New cohort commencing September 2026
The best trust leaders don't just manage organisations, they shape the future of education.
Trust leadership is one of the most demanding roles in education. The decisions are complex, accountability is significant, and the challenges rarely come with clear answers. For many CEOs, the responsibility can feel uniquely isolating.
The ASCL Trust Leaders: Executive Programme was designed for exactly this reality.
Built by people who understand executive trust leadership
Created by ASCL, this programme is a leadership development programme built specifically for current and aspiring trust CEOs.
It is not a generic leadership programme adapted for education. It develops the judgement, confidence and strategic perspective required to lead organisations, influence systems, and improve outcomes at scale.
It has been designed specifically for trust leaders by people who understand the realities of executive leadership: governance, growth, workforce challenges, financial stewardship, public accountability and system influence.
Every module, speaker and learning experience is grounded in the day-to-day realities of leading a trust in 2026.
Through our
unique programme of expert facilitation, peer challenge, trust visits and structured reflection, participants gain something increasingly rare at executive level: time to think, trusted colleagues to learn with, and the opportunity to see exceptional leadership in action.
By the end of this programme you'll be better equipped to:
- lead governance with confidence
- make strategic decisions in complex situations
- build and sustain high-performing teams
- lead organisational growth responsibly
- strengthen culture across multiple schools
- navigate accountability and regulation
- influence beyond your own organisation
- lead with greater clarity, confidence and impact
Evidence-led, continuously responsive
Ongoing evaluation and needs analysis are central to how we work. The 2026 programme has been refreshed in direct response to participant feedback and the latest research, with an updated evidence base, extended peer coaching, and more structured time to translate learning into your own context. This is a programme that listens and evolves.
Executive leadership doesn't have to be lonely
One of the strongest messages from trust leaders is that the role can be isolating.
Throughout the programme you'll work alongside a carefully selected cohort of senior leaders facing similar challenges. Through peer coaching, structured challenge, trust visits and facilitated dialogue, you'll build relationships that provide support, perspective and honest professional challenge long after the programme ends.
Many participants describe the network they build through this programme as one of its most valuable outcomes.
"
The professional conversations, challenge and shared experience add significant value and reduce isolation at executive level." Previous participant
Leadership that balances performance, people and purpose
Ethics, DEIB and cognitive accessibility aren't standalone sessions, they're woven into the programme's design, its facilitation, and the way every module is framed. The ASCL Trust Leaders: Executive Programme develops self-awareness and leadership dispositions alongside knowledge, because sustainable executive leadership is about who you are as well as what you know.
Space to think. Permission to reflect. Confidence to lead
Participants leave with a personal leadership toolkit, a collection of completed leadership tools and personal insights built up across nine months, which they can continue to develop long after the programme ends.
Book now
Programme structure and outline
- September 2026 – May 2027: The programme consists of five phases of ten modules rather than a series of disconnected events, because lasting leadership development takes time, reflection and repeated application in context. This carefully sequenced structure builds knowledge, skills and self-awareness progressively across the year, with each phase deepening the one before.
- Two-day residential opening in Nottingham facilitated by Professor Toby Greany, Professor of Education and Convener of the Centre for Research in Education Leadership and Management at the University of Nottingham.
- Monthly module days at ASCL HQ, Leicester: Regular in-person touchpoints maintain momentum and accountability across the year, creating a rhythm of learning that participants can plan around and commit to.
- One module at Apple HQ, Battersea Power Station: A deliberate step outside the familiar, designed to stretch thinking, broaden perspective and expose participants to innovation and leadership practice beyond the education sector.
- Peer coaching, embedded across the year: Structured peer coaching is woven throughout the programme, not bolted on. Participants develop the habit of offering and receiving high-quality challenge and support within a trusted cohort, building the kind of honest professional relationships that are rare at executive level and invaluable beyond it.
- Trust visits, organised by peers: At a point in the programme when relationships and trust are established, participants visit a fellow cohort member in their own context. The focus is a simple but powerful question: how does strategic intent become lived reality in your trust? Seeing leadership in practice and reflecting on it together, brings the programme's themes to life in a way no classroom session can replicate.
- Structured reflection at the close of every phase: Each phase ends with dedicated time to consolidate learning, identify what to take back into practice, and prepare for what comes next. Reflection isn't an afterthought, it's built in.
More detailed information about each of the modules can be found in the information tabs below.
If you would like more information about applying to join future cohorts of our Trust Leaders: Executive Programme, or to keep up to date with our wide-ranging programme of professional development events, please subscribe to our weekly newsletter
here.