Lead Practitioner Accreditation

Empower your staff, improve student outcomes, achieve nationally recognised accreditation, with a programme that’s relevant to all staff across all phases of education.

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Start date
Flexible (up to 2 years to complete)

Format
Online

Cost
SSAT members: £499
Non-members: £699
Prices exclusive of VAT

Need more information?
Get in touch or call 020 7802 2300

If you’re a teacher passionate about collaboration and leadership, I highly recommend becoming an SSAT Lead Practitioner. It’s an incredible opportunity to grow professionally, support others, and make a difference beyond your department.
Kay Green, Head of Faculty, Harris Academy Bermondsey

Lead Practitioner Accreditation is a nationally recognised status of excellent practice in education for teachers, support staff and leaders at an individual or cohort level, in any phase. This professional accreditation recognises, values, and celebrates all individuals who lead learning in their school or MAT.

Programme benefits

Participating in the programme improves professional expertise, helping to embed and extend teaching and learning in your school.
Provides a framework and set of standards for benchmarking as leaders of learning; inspiring others and positively impacting on learners.
Fosters confidence in developing and testing ideas.
Establishes an evidence-informed culture in schools, attracting and inspiring staff.

I’m thrilled to have received my SSAT Lead Practitioner certificate! Thank you for making the accreditation process straightforward and for the invaluable feedback that guided me throughout my application. As a Lead Practitioner, I’m eager to collaborate with learning and teaching teams to create school-wide initiatives grounded in evidence-based practices.
Christopher, Deputy Safeguarding Lead, St Andrew’s Catholic School

Do you want to learn more about the impact that Lead Practitioner had in other schools?

Read case studies

Lead Practitioner is available for individuals or as a whole-school cohort

Accredited status is awarded to individuals, but is most powerful when adopted on a whole-school basis or across a cluster of schools where LPs will drive impact across a broad spectrum of development priorities, with the option of tailored support and the opportunity to become a Lead Practitioner Learning Centre (LPLC).

For individuals For whole school

Benefits for the individual

For the individual who wishes to be recognised for leadership of learning, the LP process provides a structure that enables you to develop and flourish. It supports your teacher career progression, to develop both yourself and colleagues you work with, across your school or MAT.

When you sign up you can join a national cohort which includes four online support seminars giving you the opportunity to network with other aspiring LPs from a range of settings.

Future National Cohort dates: NC Q beginning on 10/06/2025

Apply as an individual

Benefits for the school

If you are a school leader who wants to motivate and retain staff, and deliver on school improvement priorities, whilst also enriching the pupil experience, then you can sign up a cohort of your staff with SSAT LP Team. Schools or MATs looking for tailored support for a cohort of LPs or who are contemplating becoming an LP Learning Centre (LPLC) may opt for dedicated support seminars.

An LPLC is a centre of excellence for LP accreditation with school staff developed as LP trainers and licensed to deliver LP support sessions to future cohorts of aspirant LPs, generating income for the school. LPLCs recruit, develop and support LPs from their own or surrounding schools towards accreditation. LPLC trainers receive dedicated guidance and resources from SSAT. Discuss your requirements with the LP programme leader.

Are you a MAT leader, looking to develop leaders of learning at all levels across your network of academies?

Consider the SSAT Lead Practitioner accreditation programme because:

It is a well-established and highly respected professional development programme, established in 2007 which has accredited over 9500 Lead Practitioners.
An LP cohort enables senior leaders in academies to meet their improvement priorities whilst simultaneously developing the individuals as leaders of learning.
There are no formalised and ongoing time commitments dictated by SSAT: schedules are set by the individuals guided by the cohort lead – tailored to meet the needs of the academy.
SSAT have done all of the ‘heavy lifting’ with marketing and recruitment documents for you to personalise to the trust.

The route to becoming an LPLC:

Lead Practitioner Learning Centres (LPLC) provide an opportunity to tailor the programme to the MAT vision and values, fully supported by SSAT to provide a consistent message across all academies, based on your principles.

Book a call with Andy Williams, Senior Education Lead

Schools wishing to establish their own cohorts and/or interested in becoming a centre of excellence for LP accreditation can book a call with the LP programme leader, Andy Williams.
Book a call