Leading the Way is NEON’s advanced professional development programme for practitioners who are currently in management positions, or who aspire to move into leadership and management roles within widening participation, fair access and student success.
This course provides participants with the opportunity to learn directly from senior sector leaders, develop their leadership skills, explore contemporary challenges facing the sector and build a network of peers committed to creating meaningful change.
Successful completion of the programme, including attendance requirements and completion of a reflective learning diary, will lead to NEON Advanced Professional Status.
Leading the Way has been designed for:
- Current managers and team leaders working in widening participation, outreach, access, student success or social mobility
- Practitioners preparing to move into leadership or management positions
- Professionals seeking to strengthen their strategic leadership skills
- Those wanting to develop a deeper understanding of policy, strategy and organisational leadership within the sector
Course Structure: The programme consists of eight online sessions, each lasting two hours. Each session explores a different leadership theme, combining expert insight, discussion and practical reflection.
Participants will also gain access to a dedicated online community of practice, enabling networking, peer support and knowledge sharing throughout the programme.
Location: Online
Facilitator: Martin Webster, Director, National Education Opportunities Network (NEON)
Guest Speakers: Each session will feature a guest speaker drawn from senior leadership positions across higher education and the widening participation sector. Speakers will share their experiences of leadership, strategic decision-making and driving organisational change, offering participants a unique opportunity to learn directly from influential sector figures.
Course Content:
1. Widening access – taking a strategic approach – 9 December 2026 (10am – 12pm)
- Review, and reflect upon own organisation’s ethos around widening access.
- Understand the relationship between access, recruitment, transition, retainment and student success.
- Apply three approaches (logical, emotional, cooperative) in making their own business case for access.
- Use key data that can support the development of a business case.
2. Widening access – Building the plan – 14 January 2027 (10am – 12pm)
- Develop a strategy to widen access.
- Identify and critically assess key policies or procedures, within own organisation, that impact upon widening access.
- Gain team and organisational commitment.
3. Communicating the vision of access – 3 February 2027 (10am – 12pm)
- Identify methods to embed. approaches to access within own organisation.
- Identify key influencers within their organisation.
- Gain commitment from others to take action.
- Take a strategic approach to developing partnerships.
4. Ethical approaches to research in widening access – 9 March 2027 (10am – 12pm)
- Reassess the importance of evaluation of interventions.
- Appreciate the ethical challenges that can come with evaluation.
- Be able to decide when evaluation is considered to be research and needs to follow research ethics guidance.
- Understand the concept of consent and when consent must be sought, and from who.
- Understand the benefits and challenges of randomised control trials with regards to widening access interventions.
5. Developing strategic partnerships to widen access – 7 April 2027 (10am – 12pm)
- Discuss different forms of strategic partnerships.
- Identify opportunities, including changing existing relationships into more strategic partnerships.
- Understand how to build and maintain long term partnerships to support widening access.
- Recognise the potential threats to partnerships and how to mitigate them.
6. Providing excellent customer service – 5 May 2027 (10am – 12pm)
- Able to identify the full range of key stakeholders within their own context.
- Able to define the concept of customer service and identify the characteristics of excellence.
- Be able to “know” your stakeholders and understand their needs.
- Identify key risks to excellence and strategies to manage any risks.
- Understand the importance of feedback and how this can be built into a framework of continual improvement.
7. The importance of effective networking – 9 June 2027 (10am – 12pm)
- Understand the definition of networking and its importance in building relationships, both within own organisation and externally.
- Able to list the key skills needed for networking.
- Apply different strategies for networking.
- Access a variety of tools to facilitate effective networking.
8. Course review – 7 July 2027 (10am – 12pm)
- Reflect upon learning and experience during the course, how the course has been supportive and identify any ongoing support needed.
Learning outcomes:
By the end of the programme participants will:
- Develop greater confidence in leadership and management roles
- Understand key policy developments affecting access and participation
- Enhance their strategic thinking and decision-making skills
- Build networks with peers from across the sector
- Reflect on their own leadership style and professional development
- Gain practical insights that can be applied within their own organisation
Places on the course are limited to ensure a high-quality and interactive learning experience.
NEON was founded on the belief that, in order to create a fairer and more inclusive higher education system, professionals working within the sector should have access to high-quality development opportunities that broaden their understanding of fair access, student success and social mobility.