CPD Team

This will be my last blog post as National CPD Coordinator as I leave Education Scotland at the end of the month.

A lot has changed since I was appointed in May of 2004 with a very open remit to make things happen in the world of CPD. As I look back there are so many highlights and friendships, so much wisdom and fun. Here are some of my personal best bits from the work of a wonderfully dedicated and talented team :

The establishment of the National CPD Network as a learning community, sharing, challenging, learning together – making sure that the real business of CPD – teachers making a difference for children and young people – has stayed at the front of the agenda.

The International Thought-Leaders Programme
Finding the best practice in CPD and leadership internationally and bringing this to Scotland. Ellen Moir, Richard Elmore, Janet Gless, Terry Dozier – so many great thinkers have helped shape our learning

The Flexible Route to Headship
From a single line in the Ambitious Excellent Schools agenda of 2004 (“We will establish new routes to achieve the Standard for Headship, during 2006, to provide choice and alternatives to the Scottish Qualification for Headship”) to the excitement of the launch of cohort 6 in May of this year.

The International Summer Schools on School Leadership
Inspiration, innovation, creativity – learning with and from the world’s best over three great years.

CPD and On-Line Learning
Glow meeting, tweeting, blogging, CPDFind, CPDShorts and building community – this is a journey that has only just begun.

Also PRD, Learning Rounds, Coaching and Mentoring, Strategic Leaders Development Programme, CPD for Educational Leaders, study visits, thought-pieces, occasional papers, Building Windmills – the list goes on.

So thanks to all past and present members of the National CPD Network – you have been our bedrock, our inspiration, our lodestar and our conscience.

Good luck to Laura McAllister and Kate Paton, who will be working with Education Scotland colleagues to carry the flag forward.

And a very special thanks to all the members of the National CPD Team over the last eight years:
Angus MacDonald, Marjory Holmes, Fiona Taylor, John Daffurn, Con Morris, Kat Healey, Jim Keegans, Ruth Johnston, Catriona Oates, Sheila Smith, Margaret Orr

Please keep in touch – I can’t wait to find out what I’m going to do next!

Margaret

margaret_alcorn@yahoo.com

At last year’s Scottish Learning Festival Sir John Jones became the first ever keynote speaker to get a spontaneous standing ovation.

And at last week’s Edinburgh Learning Festival (ELF!) he once again moved, challenged, amused and re-energised a large group of senior educational leaders.

His theme was the need for inspirational teaching and quality leadership to become the norm in every Scottish school. He spoke of our calling as educators, and the need for each of us to develop and show passion, wisdom and – most importantly – righteous indignation at the educational experience of many of our children and young people. These three elements need to be glued together in the relentless pursuit of excellence and in the context of a culture of UPR – unconditional positive regard for every child.

On a personal note he took me right back to my days running the Returning to Teaching programme in Edinburgh where this quote by Haim Ginott used to form the core philosophy of the sessions on positive behaviour:

“I’ve come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It’s my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a child humanized or de-humanized.”

In the second part of his address Sir John turned his attention to the learning experience of children. He quoted Ken Robinson who says we are trying to prepare our children for the future by repeating what we did in the past. He challenged us to consider whether our schools are more than centres of standardisation and conformity, where learners play the “Let’s guess what is in the teacher’s head” game, and where teachers forget to teach the love of learning in order to focus on content.

For success our young people need to be helped to move from logical, linear thinking to inventive, empathetic, conceptual thinking as described by Daniel Pink. Technology changes everything, he believes, by bringing infinite choice.

Sir John argued that the most successful systems such as Finland and Singapore had a new focus on curiosity, problem-solving, collaboration, initiative, personal responsibility, etc and had moved to a belief that to teach less was to learn more.

Mick Waters, who many of you will remember from the Selmas conference this year, says that to achieve deep learning, we need high engagement, and our lessons need to be relevant, interesting, and ideally naughty and with a giggle.

