SENIOR teachers in Bolton will soon be able to enter a computer simulated school where they will be able to act out typical scenarios and problems.

By logging on to a website, teachers will be able to enter a virtual school with classrooms and a staffroom where they will be able to hone their leadership skills.

The "school" comes complete with a host of characters that teachers would encounter in a typical working day, ranging from pupils and teachers to irate parents.

Subject heads and other senior teachers are presented with different problems and scenarios they are likely to encounter in middle management roles.

They could be faced with situation where they might have to implement a stronger personal social health education course in their school, or they could be faced with a child who might be hyperglycaemic and have to decide what to do.

Or their in-tray could contain letters from parents concerned about their child's health. What do they do about it? Delegate, visit the parents or bin the letter?

As teachers "walk" around the school they are confronted with different scenarios and given different options on what to do. Once they choose an option they can see the outcome of their actions.

Each character in the schools has 100 energy units. Depending on how interested or enthusiastic or motivated the characters are, unit levels go up and down. Decisions made by teachers can increase or decrease these energy levels.

If a teacher makes the wrong decision, energy units drop and it is reflected in the behaviour of the pupils. If energy units drop very low the teacher is confronted with the sight of out-of-control children standing on tables.

Uniquely, teachers can gauge the short term and long term consequences of their decisions. In virtual school time, a three-hour visit to the school equates to a school year.

Bolton leadership expert Holly Bonfield is part of a team at the University of Manchester-based Centre for Educational Leadership which is co-producing "Leading From the Middle," designed especially for middle management teachers.

Holly said: "I wouldn't say that leadership training for teachers in middle management is something that has been neglected, but it is something that has not really been focused on. This programme focuses on leadership skills involved with managing other teachers, rather than teaching skills.

"This programme is somewhere for people to go and try out different leadership skills and ideas."

In the programme, participants are given continual access to the Virtual School and they can discuss ideas with an on-line community. There are different phases of the programmes for primary, secondary and special schools.

Groups of three take part from a school -- two subject leaders and a member of the school's senior management team, who takes on a coaching role.

The programme takes three terms to complete, including three-and-a-half day's face-to-face training. However, the bulk of the work is school based, with teachers carrying out a project on a specific leadership skills, such as introducing new approaches to learning across the school.

"Leading From the Middle" is due for completion in June, when it will be rolled out nationally, once the results have been assessed.

Holly, a mother of three who lives in Heaton, has been involved in developing innovative online learning materials for the pilot programme. Participants who visit the website draw information and ideas from these materials which they then use in face-to-face sessions to develop their leadership skills.

Holly said: "Managing change is one of the biggest problems that teachers have. There are always changes in education and they struggle to keep up with these changes because they are so continuous."

Programme manager Phil Naylor said middle management teachers were "caught in the middle" between headteachers and ordinary teachers and need to have a mixture of skills. They need to know about leadership skills to enable them to manage other teachers, and have a good working knowledge of educational issues.

But they also must maintain their teaching skills as they have to spend around 80 per cent of their time in classrooms.

Mr Naylor said the team had worked with the Department for Education and Skills and the National College for School Leadership in identifying the sorts of problems faced by middle management teachers.

The areas included setting vision and directions, working with your team, managing people and building the capacity of the team.

Nationally, there are 250,000 middle management teachers and programme leaders hope every one of them will be able to take advantage of the Virtual School.

In one-form entry primary schools, subject heads have to manage seven or eight teachers and four or five support staff teaching their subject. In large secondary schools, middle management teachers could have responsibility for around 17 people.

Mr Naylor said: "I really can't think of anything else that is quite like the Virtual School."

Any schools who would like further information about the programme can contact Becky Parr at the Centre for Educational Leadership on 0161 275 3496.