Introduction: Confronting the New Challenges in Higher Education:
The landscape of higher education, and particularly post-graduate teacher training, is being fundamentally reshaped by the advent of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI). This technological change presents one of the most significant new challenges for leadership preparation programs, moving beyond a simple need for digital literacy to demand a complete rethinking of pedagogical and leadership paradigms. Unlike previous technological waves, AI targets the core tenets of knowledge creation, assessment, and critical inquiry, creating a profound and urgent challenge for the institutions tasked with preparing the next generation of educational leaders. The prevailing response has been largely reactive, a trend that fails to address the systemic nature of the AI revolution. To meet this challenge, a new model of training, preparation and development is required. This paper presents an evidence-based account of a new experience in post-graduate education: an academic year-long, intensive framework designed specifically for graduate candidates in a Teacher Leadership program. This paper chronicles a deliberate shift away from outdated training models towards a deeply embedded program that fosters the advanced competencies required to lead in a new era of higher education.

Conceptual Foundations: Evolving Frameworks for New Educational Trends:
The theoretical underpinning of this initiative responds directly to new trends in educational technology by extending established frameworks. Shulman's concept of Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) was famously expanded by Mishra and Koehler into the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework. However, the unique affordances and challenges of AI necessitate a further evolution. I propose an expanded framework, TPACK-AI, which explicitly incorporates two new, crucial domains relevant for leaders facing modern educational challenges: Ethical & Critical Consciousness and Strategic Leadership & Systems Thinking. Without these domains, a leader's practice remains incomplete. A teacher leader might know how to use an AI to analyze school data (Technological Knowledge), but they may lack the critical lens to question an AI's recommendations for bias, the ethical framework to guide school-wide policy, or the leadership skills to manage the human-centered aspects of technological change—all critical competencies in today's educational environment. A goal of a program should be to enhance TPACK and cultivate a "Change Agent" persona, defined by competencies and capacities tailored for emerging leaders.

The Leadership Accelerator Framework:
As an Academic Leader, I believe the task of graduate leadership programs is to cultivate and accelerate human potential with the urgency and foresight this new era demands. The proposed competency-based framework provides the blueprint for an intervention, shifting the focus from the technology itself to the human capacity required to harness it effectively and ethically. This framework represents a novel pedagogical and nuanced andragogical model for post-graduate education. It offers a new experience in teacher training—that directly confronts the challenges and embraces the trends of the AI era. This is a dynamic, intensive, academic year-long journey structured in three phases. It is a cohort-based experience that combines advanced theory with authentic leadership practice.

Keywords: Teacher Leadership, Educational Leadership, Higher Education, Post-Graduate Education, Change Management, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Professional Development, Educational Trends, AI Leadership, Pedagogical Innovation, Educational Technology, Systems Thinking, Ethical AI.