As educators we need to reconnect with our moral purpose – our righteous indignation – to deliver opportunities regardless of poverty, family, post code, and to remember that good schooling doesn’t just make the difference, it makes all the difference. We need to change some of the negative metaphors that describe our work, and change the script to change the picture.

Sir John challenged all of us to dare to think differently and to strive to be “Magic Weavers” in all of our schools every day. Our pupils will remember us for ever if we achieve this.

. . to our two new colleagues.

We are delighted that Laura McAllister, headteacher of Moorpark Primary School in Kilbirnie, and Kate Paton, headteacher of Currie High School have accepted two year secondments as Development Officers (CPD snd Leadership) in Education Scotland. Our two new colleagues bring a wealth of experience and we hope they have a productive and happy time in their new roles.

Please say hello when you see them.

The Finnish school improvement activist Pasi Sahlberg was in fine form at a recent event in the Scottish Parliament. He had been invited to describe the strategies and policies that have taken Finland from a fairly low start in terms of educational attainment to a leading place internationally. It was interesting to hear these in the context of the Teaching Scotland’s Future report and the work of the National Partnership Group. There were lots of positive echoes, interlaced with a number of significant challenges.

Pasi Sahlberg offered three key drivers that he suggested had transformed Finnish schools:
Firstly there was a focus on equity – ensuring children were ready for learning through universal child-care and pre-school provision. The well-being of children was important, and teachers were expected to “prevent rather than repair”.
Secondly, there was a core belief that less is more. Teachers spent at least one hour a day less teaching than in Scotland, therefore releasing more time for collegiality, and he shared evidence that there were benefits in this to children’s learning. “The less time we teach, the more they learn”
Thirdly, there was a drive to build teacher professionalism. Only the best graduates were accepted on the initial teacher education programmes. This early investment meant that there was no need for close inspection.

Pasi Sahlberg then offered six lessons he felt might support Scotland in our quest for better learning for our children and young people. In summary these were:

• Collaboration not competition
• Personalisation not standardisation
• Equity not school choice
• Trust-based professionalism not test-based accountability (including inspection)
• Pedagogy not technology (well at least less technology!)
• More professionalism; less bureaucracy

Professor Donald Christie of Strathclyde University replied to these challenges, acknowledging the pressing need to address equity, and the challenge that this represents in the context of wider social issues. He endorsed the need to invest in teacher professionalism and spoke of the strengths of teacher education in both systems. The high levels of trust enjoyed by Finnish educators, linked to high expectations was a key issue as was the need to ensure that we built personalisation into our CPD programmes.

This was an enormously stimulating debate, attended by the Cabinet Secretary, and it was refreshing to hear and engage in some challenging high level discussion regarding the values and direction of travel that we need in Scotland if we are to achieve our ambitions for change and improvement.

It reminded me of the deep learning and challenge that emerged from the “Thought-Leaders Programme” that the CPD team ran on behalf of Scottish Government several years ago – the legacy of which can still be seen in changed views of coaching and mentoring, Learning Rounds, etc.

You can find out more about Pasi Sahlberg here.

A number of our good friends and colleagues have reached the end of their Education Scotland/CPD team contracts this week, and I am very sorry to see them go. Each has made a unique and important contribution to the team over a combined total of more than twelve years and each will be sadly missed.

So farewell and thank you to Susan Lafferty who has worked quietly and efficiently to make our online communities so popular and effective. In particular Susan was the engine behind CPDStepin – and I know many colleagues have benefited from her excellent personal skills and her meticulous attention to detail. She built a strong skill set in the area of online facilitation – a very rare attribute and we shall miss her enormously. I hope she finds the job she deserves very soon.

We must also say good bye to our friend and colleague Catriona Oates. Although she has been with us for less than two years, the impact she has made is significant. Catriona has a clear vision and a rare understanding of the power of technology and social networking to transform teacher professional learning. In this context, she has achieved and delivered so much while with the team. She has designed, built and facilitated a number of successful GLOW communities, and has been tireless in seeking and sharing interesting CPD links. She has also provided strategic leadership, with her colleague and friend Bob Cook, of the team’s work on Professional Review and Development – so please do check out the excellent PRD Toolkit and the PRD Health Check which offer good and sensible strategies for improving PRD at school level. This CPD Team blog is now much more user friendly thanks to Catriona. Please do keep up with Catriona’s career on her own blog, Cat’s eyes.

