2010 Council Meeting Updated 29 July 2010

The report from the 2008 Conference of School Leaders Scotland is now available below. The conference was held near Glasgow on 13-14 November 2008. The theme of the conference was Inspiring Leadership.

The report consists of sessions summaries, some papers and presentations, and audio recordings of the keynote sessions that can be listened to online or downloaded as mp3 files.

Click here to go to a gallery of about 50 photographs from the conference.

Please note that the audio recordings are large files and will take some time to download. We suggest that you download them to your hard drive for listening later offline.

Papers & Presentations:

• President's Address - Brian Cooklin, SLS President. Session notes below. Audio recording (8.36Mb mp3 file).

• Minister's Address - Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Education & Lifelong Learning. Full text of her address below. Audio recording (18.1Mb mp3 file).

• Keynote Address - Brian Sweeney, Chief Officer, Strathclyde Fire & Rescue. Presentation (10.6Mb ppt file), audio recording (26.5Mb mp3 file), session notes (click on the item in the Article Index above).
  

• Inspiring Leaders - John Dunford, General Secretary, Association of School & College Leaders. Session notes (click on the item in the Article Index above), presentation (146Kb pdf file), audio recording (18.6Mb mp3 file).

• Panel Session (session notes - click on the item in the Article Index above:
• Transitions - Frank Crawford, Chief Inspector, HMIE. Presentation (12.8Mb ppt file), Audio recording (10.4Mb mp3 file).

• Raising Achievement for All - Christine Pollock, Executive Director, Learning & Leisure Services, North Lanarkshire Council. Audio recording (9.18Mb mp3 file).

• The Impact of Media on Education - Elizabeth Buie, News Editor, The Times Educational Supplement Scotland. Audio recording (10.0Mb mp3 file).
  

• Youth Mental Health & Wellbeing - Ted Brierley, Executive Secretary, International Confederation of Principals. Presentation (2.22Mb pdf file), audio recording (9.32Mb mp3 file).

• Question & Answer session at the end of the Panel Session. Audio recording (19.4Mb mp3 file).

• Planning for the Future - David Blake, ASCL Pensions Consultant. Presentation (1.48Mb pdf file), audio recording (19.3Mb mp3 file).
  

Session 1 – Brian Cooklin - Presidential Address

• First SLS President and  the first SLS Conference. Change of name better reflects the membership composition, plus the members are the leaders of Scottish education.
• Theme of the conference is Inspiring Leadership. We need to ask ourselves: who has inspired us and still does so, and how can we inspire others?
• Has represented the members on many occasions during the year – meetings, conferences, enquiries, other associations.
• Myriad of groups and activities on behalf of the association. Outstanding support from his own school and the Executive and staff of the association.
• Major factor in SLS success is the calibre of the people involved – now represented in every group related to education in Scotland.
• Support from other associations, e.g. ASCL.
• Have a modernising agenda for the association. Now have a strategic plan.
• This year saw the biggest increase in membership. Members report that they have a high satisfaction level with the services. And SLS has received good media coverage.
• Aim of SLS is to support the members as effective leaders in their schools in many ways.
• Barriers:
• Funding of the association. Always difficult, especially now in time of recession.
• Curriculum for Excellence. “They go on in a strange paradox …” = quote from Churchill. Fits the situation very well.  Good decision to delay implementation for a year. But this will not be enough if other issues are not faced, for example time for teachers to prepare for the changes required to implement Curriculum for Excellence. SLS wants to see it work for the benefit of the young people, but need adequate time for teachers to prepare for it. SLS has been lobbying for the employment of people (such as probationers) to make time for teachers to prepare.
• Scottish Qualifications Authority – also issues. Will standards rise just because of the new exams? Why do we see the narrowing of the curriculum? Many other questions. Need a detailed strategy for implementing. Situation of probationers is not good – only 25% of them were given permanent jobs this year. this will see them lose commitment and enthusiasm. The system deceived them when they made the decision to enter the profession. One major result will be a future shortfall of teachers, and there is no forward planning for that.
• Retention of Heads and Deputies is becoming harder. Research shows this. But what will be done about that? The toolkit for job sizing is also causing problems; it does not cover the responsibilities of the roles well enough.
• Work-life balance aspects – pushing for better support – sabbaticals, health programs, etc.
• How to develop future leaders. Need for standards for level management – as a stepping stone for future standards for leadership.
• This conference is to reinvigorate you – to give you a good feeling about how well you do on a daily basis. You need to be exhilarated by your own leadership.
• You lead the way in Scottish education. Eisenhower said: “You do not lead by beating people over the head. That is assault, not leadership.”
• Leave here with an understanding of what has inspired you. And encourage others to take up the role.

Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning

I am delighted to be here today to share my thoughts and speak with you about educational and leadership developments especially at this pivotal point in the Curriculum for Excellence programme’s development. I would however first of all like to comment on the rebranding of your organisation to School Leaders Scotland. This is a critical and exciting time for educational reform in Scotland and strong leadership will be critical in meeting the challenges ahead of us. The importance of leadership at all levels is key to successful delivery and the rebranding of your organisation recognises your commitment to this. It also reflects my belief that the true leadership in Scottish education lies with you – Scotland’s Head Teachers.  It is not just in the school you lead individually but the contribution you can make collectively to your local authority and Scotland’s national education system.

As Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning I have high ambitions for the education of our young people and I see headteachers as key to its success.  The purpose of this Government is to create a more successful country with opportunities for all of Scotland to flourish, through increasing sustainable economic growth.

My aim is to help create an environment where all people in Scotland can share in that prosperity. I firmly believe that investment in education is investment in the future success of Scotland and you as school leaders have a vital role to play in delivering that ambition.

Scotland has a learning system and culture of which we can be proud.  Our participation, research capacity, teacher education and curriculum developments as outlined in the OECD report are quite rightly regarded as world class and you should be proud of your contribution to this.  The OECD report also identified a number of important challenges – in particular the continued achievement gap, and the need to make the experience in upper secondary more relevant and engaging for all students.  I believe that Curriculum for Excellence will go a long way towards helping us meet these challenges.

Why are we doing this?

Curriculum for Excellence is a highly ambitious programme of reform. The Scottish Government has high ambitions for Scotland and Curriculum for Excellence has a vital role to play in preparing our young people to take their place in a modern society and economy. Recent events in the economy provide an acute reminder of the importance of preparing our young people for a less certain world.  An ever increasing degree of creativity and adaptability in our young people will be required for them to embrace the future. In preparing for such challenges, we must all be ambitious, innovative and open to change.

Progress so far

Real progress has been made over the summer - let’s recap on what has been achieved:

• the publication of Building the Curriculum 3, which offers guidance on planning the curriculum in line with the values, purposes and principles of Curriculum for Excellence;

• the publication of A Consultation on the next Generation of National Qualifications in Scotland – a key document in the adoption of Curriculum for Excellence; the period for consultation ended at the end of October;

• 5 National Qualifications consultation events took place in October, supplementing 6 area events on Curriculum for Excellence, in which some 700 colleagues from centres, schools and authorities were involved;

• the release of draft experiences and outcomes for all of the curriculum areas and invited feedback through focus groups and an online questionnaire;

• trialling the draft experiences and outcomes in over 300 schools, colleges and early years establishments.  A programme of review of the experiences and outcomes in the light of trialling and feedback has recently been agreed by the management board and work is progressing with changes where these are necessary, and with exemplification of practice in line with CfE;

• the production of introductory DVDs on Curriculum for Excellence for parents and for schools.

Over the summer, my Ministerial colleagues and I visited 17 local authorities and schools.  I personally visited 11 local authorities, hearing strong messages of support for Curriculum for Excellence. 

