AHDS Annual Conference November 2014 'Teaching Scotland's Future: What you need to know and do.' Keynote presentation by Graeme Logan, Strategic Director of School Years at Education Scotland.
AHDS Conference November 2014 - Keynote; Graeme Logan
1. AHDS Annual Conference 2014
Teaching Scotland’s Future: What next?
Transforming lives through learning
Graeme Logan
2. Being the leader you want to be
• Relentless optimism
• Strategic vs operational: getting the right balance
• Taking charge of your time, for example
responding to emails
• Forensic focus on children’s progress: keep
shining the spotlight on this
How does it feel for children?
Underachievement is immediately challenged,
achievement is immediately celebrated.
Transforming lives through learning
3. Structure of presentation
• WHAT – continuing to implement CfE
• HOW – TSF strategies and approaches to
professional learning
• SUPPORT – what we can do to help you
Transforming lives through learning
4. Keep the focus on outcomes for learners
Educational outcomes
for all learners are
improving
Inequity in educational
outcomes is eradicated
Public confidence in
education is high
Transforming lives through learning
5. The vision
Learners in Scotland will progress in
one of the most effective education
systems in the world, renowned for
the ability of national and local
partners to work flexibly together to
achieve high quality and equitable
outcomes for all
Transforming lives through learning
6. Turning the school aims into action
In one school the head teacher asked
everyone to agree which school aim they
are helping to achieve when they meet
together as groups or teams of pupils, parents
and staff. This enabled all stakeholders to
understand how their daily choices and
activities were helping to realise the school’s
vision.
Transforming lives through learning
7. Transformational change
Meeting the needs of every child in every
class, through the highest quality learning
experiences.
Transforming lives through learning
8. Evidence of impact of CfE…..
Between September 2013 and June 2014, in
almost all schools inspected (91%), one or
more aspect of children’s/young people’s
positive attributes (e.g. confidence, ambition,
motivation) and/or learning experiences are
reported as a key strength
Transforming lives through learning
9. Leadership priorities: CfE
• Reducing bureaucracy
• Clear assessment strategy/ policy/ practice
• Planning progression
• Skills for learning, life and work
Transforming lives through learning
11. Forward planning for learning
Resources Assessment (say,
Transforming lives through learning
do, make, write)
Opportunities for
applying the
learning
12. Continuing to implement CfE
• Pathways not tramlines
• Informed personalisation and choice
• A BGE for all
• Reduction in assessment
• Building on the success of this year’s
national qualification results
Transforming lives through learning
13. ‘Mountains of bumf is
no substitute for clarity’
Transforming lives through learning
15. Model of leadership learning
Leading change and improvement
Be responsible and accountable for a specific change
project.
Adopt an action learning approach, working collegially and
proactively with colleagues to lead change.
In what ways are you/could you be involved in leading
change and improvement?
Transforming lives through learning
17. Enquiry is about knowing deeply: knowing
what, knowing why, knowing how
Teachers doing enquiry should always be asking:
• what am I making problematic and why? And
what am I not questioning?
• what knowledge will I gain/what can be known
from this enquiry?
• for whose benefit am I doing this enquiry?
• for what purpose(s)?
• who is/should be involved and why?
Transforming lives through learning
18. How can you use enquiry?
• Partnerships with universities
• Refresh your approaches to self-evaluation,
auditing and improvement planning
• Working groups or enquiry groups ?
• Pupil Council ?
• Moving ‘professional dialogue’ to the next level
Transforming lives through learning
19. From professional dialogue to
professional enquiry
• Criticality
• Challenging, questioning, debating
• Identify, conceptualise and define
• Best practice or best problems ?
• Apply your skills in enquiry to professional
dialogue in your school and cluster
Transforming lives through learning
20. PRD and professional learning is the
currency of improvement in your school
•Getting it right for every teacher !
•Negotiating the right blend and balance for individual
•How good is the balance of time spent on individual,
school and system level improvements ?
Transforming lives through learning
22. Key purpose of head teachers
The head teacher acts as the leading
professional in a school and as an
officer of the local authority. Head teachers lead
the whole school community in order to
establish, sustain and enhance a culture of
learning
through which every child and young person is
able to
learn effectively and achieve their potential.
Transforming lives through learning
23. In line with the vision and values of the school, head
teachers,
supported by their staff:
establish, sustain and enhance the culture of self-evaluation
for school improvement;
develop staff capability, capacity and leadership to support
the culture of learning
ensure consistent high quality learning and teaching for all
pupils;
build and sustain partnerships with pupils, families and
relevant partners
to meet the identified needs of all learners;
manage and direct resources effectively in line with
identified strategic priorities.
Transforming lives through learning
24. QI 5.9 Improvement through self-evaluation: Updated level 5 illustration
We work with partners, learners and stakeholders, including parents and
carers, in self-evaluation and are aware of resulting strengths and
development needs and are committed to take action to effect
improvement. Effective systems are in place to monitor and evaluate the
quality of provision, including with partners, and to gather and respond to
views of stakeholders. We have strong leadership at all levels with a vision
for the outcomes of change. This vision gives direction to self-evaluation.
High quality support for career-long professional learning is in place to
support improvement. This is founded on effective arrangements for
professional review and development of staff. We take ownership of
professional learning, including reflection and enquiry on practice as
individuals and with others, in order to engage more deeply and
meaningfully with Curriculum for Excellence. We are aware of the impact of
our professional learning on our work and on the experiences of learners.
We use the GTCS Professional Standards as a starting point for personal
reflection and self-evaluation.
Transforming lives through learning
31. What can we do to support you?
• HGIOS 4
• Opening up great learning series
• Refresh of Glow
• More examples of planning progression
• New range of e-bulletins, including monthly
digest for headteachers
Transforming lives through learning
32. Summary – key support resources
• Evaluating and improving the primary curriculum
• Significant aspects of progress/ progression
frameworks for each curriculum area
• Sign up for the monthly strategic digest for
headteachers
Transforming lives through learning
33. TSF – what can you do at school level?
• PRD – use new national guidance
• Early phase
• Career-long learning
• The right blend and balance for each teacher
• Improvement planning: what and how?
Approaches to implementation
• Leadership for all
Transforming lives through learning
34. A final word about improvement planning
• Hold your nerve: stick to your main priorities
• When you prioritise a new area, do you de-prioritise
something else?
‘The greatest risk to school improvement
projects is that they are floored by inconsistent
action’
Transforming lives through learning