The leadership strand of the CPD team will miss the positive, professional and collegial support of Kat Healy whose contract also came to an end at the end of February. Kat brought high quality organisational skills to the Flexible Route to Headship programme from its inception, and many of those who have participated in FRH will know her as your first point of contact. Kat epitomises all that is good in project support. She solved problems, maintained focus and showed flexibility and creativity in all her responsibilities. Kat of course is also a very talented singer/songwriter and we are all looking forward to the launch of her first album later this year. We are delighted that she has been head-hunted for the Children’s Panel, and will start work with this organisation on Monday.
You can keep up with Kat’s music on her website: http://www.kathealymusic.com/

Finally I am very sad that we must also wave goodbye to Jim Keegans who has has reached the end of his contract. For five years Jim has been the driving force behind the development of the Flexible Route to Headship and as such has made a significant contribution not only to the work of the team, but also to Scottish education more widely. When Jim first took up this responsibility FRH was little more than an aspiration, and he has worked tirelessly, building partnership with a great number of colleagues from a wide range of stakeholders, to make it into the thriving, lively programme it is today. This significant achievement is not the only legacy that Jim leaves as he moves into the next stage of his career. He has led and contributed to so many aspects of the CPD team’s work, from our headteacher CPD programme, the development of Learning Rounds, the development of the online Educational Leadership Development Framework, and so on. Throughout this he has been a super person to work with, always calm, always cheerful and always more likely to seek a solution before a confrontation. He will be missed for so many reasons.

We’ll miss you all

The Learning Rounds report provides a comprehensive overview of the range of engagement which the CPD Team, Education Scotland has enjoyed with establishments, schools and local authorities. The team is very appreciative of the opportunities to colloborate with colleagues as the model has evolved across a range of settings.

We are also very aware that Learning Rounds is featuring in self evaluation and professional development activities across the country and would be delighted if other experiences could be shared on the Learning Rounds Community on Glow. If you want to join this community, contact Ruth Johnston on cpdanswers@educationscotland.gov.uk.

GTC Scotland has launched a consultation on a proposed scheme for Professional Update.

You can view a position paper on the GTCS website along with the consultation which will run from Wednesday 1 February to Wednesday 7 March 2012. The scheme is a direct consequence of the implementation of Teaching Scotland’s Future.

The key purposes of a system of Professional Update for teachers are defined as follows:

• To maintain and improve the quality of our teachers and to enhance the impact that they have on pupils’ learning
• To support, maintain and enhance teachers’ continued professionalism, and the reputation of the teaching profession.

The results of this consultation will have a big say in the future of PRD, the way we evidence impact of CPD on learning and the nature of the online profile (also a TSF recommendation), please get involved!

This is a guest post from Sarah Burton of Education Scotland

In this video Laura Compton from the Learning and Teaching Development Team in West Lothian explains how they changed the West Lothian Glow area to make it easier for practitioners to communicate with other practitioners, pupils and parents across West Lothian.

Click here visit West Lothian’s Sharing the Learning Blog.

To find out how the blog was created click here.

This is a cross curricular project inspired by the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games which will bring together international students and primary school pupils in the city of Edinburgh.

I was delighted to be invited to attend the launch of this project at Redhall School this week. Chris Holmes, Director of Paralympic Integration at London 2012, told his story and let all the pupils present have a go at trying on one of his nine Olympic gold medals. They then went out into the drizzle to try out a number of paralympic games for themselves.

50 Edinburgh schools will use the Games as a context for interdisciplinary learning, and will focus on the values which are core to the whole project -friendship, excellence, respect, courage, determination, inspiration and equality.