For example, I spoke to Head teachers from across the country who recognised the critical role they have to play in creating a professional dialogue amongst teachers about Curriculum for Excellence. By doing so they recognise the fact that ultimately teachers and staff are fundamental to the success of this programme of reform.  This degree of understanding and willingness to engage in and tackle the challenges and issues demonstrates the sort of leadership that is a critical factor to success. 

I also heard first hand about what issues concerned teachers, head teachers and local authority staff. I know that many of you have voiced concerns over timescales,  the time for teachers’ professional development and about transitions. I am listening carefully to those concerns and following a recommendation from the Curriculum for Excellence Management Board, I announced on Friday 31 October a further implementation year for Curriculum for Excellence to ensure that schools and colleges have enough time to prepare for high quality delivery of Curriculum for Excellence. 

Schools and colleges are already making changes to learning and teaching based on the information they have relating to the new curriculum and will continue to do so.  An additional implementation year will ensure that from August 2010,  all children and young people experience a high quality Curriculum for Excellence experience and with new qualifications coming onstream from the summer exam diet in 2014.

The Management Board has a robust programme plan underpinning the continued development of Curriculum for Excellence and are leading this programme with commitment and energy.  I would urge all of you as educational leaders to do the same. 

Sufficient planning time is vital in order to get this right.  It is equally important, however, that we do not take our foot off the pedal in driving change forward. 

I know that many teachers in secondary schools continue to feel constrained by the dynamics of a system in which national qualifications are the fundamental driver for education.   It is true that national qualifications will always have a central role in secondary education.

But if we truly believe that qualifications should follow the curriculum and not the other way round, everyone needs to be careful not to fall into the trap of believing that when the new qualifications happen, that they are regarded as being the be all and end all of Curriculum for Excellence.

That makes it all the more critical that the new generation of qualifications are absolutely compatible with the principles of Curriculum for Excellence.  That is the feedback I am receiving overwhelmingly from stakeholders.

Transformational Change

The changes we seek in education are transformational.  Our shared ambitions for Curriculum for Excellence make it the most radical reform of education for a generation - different in scale, scope and approach to any kind of educational development we have undertaken before. That does not mean that we cannot learn from existing best practice in approaches to learning and teaching. 

Curriculum for Excellence is as much about culture change as it is about curriculum content.  As a government we are changing the culture from dependence on central direction to independence and trust in professional judgement.

That requires all of us in this room to work collaboratively.  If we want our children to become confident individuals then they must see that confidence demonstrated by teachers and instilling that confidence is very much part and parcel of what effective school leaders in school will have been doing and will need to continue to do with Curriculum for Excellence. 

We can lead this agenda but a key challenge to the successful delivery of a project of this scale is encouraging all involved in the process, at all levels, to embrace the culture change and personal responsibility needed to make Curriculum for Excellence a success.

With this aim in mind in the summer I reviewed the governance arrangements for the CfE Management Board which has been expanded to include representatives from the teacher associations. I am glad to say that Ronnie Summers now represents School Leaders Scotland on that group.  Broader membership is already proving to be of immense value in developing implementation plans that are grounded in the reality of school life.

SKILLS

This Scottish Government has high ambitions for Scotland and Curriculum for Excellence has a vital role to play in preparing our young people to take their place in a modern society and economy. It provides a framework for all young people in Scotland to gain the knowledge and skills for learning, skills for life and skills for work which they will need to flourish.

We need to work in partnership - Government, local authorities, schools, colleges, universities, local community, employers, national bodies and the voluntary sector to deliver a better learning experience for each and every young person and support their transition into positive and sustained destinations.

That means for you that schools – and school leaders – need to engage with business and other local partners. I know that you have already embraced that agenda. Schools play a key role in their communities. They no longer exist in isolation and this will help to ensure the best outcomes for all of your pupils.

Working together, we can help young people be everything they can be.

None of us knows what the future holds but we can know that Scotland’s young people will have the skills to embrace the future with confidence.  Curriculum for Excellence is not an initiative or job description – it is a shared national mission and you are the pilots and pioneers of that mission. 

