A scheme to use the experience of “outstanding” headteachers to support struggling schools should be scrapped, experts have told the Department for Education.

They have outlined concerns that the DfE had “insufficiently defined expectations” for the National Leaders of Education programme.

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The programme began in 2014. But a report by the National Leaders of Education advisory group, released today, says that “the NLE programme in its current form must end and should be replaced by one that is new, more robust and more prestigious”.

Its says the background of potential members of the NLE scheme should be expanded and that “transformative” leaders of multi-academy trusts should be able to become NLEs.

The review says that as NLEs must support struggling schools to improve, “successful applicants must have substantial experience of being directly accountable for school improvement”.

Applicants must have been one of the following:

• A “turnaround head”: a headteacher with recent experience of leading a school that had moved up by at least one Ofsted rating to either “good” or “outstanding”.
• A “beacon of excellence”: the headteacher of an “outstanding” school, with strong performance and progress data.
• A “transformative MAT CEO”: the leader of a multi-academy trust with strong performance and progress data and relevant experience of moving at least one sponsored academy out of “requires improvement”.

Concerns raised by the report about the existing scheme include an “absence of evidence-based continuing professional development, specifically designed for NLEs, which builds upon the requisite abilities of school leaders who support struggling schools outside their own”.

“We also identified an insufficient focus on the impact and outcomes of NLE deployments, which has caused concern in the system over the effectiveness of this structure of peer-led support,” the report says. 

The report described how over time the role of an NLE had been “diluted”.

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “National Leaders of Education have a fundamental role to play in our education system in sharing their expertise to strengthen school leadership and help underperforming schools to improve.

“It is therefore vital that we have the best people in place, with the right knowledge and experience, to do this.

“That is why we have been working closely with an expert group of these school leaders to review how we can make positive changes to the system. We will be taking forward recommendations so that all National Leaders of Education are clear on their roles as system leaders and are fully supported to continue driving up school standards.”