Leaders Like Us Cohort 3 (2025-26) Participant & Mentor Application Form

Please complete this form as fully as you are able to, so that we can evaluate your current suitability for the Leaders Like Us programme. You will see that most of the questions are required, whereas others are optional. This is to give you as much opportunity as possible to show your suitability for the programme. 

In your application, please make direct reference to the programme itself as set out here: Leaders Like Us - Future Headteacher Programme - Foundation For Educational Leadership (cefel.org.uk) and the Church of England's Vision for Education: The CofE Vision for Education - Foundation For Educational Leadership (cefel.org.uk)

Thank you for taking the time to complete the form. 








Participant Questions

The Leaders Like Us programme is a multifaceted programme opened to teachers from a UKME/GMH background. This is a direct response to the recommendations from the report of the Archbishops’ anti-racism taskforce: FromLamentToAction-report.pdf (churchofengland.org) 


These questions are to evaluate your suitability to complete the LLU program successfully. 

















The Leaders Like Us Programme is an 18-month learning journey that supports middle and senior leaders from UKME/GMH (UK minoritised ethnic/global majority heritage) into senior leadership (including headship) roles within the next five years through our bespoke multifaceted programme. The LLU programme has four aspects. Two aspects are compulsory (Mentoring and Networking), and two are optional (shadowing and training). The following questions will assess your suitability, capability and ability to complete the Leaders Like Us programme. Please kindly answer them to the fullest extent possible.



The Curriculum & Inclusion (C&I) Team will do its best to make meaningful matches; however, it can’t guarantee that every specific request will be met. To help the C&I team match you to a mentor, please answer the questions below.



The C&I team values all. As such, we have mentors from all heritages and genders. These questions are not compulsory and we can not promise that we will meet these requests.









Training:

These questions are about the optional training aspect of the Leaders Like Us programme.

As part of the Leaders Like Us programme, you will have access to two main training pathways, namely, Aspiring Heads and any NPQ of your choice. If you have the capacity, we welcome LLU participants completing both Aspiring Heads (a six-month programme) and any NPQ of your choice (Please check if you are eligible for the state funded NPQs 

Funding for national professional qualifications (NPQs) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). If you choose to complete both Aspiring Heads and an NPQ, please reflect and ensure you have the capacity to complete both programmes, as attendance is a criterion in ‘passing’ both training pathways.

 Training Pathway - NPQ: 

This question is about your desire/aspiration to enrol and complete an NPQ with the CofE.

The CofE is one of the leading providers in the delivery of NPQS.  You can only choose one NPQ programme. Please read the success criteria (Standard NPQs - Foundation For Educational Leadership (cefel.org.uk) for each option before selecting your chosen training pathway in order to ensure you meet the entry requirement for your chosen NPQ programme. 









Mentor Questions

The Leaders Like Us programme is a multifaceted programme opened to teachers from a UKME/GMH background. This is as a direct response to the recommendations from the report of the Archbishops’ anti-racism taskforce: FromLamentToAction-report.pdf (churchofengland.org).Bottom of Form

 The C&I team values allyship and welcomes mentors from all backgrounds and heritages. The Leaders Like Us programme needs mentors from all heritages for the programme to flourish. As a mentor, we will pair you with an LLU participant. To help the C&I team in pairing mentors with mentees, please answer the following questions below:







Psychological safety is an essential aspect of our programme. The C&I team take safeguarding of both our mentors and mentors. We recognise that our mentors are in different stages on their Equity, diversity, inclusion and justice journey. We will provide training for all mentors to ensure that they are well-equipped to mentor teachers from a UKME/GMH background. Please answer the following questions to help us understand your current EDIJ status and identify further training required for you, our esteem mentor to flourish in this role. 


















Please read our privacy notice to understand how we will process the data you submit in this application: https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2022-08/CEFEL_Programmes_Privacy_Notice_2022_v1.pdf