On our blog we will feature guest ‘posters’. Here Ollie Bray gives us his thoughts on the 1st day at the Summer School.

Day one of the first Scottish International Summer School got off to a good start at the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh. The Chair for Day one was Ewan Aitken, the former leader of the City of Edinburgh Council.

Ewan spoke to the conference about his own feelings on leadership with a particular context on school and education leadership. Ewan emphasised the importance of all leaders ‘giving themselves time to think’.

The second presentation of the day was from Keir Bloomer, the former Chief Executive of Clackmannanshire Council. As always Keir was thought provoking and at times controversial. He spoke passionately about how we needed to ‘re-brand and re-model’ education in the new and emerging global climate.

After lunch Professor Gronn from the university of Glasgow gave a theoretical insight into distributed leadership. The presentation included a comprehensive references and case study examples of distributive leadership in practice from Australia and New Zealand. One of the questions emerging from the presentation was “Is there a link between being an effective distributed leader and emotional intelligence?”

The final presentation of the day outlined some of the work of Aberdeen University on their ‘Scottish Teachers for a New Era’ Programme. The programme is a re-modelling of the traditional B Ed primary route. Lynne Shiach led the presentation and she was assisted by some of her second year students. The enthusiasm of the three students that had been participating in the scheme was infectious and they had obviously benefited a huge amount from the revised programme. The revised programme not only focused on whom we are teaching and what we are teaching but there is also a large emphasis on ‘who we are as teachers’.

Ewan Aitkin skilfully summed up the day returning to his earlier observation that all leaders need to take the time to think if they wish to be truly effective.

Back from the flood plains of Gloucester to discover the excellent news that the International Summer School on School Leadership is now fully subscribed. Even if you are unable to attend, do check out the articles and references that speakers have posted on the website. There are some really interesting snippets. 

We’re all delighted that Cabinet Secretary Fiona Hyslop will welcome delegates on our visit to the Parliament, and that Richard Holloway will offer his own view of leadership as part of that visit.

 So exciting - I can’t wait. More news very soon.

Building on last year’s successful trip to Harvard Graduate School of Education, a small group of lucky educators will participate in “Leadership: An Evolving Vision” which runs in Boston from Thursday 12 July to Friday 20 July 2007. They’ll be encouraged to think about how they can refine their leadership skills, explore their management style and revitalize their personal vision of leadership. They will meet the greatest brains of Harvard, who will lead reflections on how to enhance the quality of the school experience for everyone.

Those travelling are:

• Eileen Brown, Headteacher Kyle Academy South Ayrshire

• Don Ledingham, Ex-Headteacher Head of Education East Lothian Council

• Fiona MacPhail, Headteacher Dalrymple PS East Ayrshire

• Jennifer Wadley, Headteacher Whiteness PS Shetland Islands

• Arlene Wilson, Headteacher Dallas PS Moray

• Dennise Sommerville, Headteacher of St Michael’s Primary School in Dumfries

 You can find out more about plans for the trip by visiting the Harvard 2007 blog.

STOP PRESS

Michael Kellet who will replace Donald Henderson as Deputy Director, Teachers Division in October is currently based in Washington, and plans to pop down to visit the Harvard team during the summer school

The CPD Team is arranging a series of visits for CPD Managers at Local Authority level.   This is a follow-up to the work started in 2005 and summarised in Occasional Paper 3.    Fiona Taylor from the team is in charge of co-ordinating the visits and has already arranged visits to Shetland and South Ayrshire.    If you have particular CPD experiences that you would like to share please drop Fiona a line.

An advisory group is now established to review existing good practice in the PRD process and to make recommendations on how the process can be improved. We are building on previous work of the CPD Team published in Occasional Paper 5.

Comments on current PRD practice and thoughts on how we might improve the process would be welcomed by the advisory group.