To support the project, well over 100 students from 33 different countries who are currently studying in Edinburgh have applied to be involved with local children, and the project has been recognised by London 2012 as an official Inspire project

All the participating schools will join the official Get Set Network which offers access to resources and sharing experience with other Get Set schools across the UK. Project

Aberdeen City Council

Contact:  Andrew Jones

e-mail: ajones@aberdeencity.gov.uk

Aberdeenshire Council

Contact:  Sheila Marr

e-mail: sheila.marr@aberdeenshire.gov.uk

Angus Council

Contact: Trish Torz

e-mail: Torzp@angus.gov.uk

Argyll and Bute Council

Contact: Fiona Johnston

e-mail: fiona.johnston@argyll-bute.gov.uk

Clackmannanshire Council

Contact: Raymond Young

e-mail: ryoung@clacks.gov.uk

Comhairle nan Eilean Siar

Contact: Donald A MacLeod

e-mail: damacleod@cne-siar.gov.uk

Dumfries and Galloway Council

Contact:  Elspeth Penny

e-mail: Elspeth.Penny@dumgal.gov.uk

Dundee City Council

Contact: Iris Thomson

e-mail: iris.thomson@dundeecity.gov.uk

East Ayrshire Council

Contact: Aileen Hollywood

e-mail: aileen.hollywood@east-ayrshire.gov.uk

East Dunbartonshire Council

Contact: Danny Corbett

e-mail: Danny.Corbett@eastdunbarton.gov.uk

East Lothian Council

Contact: Graeme Stephenson

e-mail: gstephenson1@eastlothian.gov.uk

East Renfrewshire Council

Contact: Anne Dunn

e-mail: anne.dunn@eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk

Edinburgh City Council

Contact: Gillian Hunt

e-mail: Gillian.Hunt@edinburgh.gov.uk

Falkirk Council

Contact: Anne Hutchison

e-mail: anne.hutchison@falkirk.gov.uk

Fife Council

Contact: Marjorie Kinnaird

e-mail:  marjorie.kinnaird-ed@fife.gov.uk

Glasgow City Council

Contact: Renatta Currie

e-mail: renatta.currie@glasgow.gov.uk

Highland Council

Contact: Terry Kerr

e-mail: terry.kerr@highland.gov.uk

Inverclyde Council

Contact: Gordon Manson

e-mail: gordon.manson@inverclyde.gov.uk

Midlothian Council

Contact: Alan Wait

e-mail: alan.wait@midlothian.gov.uk

Moray Council

Contact: Alex Ross

e-mail: alexander.ross@moray-edunet.gov.uk

North Ayrshire Council

Contact: Sue McKenzie

e-mail: SueMcKenzie@north-ayrshire.gov.uk

North Lanarkshire Council

Contact: Isabel Lennon

e-mail: LennonI@northlan.gov.uk

Orkney Islands Council

Contact: Carol McManus

e-mail: carol.mcmanus@orkney.gov.uk

Perth and Kinross Council

Contact: Jean Cessford

e-mail: jccessford@pkc.gov.uk

Renfrewshire Council

Contact: Trevor Gray

e-mail: trevor.gray@renfrewshire.gov.uk

Scottish Borders Council

Contact: Jacqueline Morley

e-mail: jmorley@scotborders.gov.uk

Shetland Islands Council

Contact: Sarah Henry

e-mail: sarah.henry@shetland.gov.uk

South Ayrshire Council

Contact: David Graham

e-mail: David.Graham@south-ayrshire.gov.uk

South Lanarkshire Council

Contact: Ronnie Boyd

e-mail: ronnie.boyd@southlanarkshire.gov.uk

Stirling Council

Contact: Marie Louise O’Neill

e-mail: oneillml@stirling.gov.uk

West Dunbartonshire Council

Contact: Margaret Mackay

e-mail: Margaret.MacKay@west-dunbarton.gov.uk

West Lothian Council

Contact: Sheila Smith

e-mail: sheila.smith@westlothian.gov.uk