Curriculum for Excellence and Leadership

The success of Curriculum for Excellence relies on a reinvigoration of the teaching profession building on the McCrone concept of confident, autonomous, reflective practitioners developing their own thinking and working together. The theme of your conference is “Inspiring Leadership”.  Curriculum for Excellence is also about leadership at every level. Leaders in classrooms, schools, and in authorities and communities across the country.

Everyone involved in the learning experience of children and Young people needs to be actively addressing what Curriculum for Excellence means for them now. HMIE has responded positively to the programme of reform by aiming to promote cultural change through inspection and in the way that staff, across all of education, promote improvement in their day to day work.

The new model of inspection, launched by HMIE in September, focuses on self-evaluation which will provide a vital contribution in directing and managing the process of change towards Curriculum for Excellence. The new approach is a powerful driver for self-improvement and innovation.

It also builds on best practice and continues to provide demonstrable assurances for parents and other users of scrutiny.

Development of school leaders

Across the world, governments are recognising the need develop and sustain effective leadership in schools.  In an effort to maintain and improve the quality of their leadership, a number of countries now see development programmes for school leaders, in particular headteachers, as inextricably linked to sets of standards for professional performance.

SQH and its benefits to the system

Scotland is no exception and that is why the Scottish Qualification for Headship (SQH) was introduced in 1999. I know that the SQH is a tool that local authorities as employers value greatly. It has brought positive impacts, not just to the development of the participants, but the wider school community.  Ultimately, and most importantly, pupils benefit from the SQH. 

I am confident that the SQH will have a crucial place in the development of our future headteachers for many years to come.  But my view is that SQH should not be the only route to developing the school leaders we need to lead transformational change.

The overriding objective must be to ensure that we have a sufficient pool of suitably qualified teachers interested and capable of successfully leading our schools.  At present the SQH is not giving us sufficient numbers of potential headteachers. 

Flexible Routes to Headship

The flexible routes to headship pilot held its first final assessment panel in May and I am delighted to note that all 15 participants were successful. This has allowed the evaluation team from Cambridge and Glasgow Universities to complete their evaluation of all areas of the pilot including the assessment process.

Their final report is very supportive.  Indeed the evaluators recognise that a huge amount has been achieved and a significant amount of knowledge has been acquired in a relatively short time.   The distinguishing feature of flexible routes is that each candidate works through an individualised personal development plan with the benefit of a significant coaching input to support the transformational learning journey.

Over the coming months I will consider the recommendations of the report to ensure that we take on board any implications for the national roll out with a view to providing next spring a ‘flexible routes to headship’ programme that meets the needs of both employers and aspirant headteachers.  I am pleased to announce that the evaluation report has been published today and is now available on the Scottish Government website.

I should also say that to inform our knowledge and wider thinking in the area of headteacher recruitment and retention we have engaged the Universities of Cambridge, Glasgow and Edinburgh to carry out a joint research project on this issue. I look forward to hearing about their emerging findings towards the end of the year and to their final report in the spring.

When we signed the Concordat with local government last year, the Scottish Government signalled a fundamental shift in the way we share power. Local Authorities themselves must also now ensure that they extend that principle of subsidiarity and decision making to schools fully recognising Headteachers as an integral part of their leadership teams.

Opportunities and challenges in building leadership capacity

This brings me onto some opportunities and challenges for us in the wider area of teacher development. One particularly important aspect of the leadership agenda is to build capacity right through the system. Leadership should apply to all staff in a school.  Such an approach will be crucial to the success of Curriculum for Excellence. Improving the leadership capacity in Scotland’s education system for me means working with, among others, the Deans of Faculty in Scotland’s Teacher Education Universities, to integrate them more into the Curriculum for Excellence agenda and CPD issues and I am doing that currently.

A classroom teacher needs to be able to lead a class effectively. We need teachers to develop leadership skills in pupils too if they are to flourish in the wider world. I believe the time is right for further partnership working between universities and local authorities so that we have development programmes aimed at each stage of a teacher’s career pathway. This should develop and strengthen the succession planning that local authorities have in place.

