Our programme of continuing professional development (CPD) events for school and college leaders or aspiring leaders provides you with accredited training tailored to your career needs, as well as opportunities to network with other leaders.

These events are FREE to eligible members and provide you with the opportunity to be updated on current developments in education.

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Events will be listed in this section as they become available. Tap/click for details of the event and how to book.

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Leadership Seminar 2026

The 2026 Leadership Seminar took place at NASUWT Headquarters on 16 May 2026, chaired by NASUWT Leadership Advisory Committee chair Jac Casson and was attended by middle and senior leaders.

Throughout the day, there were opportunities to take part in interactive workshops and presentations and an open forum closed the day.

To start the day, leaders had a choice of two workshops, which were repeated to give them the opportunity to attend both:

• De-mystifying Artificial Intelligence for Leaders
  
  Dr Joe Watkins, Grassroots Intelligence, led two workshops on artificial intelligence, highlighting how AI works and the precautions which have to be taken when using AI for planning lessons or admin tasks.
  
  Dr Watkins provided guidance on how to structure effective prompts in order to get the most out of AI apps and ensure they generate the most productive responses.
  
  Attendees’ knowledge of AI ranged from not having used it at all to being fairly proficient, but all agreed the session was useful for all levels of knowledge.

• Day-to-Day Resilience
  
  Nic Morgan, NSM Training, gave an inspiring workshop on how to deal with the day-to-day challenges that leaders face, including emotional and social resilience.
  
  Ms Morgan used a modelling technique to demonstrate how to take control of difficult situations while maintaining a positive approach.
  
  Leaders later reported that they would take away Nic’s mantra of being ‘curious, not fearful’ when approaching new challenges.

In his update What Will SEND Reforms Mean for Schools?, Darren Northcott, NASUWT National Official (Education), took leaders through the government’s proposals for SEND reform and the possible implications for teachers and leaders.

Leaders indicated their concerns around staffing, training and funding, echoing NASUWT’s position on the proposed changes. Members attending also reported that the reforms represent one of the issues of greatest concern for school leaders at all levels.

Paul Watkins, NASUWT National Negotiating Official, spoke to leaders about the implications of the Employment Rights Act for school employers, including:

• collective redundancy rights;

• statutory sick pay and holiday pay;

• paternity and parental leave (day-one rights);

• sexual harassment; and

• whistleblowing.

Looking ahead, Mr Watkins also previewed the upcoming changes to fire and rehire and unfair dismissal. Some leaders were concerned that their schools were not adequately prepared for these upcoming changes.

In his presentation What Are Leaders Telling Us?, Fred Grindrod, NASUWT Principal Official (Campaigns), took members through what leaders have told us through the 2025 Big Question Survey.

The survey found that leaders:

• often have to deal with violent and abusive behaviour from or between children;

• are more likely to receive verbal abuse from parents;

• are making use of AI to carry out some tasks;

• continue to have workload issues; and

• report that the main issues that professionally disempower them are constant change, lack of respect for their professional judgement and punitive accountability.

Attendees also learnt about the NASUWT Tableau tool on the website that enables users to explore the data revealed by the Big Question surveys, including tracking data trends.

Discussion forum with the NASUWT Leadership Advisory Committee

Following the workshops and presentations, Ms Casson led a plenary session with a panel of members of the NASUWT Leadership Advisory Committee in an open discussion where leaders were able to ask questions, share their experiences and discuss what they would take away from the day.

The day was rounded off with an opportunity for leaders to socialise and network.

Leadership Seminar 2025

The 2025 Leadership Seminar took place online on 17 May and was chaired by NASUWT Leadership Advisory Committee chair Jac Casson.

Throughout the day, leaders were given the opportunity to take part in interactive presentations and a Q&A forum led by experts from inside and outside the Union.

Opening the day, international trainer Nic Morgan, from NSM Training and Consultancy, shared her approach to taking control of difficult conversations in order to achieve positive outcomes in Managing Difficult Conversations.

Nic explored some practical methodologies and communication techniques that school leaders can use when dealing with challenging situations.

In the presentation Update on the Ofsted and Accountability (RISE) Consultations, Darren Northcott, NASUWT National Official (Education) gave an update on two consultations NASUWT had contributed to on the future of inspection and the work of the Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellence (RISE) teams:

• Ofsted Consultation on School Inspection - slides 1-6 below

• DfE Consultation on School Accountability - slides 7-22 below

In the presentation Digital Strategy and Artificial Intelligence, Sonja Hall, NASUWT Principal Official (Education), focused on how schools and trusts can implement a strategy for digital technology and AI, including:

• NASUWT Principles;

• features of effective AI;

• developing a strategy;

• sources of information.

The Leadership Forum and Plenary was chaired by Jac Casson, National Executive Member and Chair of the Leadership Advisory Committee, and Anne Brimacombe, NASUWT National Negotiating Official.

This open discussion allowed leaders to share their experience around issues they had faced during this academic year and talk about their key concerns on topics such as:

• the challenge for middle leaders of juggling whole-school demands and classroom responsibilities, often without due recognition or support;

• the increasing incidence of SEND and ADHD and the rising complexity in pupil needs with limited external support mechanisms available;

• despite schools being understaffed, the prospect of redundancies in light of falling roles in the primary sector and budgeting difficulties;

• excessive demands around blurred boundaries and insufficient behaviour support, sometimes leading to burnout.

Don’t miss out

If you’re not yet a member but want to attend our Leadership Seminars, and get access to other exclusive member benefits, why not join today?

You can find out more about why you should join us or go straight to our Online Joining site to take full advantage of our wider programme of events, training and discount scheme.

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