learning communities, underpinned by research, will also be examined. You'll also have the opportunity to develop principles of practitioner enquiry, such as engaging in professional dialogue about, systematic reflection on, and evidence-based enhancement of practice to critically explore themes of the course in a professional context. This programme has been developed and is delivered in collaboration with the Leeds Learning Alliance. The Leeds Learning Alliance is a Trust formed by like-minded Leeds educational organisations based upon a shared commitment to inclusion, close collaboration and high-level ambition.