Centre for Educational Leadership

The Report of the Scottish Government funded Research Project on the Recruitment and Retention of Headteachers in Scotland has just been published.

The Report can be downloaded at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/290701/0089341.pdf

A new HMIE report has just been published based on evidence from around 300 HMIE follow-through inspection visits to schools in which they had previously found important or major weaknesses.

The follow-up visits by HMIe were carried out between 2005 and 2008. Supported by their education authorities, many of these schools had addressed key weaknesses effectively and had improved their provision. HMIe suggest the experience of these schools provides important insight into ways in which real improvement can be brought about quickly and effectively.

Dunedin Academic Press have published the 2nd Edition of 'School Leadership". The original book has been reprinted twice and this new edition provides up-to-date commentary and critique on developments since 2003. While concerned with Scottish approaches to leadership issues, these are placed in an international context and suggestions are made for further developments.
Full details:
O'Brien, J., Murphy, D. and Draper, J. (2008) School Leadership, 2nd Edition, Edinburgh:Dunedin Academic Press.

The OECD's Improving School Leadership Project has recently resulted in two Volumes being published.

Scotland contributed a country report to this project (country reports were published some time ago on the OECD website) and the individual reports have been analysed now and the two volumes produced are:

Improving School Leadership
- Volume 1: Policy and Practice,
- Volume 2: Case Studies on System Leadership

More information about how to obtain these reports or to download the Executive Summaries can be found on the New and Noteworthy section of the CEL website.

The SELMAS Conference will be held at Stirling Management Centre in early September.

The theme of the Conference this year is:

Leadership Challenges.

The fee is £80.00 and details can be obtained from:

selmasbooking@st-georges.edin.sch.uk

CEL colleagues welcomed today some 18 Australian colleagues participating in a study trip to the UK. The educational trip has been organised by Professor Patrick Duignan and Professor Mike Bezzina of the School of Educational Leadership and the Flagship for Creative and Authentic Leadership of the Australian Catholic University. Their visit is designed to explore developments in educational leadership in the United Kingdom.

A video produced for Teachers.TV was broadcast earlier this month and is available for downloading from the Teachers.TV website. It features two Chartered Teachers (CT) commenting on the work associated with the CT programmes and the benefits they have gained from CPD generally and in particular their involvement in achieving CT status.

The video can be viewed or downloaded at:

http://www.teachers.tv/video/24595 

The second annual Scottish International Summer School on School Leadership is scheduled to begin in late July 2008. Details and programme can be downloaded from:

 http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/02/14095238/0

A new report about mentoring in teacher education was launched yesterday by HM Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) . The Report suggests that good quality support through mentoring in schools makes an important contribution to developing the professional skills of new teachers and ensuring the best quality learning experiences for pupils.