Universities already do remarkable work in the field of research.  A challenge for us all is to get more teachers involved in practitioner research projects so they can better understand research findings in general and apply them in the classroom. This is something we need to get better at if we are to reap the potential benefit of Curriculum for Excellence.

What the Scottish Government is doing in conjunction with stakeholders

Our shared leadership agenda is ambitious, and necessarily so.  There is already much good work being carried out in Scotland, for example, work on coaching and mentoring which contribute to creating learning cultures and to building learning communities in schools and in local authorities.  Learning communities such as these will be the fulcrum of Curriculum for Excellence.

The recommendations of the recent Report of the Chartered Teacher Review Group, which I accepted, will help strengthen the leadership role that headteachers have in this important development avenue for teachers. Perhaps the most important amongst these is that headteachers should ensure that Chartered Teachers have duties that reflect their particular knowledge and experience. The SNCT are currently preparing guidance that should help in this regard.  Crucially, I would expect Chartered Teachers to take up the leadership roles – particularly in relation to Curriculum for Excellence – for which they are so well equipped.

Conclusion

But there are other issues around school leadership in Scotland that we need to address collectively.  I will be addressing these in my leadership paper which I will issue soon.

Do we have the right pathways to leadership in Scotland? Are all the building blocks in place that articulate the leadership we expect of teachers in the classroom and all the way to Head Teacher?

Do we have the right support in place where school leadership has been identified as an issue?  Do we have good succession planning across Scotland?

How much is leadership distributed in Scottish schools? How can we support its further development? How do we support school leaders to play their role in the wider community locally that we will need them to? 

These and other questions need to be answered. And not by Government alone. I hope you individually, and the SLS collectively, will take an active part in that debate.

We are at an exciting time in Scottish education.  Curriculum for Excellence provides us with the opportunity to equip all our children for a future that is impossible for us even to imagine.  The importance of your role in that journey cannot be overstated. I know its one you will embrace.

Q&A:

• Standards for leadership? Very interested in that. Should look at how to take that forward. Too fragmented at the moment – need to draw together the strands and groups. Good OECD report allows us to highlight the good aspects of Scottish education.

• Curriculum for Excellence (CforE). The concordat with local authorities and the remove of ring fencing on the budgets – stopped us from recruiting probationers to help with CforE? Should not have been affected by the budget changes – different effects in different local authority areas. Should not have affected teacher numbers – about 53,000. But times are tough. Need better workforce planning. Must work together rather than beat them up about it.

• Dialogue over CforE – no definitive answers yet? External exams. Effective strategies to raise literacy and numeracy that don’t need external exams. Support the idea of 5 subjects from 4th year on. Are you moving to stop the consecutive years of exams? Focus has to be from early years in literacy and numeracy. We want to get the foundations right. Working to get robust system of assessing literacy and numeracy. External exam is seen as a passport by parents and employers, so should not drive the system, but must be considered.

• Leadership + CPD + assessment = things to work on for success of CforE.

• If a school is seen as having a strong self-evaluation system, should be able to build on that.

• Would not like to see narrowing of the curriculum. But there is jockeying for position in the curriculum. We need to have a vision of where we want to be with the curriculum, and that will allow us to get rid of some of the baggage from the past – world of the future is unknown to us.

• Any work on the job sizing toolkit? This is a problem that is causing lack of aspirants. Difficult times for pay claims. Need to sort out the anomalies. No instant solution. But it needs to be recognised – will better inform the report planned for the spring.

• Asking more of local communities. Health and wellbeing. Can govt do anything about taking takeaway food sellers off the streets in school hours? Must do that to stop kids being exploited. … Possible, doable. Local councils have powers in the licence arrangements. Also about trying to change choices and educate palates. Kids who eat fish for the first time are now asking parents for it. Have to do something to improve health of young people for their future. Need to work more on early intervention. Cognitive impact of stress and poverty has been highlighted in recent research. Child development also a part of the curriculum – parenting without being parents.