Ma tha sibh a’ tabhainn cothroman CPD ann am foghlaim na h-Albainn, ‘s docha gum bitheadh ùidh agaibh a bhi air ar n’ainmeachadh anns an t-seirbheis ùr - CPDFind - a tha an Sgioba Naiseanta airson CPD a’ cuir air adhart.  Tha an sgioba nàiseanta airson CPD stèidichte aig Ionnsachadh agus Teagasg Alba.   ‘S e stòr-data de cothroman CPD a tha ann an CPDFind.  Faighibh tuilleadh fiosrachadh no coimheadaibh fhèin air mar a tha e ag obair.  A thuilleadh air an seo, tha na planaichean leasachaidh againn taiceil agus bu choir gun cuidicheadh seo gus deanamh cìnnteach gum bi cothrom aig luchd-teagaisg air feadh Alba an t-seirbheis a chleachdadh.  Thuige seo tha 28 a-mach as na 32 roinnean ionadail air ceangal a dheanamh eadar an làrach lìn CPD aca fhèin agus ri CPDFind.  Thoiribh sùil air an làrach aig Roinn na Gàidhealtachd agus chì sibh dhuibh fhèin.   Feumaidh sibh a bhi clàraichte airson ar cothroman CPD a chuir air adhart air CPDFind.  Airson clàradh:   

• Tadhail air raon luchd tabhainn CPD  
• Sgriobh thugainn aig cpdregister@ltscotland.org.uk 

This is a guest post from Graham Thomson of SCSSA.

The Professional Learning Rounds pilot (led by Graham Thomson of SCSSA) recently held an orientation day with the 6 Directors of Education involved with the 1st stage.

The pilot seeks to promote learning about system-wide change by putting key leaders close to the action in small professional learning communities.

In the next school session, the pilot will be extended to leaders at all levels.

You can find out more by reading the briefing paper (learning_rounds_paper.doc) or by contacting Graham Thomson directly.

prd-draft-paper.pdf

Clicking the link above will let you download the 1st draft of the PRD paper. It will posted on CPDConfer over the summer period and beyond for comment. In the meantime, the CPD team would be delighted if you could leave comments on this blog post!

Thank you

Jim

As part of today’s proceedings in Belfast, we looked at some of the issues around the uses of e-portfolio in education and I used CPDReflect to exemplify progression.

I interspersed these slides with live visits to the beta version of CPDReflect and there was a good deal of interest in how Scottish educators might use the toolkit (and the odd envious glance from our Northern Irish colleagues, I think it’s fair to say!)

Today, I am attending a conference in Belfast. As promised here are the links and the presentation for all interested parties.

• For more information on the national CPD picture - CPDScotland 
• To find out about the national intranet - Glow
• The reflective toolkit is due in autumn and you can get information here - CPDReflect
• please feel free to sign up to the CPD update
• and our national database of CPD opportunities - CPDFind.

Don’t forget to leave a comment if you have any questions!

Muriel Amaechi and I led a very enjoyable session in Dunbar Grammar today as we started the pilot of CPDReflect.

There were a couple of wee technical hiccups at the start (as you might expect) which we were quickly overcome. The speed at which colleagues from East Lothian got to grips with the toolkit was heartening and the suggestions for improvement were numerous and various.

The pilot will run to the end of term and we will publish (and take account of) the lessons learned over the summer testing period.

The best bit was an overheard comment from one of the participants -”That’s so cool!” Not something you hear often when talking about the PRD process! Of course, they could have been talking about the excellent catering from the Dunbar Grammar catering staff!

I am on my way to Dunbar Grammar to help with the start of the CPDReflect pilot. Brave and kindly souls from Dunbar Grammar, St Gabriel’s Primary and Musselburgh Grammar (our good friend Ollie Bray who so kindly blogged from the Summer School last year) will assemble this afternoon to be the first of many to use this innovative toolkit.

I am very grateful to Kirsty Robertson and Ruth Munro of East Lothian Council for their support and to Graham Wilson and Dominic Torrisi and all the other ‘computer-whisperers’ at LTScotland and 3T who pulled rabbits out of hats in the last few days!

Look out for more posts on progress with the pilot here.

For several years now the National CPD Team has been responsible for identifying key thinkers in education and encouraging them to contribute to Scottish education. These ‘international thought leaders’ include leading figures such as Terry Dozier, Richard Elmore and Ellen Moir.

Professor Patrick Duignan is Foundation Chair in Educational Leadership and Director of the Flagship for Creative and Authentic Leadership at Australian Catholic University.

Arranged and organised by the National CPD Team, this April ’08 visit involved Patrick Duignan making presentations in Dumfries and Galloway and in Moray Council. The nature of authentic leadership is explored and its connection to authentic teaching and learning explained using three core ethics – authenticity, responsibility and presence. Patrick focuses on contemporary leadership challenges for educational leaders. A leading researcher in the field, he provides a practical approach to improving leadership through greater understanding of ethical concepts and theories, presented, explained and applied to real-life tensions. Patrick emphasises the importance of real presence for influential leadership with practical suggestions on how to develop presence and influence what really matters.

Both of the leadership seminars, in Dumfries and Elgin, were very well attended with over 80 participants at each. Both sets of evaluations completed by the participants proved to be extremely positive.