School Leadership - A Scottish Perspective

During the first two months of 2019 I have been able to attend a number of professional learning events across Scotland. What has been impressive about these events is, not only the breadth and range of development activity taking place across the system, but also the commitment, professionalism and determination of people to getting better at what they do. What such events also provide, is the opportunity to develop my own thinking and understanding, through listening to the experiences of others and engage in a dialogue around the issues, experiences and insights of different participants. I believe that professional learning with the greatest impacts, should produce changes in facilitators and leaders, not just the participants. This week I was facilitating a session on parental engagement, on behalf of Connect the parent/teacher organisation in Scotland. This session was with school leaders, and others who had responsibility for this particular area of school development. ...

'Parental engagement in supporting learning in the home is the single most important changeable factor in student achievement' (Harris and Goodall 2007) I have been thinking a lot about parental engagement recently. As part of some work with Connect (formerly SPTC), I have been helping develop and deliver some professional learning models around this crucial area of school work. As I have worked with colleagues, and read more, I have come to better understand the impact that deep meaningful change in this area could have, as well as how a lot of lip-service has been paid to true collaboration and engagement with parents, and the wider community, by schools and systems. This needs to change. In Scotland the value of parental engagement has been widely recognised and is a key element of national and local policies. The work of Alma Harris and Janet Goodall is only part of a rich research base that has been used to inform policy and legislation. Work in Australia, Scotland th...

When I was training to be a teacher, and I do mean training , in the early 1970s, I was able to buy my first car. This was helped in no short measure by a full student grant, and three years in fully-funded student accommodation. Those were the days! Anyway, I bought my first car for £120 and it was a mini-van of some age already when I became its proud new owner. At last, freedom and the ability to spread my wings beyond the immediate confines of Didsbury and Greater Manchester, as well as the vagaries of the public transport system, for the wide open roads that were to lead me to North Wales, the Derbyshire hills, the Pennines and the North Yorks Moors. I had developed an interest in potholing, which explains my destinations of travel on many weekends. I was also now able to get home to Tyneside easier too, casting off the shackles of British Rail and their fictional timetabling. As a newly qualified and independent driver, I learnt many things, one of which was that, though iconic...

In his book ' Bounce' (2010), Mathew Syed writes about many things pertinent to education and teachers. At the start of his book, he reflects on the factors that enabled him to become the number one table-tennis player in the UK. He identifies what he considers the four key factors in his rise to the top. These were: having a table to practise on; having an older brother who was just as enthusiastic and willing to play and practise with; having access to an enthusiastic, highly skilled and knowledgeable coach; having access to a club, which was always open, to play against others and support coaching. Syed notes how his small town, and in particular one street and its immediate surrounds, were producing more outstanding table-tennis players then the rest of the UK put together! His argument is that this was more a product of those unique circumstances, that identified and nurtured table-tennis talent, rather than any innate abilities to be found in youngsters in his local area....

The last seven days or so have again demonstrated some of the major challenges that lie ahead for Scottish education. These challenges are both long-term and short-term, and how we deal with them will shape the future direction of travel. The prognosis with regard to the possible outcomes is at best looking precarious for the system, teachers and learners. First we had the motion and debate in the Scottish parliament around the introduction of standardised testing in Primary 1 classes. This whole debate, even before it was aired in parliament, had become very politicised, commonly being presented as an anti-SNP one, rather than about education and how we best support our very youngest learners. Many individuals and organisations tried to point to research and evidence showing why the use of such standardised testing not only did not measure what it was being purported to measure, but that it could potentially skew learning and practices in schools, to the detriment of young learners....

On Saturday I had the great pleasure to attend the latest, and first Pedagoo event of the new school year. Organised and hosted by Paul Cochrane and Port Glasgow High School, the event consisted of 13 workshops and was attended by around 40 educators, all seeking to engage and share, in order to develop their own understandings and practice, and to support others on their own personal professional development journey. It was my honour to dip in and out of some of the 'conversations' taking place across the day, then try to pull these together at the end of proceedings. No easy task, as there was so much to hear and experience, as well as to try and capture. This short post covers what I tried to summarise at the end of this fabulous event. 'I will go away from today totally inspired, and in awe, of the commitment, professionalism and wisdom that we have experienced, and which I know reflects the Scottish Education system and the work going on in our schools every day. T...

This is my first post since June. Apologies for that, but I have used the summer months to go travelling, spending 6 weeks in Australia, only returning last week. Whilst this was ostensibly a holiday, I couldn't resist taking the opportunity to meet with educationalists, and to keep an eye on the local and national news with regard to what was happening in education in Oz. We had a fab holiday, even though it was winter down there. It was a bit wet and windy in the Perth area at times, but still very pleasant, with temperatures in the high teens or low twenties. We did head up to Broome for a few days and the temperatures were a balmy 30 degrees, so we did see our share of sun, but perhaps not as much as was being experienced back at home. Anyway, back to more musings on education, both in Australia and back here in Scotland and the UK. Most Scottish schools have started the new school year, either last week or this, following the summer break. Already the Scottish Government has...