School Leadership - A Scottish Perspective

Having been using practitioner enquiry for over seven years now for individual professional development, as well as the main vehicle for school improvement, we have lots of insight on why it has worked so well for us. It is these that I share in this post. I qualify them by saying that these are  what we found and if you have been using a similar approach you may have discovered other benefits, and you may question some of our identified benefits. Everyone starts from, and is in, a different place to ourselves and the importance of context has been identified by many as crucial in any school, system or individual development. What I would say is that many of the benefits we have accrued would match those identified in the research of Marilyn Cochran-Smith, Susan Lytle, Helen Timperley and others. This post does not deal with each of these benefits in too much detail, otherwise it would be too long. Look out for my book about all this coming out next year. So here are some key benef...

The easy answer to the title of this post is 'to accept and embrace it!' Mind you I might have not chosen the most accurate of titles, because I have been writing school improvement plans for some sixteen years now and I have yet to produce one that went according to the said plan. Perhaps a more interesting title would be 'what to do when school improvement plans work' but, as I have little experience of this I might struggle to write that much that you might find helpful, or realistic. School improvement plans can go awry for lots of reasons. Some of these are entirely our own fault, and some are the result of pesky circumstances. Sometimes you can put so much into a plan, even the most productive and focused of organisations anywhere would struggle to achieve its lofty aims. I have been there. Some of my early improvements plans had so many actions they could have been written by a choreographer for Village People! There were a variety of elaborate actions detailed b...

The following are some thoughts I put together regarding issues in education for a project with Chris Chivers and others earlier this year. I thought I would share them on my blog as possible stimulants for thoughts and discussion by others. Feel free to comment. Vision A school without a vision must be a pretty soulless place. It will also be a place without a clear purpose and at the beck and call of any and all agendas. We need a vision to know where we are going and to help us identify how we might get there, as well as to protect us from the agendas of others. As a school leader, I think it is important that you have a personal vision for where you want to take the school you lead, and also a wider one for education in general. You need to share this vision with colleagues and members of the school community so they too can consider what their own vision might be. Out of this collaboration and sharing should emerge a vision for each school that reflects its uniqueness in terms of ...

This week I had the pleasure of hosting a party of trainee teachers from China when they visited Scotland as part of their final year studies at university in Nanjing. they were an absolute delight to have in school and brought a smiling, but different perspective to our pupils, colleagues and myself. Nanjing has a population of over 8 million people and this is growing. The shift from the 'one child' law in China to the 'two child' one has brought massive challenges to the education system there, not to mention the impact of massive industrial and commercial growth which puts even more pressure on their cities and schools. Our happy smiling visitors would be returning to China this weekend to complete their final year of studies before commencing their careers as primary school teachers. In their district children attend Kindergarten until they are about 6 or 7 years old. Most pre school education is unfunded, so parents are required to pay for this themselves. ...

Two weeks in since our return from the summer break and it is easy to ask the question that forms the title of this post. However, when I or others say this, I don't think this is a bad sign. Already it feels as though we haven't been away. Yet, we all have. As soon as staff returned to school they shared stories about what they had been up to over the summer break. I eagerly joined in, trying not to boast too much about my adventures in Australia. When the children came back, they did the same. We heard lots of tales about holidays, visits to grannies and grandads, camping, playing out and having fun, from children eager to share. Of course, there were those who didn't have much to tell about their break, or who didn't want to share. We must never forget that for some the  long school holidays are not something to look forward to, and who are happier when they are over, so that they can get some familiar routine back into their otherwise chaotic lives. Generally, thoug...

The weekend before we start a new school year seems a good time to consider what we need in schools to help us succeed. I am looking at the year ahead and thinking what do I need to do, as a school leader, to give my teachers and my learners the best opportunity to grow and succeed?  To consider this, as with most things I deal with, I start with the learners and the conditions, opportunities and support each of them will need to be able to move on with their learning and to keep developing as individuals? They need learning situations they can trust and understand. They need to know themselves as learners and understand the next steps in their learning. They need systems, structures and, most importantly, people to support them with that learning. They need to be excited and stimulated by their learning and understand their active participation in this process. They need to feel safe and they need people round about them who see, and understand, them as the unique individuals they...

Well, my latest visit to Oz comes to an end tomorrow. We shall be flying back to the UK and I expect to be back in school, for some time, on Thursday, jet-lag permitting. It has been a super break for my wife and I, staying with our youngest daughter and partner based in Perth. We were here two years ago and had a great time then as well. During that trip the four of us travelled up the west coast to Exmouth, visiting some amazing places and experiencing some equally amazing sights during our two week journey in our camper-van. This time we flew to Cairns on the east coast and then spent three weeks travelling south to Sydney. This journey was different, but equally amazing, because of the experiences we had, and places we visited. We both feel as though we have had a complete break and I know I have been able to switch off after the busyness of end of term back in Scotland. This has got to be the first requirement of any holiday for teachers or principals, that we switch off, recharge...