Once again education leaders from all over Scotland gathered in Stirling for the annual Selmas conference.
As in previous years conference was addressed by the Cabinet Secretary. Fiona Hyslop MSP who spoke of the increase in spending on education by the current administration, and the somewhat disappointing decline in the rate of improvement within the system. She invited school leaders to develop a culture that is genuinely aspirational, and that is built on a commitment to innovation and change. Curriculum for Excellence offers us all the opportunity to engage pupils in learning that has breadth and depth and that raises standards for everyone. She spoke of her optimism for the changes and of her view that schools were now engaged in working on the CfE agenda for change.
Margaret Alcorn followed with a brief input on the need for an aligned system, with confident and cheerful leaders all focused on the “main thing”. She spoke of the need to continue to consider the values and principles of CfE.
We then heard from a panel of 5 educational leaders. David Cameron spoke of the challenge for local authorities to provide consistency and cohesion; Christine Forde spoke of developing leadership to make an impact in the classroom; Neal McGowan asked whether we had the right climate for leadership within Scotland, and suggested too many headteachers were compliant and lacked freedom to act creatively; Alex Wood summarised some of his learning from the International Summer School and Jenny Campbell suggested that some heads were overly involved in the detail, perhaps because this was a comfort zone, and that it was important to develop a high performance mindset. The delegates then engaged in a lively discussion on the points raised by the panel.
After lunch, we watched the “My big idea for Scottish education” DVD, then listened to a description of Learning Rounds from Graham Thomson. The headteacherof Irvive Royal, Stirling Mackie, and a teacher of technical, Alan Hume, from the school then described their experience of Learning Rounds in a school setting.
We finished the day with Karen Prophet of Edinburgh who spoke about models for change in the context of Curriculum for Excellence. She said that in order to interpret the complexity of curricular reform, we require leaders not managers, and returned to one of the recurring themes that had characterised the day, that is the role of headteachers to be “Leaders of Learning”.
The feedback from delegates suggests that once again, SELMAS managed to offer a challenging and stimulating day, packed with opinions, information and opportunities to network.
- Well don’t miss the next major event in the School Leadership calendar. There are still a few places left for the SELMAS Leadership Conference in Stirling Management Centre on Friday September 11th.
Stirling Management Centre : Friday 11th September
In the attached letter you will find details of how to reserve a place at this year’s SELMAS Conference. We expect to be fully sold out so book now to make sure you don’t miss the Leadership Conference of the year.
Judith McClure would like to pass on the notes of the discussion points raised at the SELMAS Leadership Conference 2008. She would also like to express her heartfelt thanks to the excellent group of facilitators and to everyone who contributed. Just select this link to download the discussion questions and points raised.
Conference was privileged to hear the last public speaking engagement of Matt MacIver as Chief Executive/Registrar of the General Teaching Council Scotland.
Matt talked warmly of his professional contact with Judith McClure over the years, including their respective early roles in developing leadership in Scotland. Among the challenges highlighted by Matt were:
- Succession planning for head teachers and other leaders
- Changing the view held by some that Chartered Teacher is simply a career progression
- If we are going down the route of professional standards, why is there no standard for leadership?
- Revision of the Standard for Headship to meet the new leadership challenges
- Developing effective CPD for heads that encourages development of leadership skills
He spoke warmly of the leaders that influenced him from his early days as a young teacher in Kilmarnock through to his current position. Matt’s penultimate (and passionate) plea was for conference to go out and ‘talk up’ the noble profession of teaching.
Finally, Matt was fulsome in his praise of leaders as represented by SELMAS conference delegates, ““extraordinary people doing an extraordinary job!”
This post is kindly proferred by Derek Allan, Depute at Glenrothes High School.
Tim Brighouse got proceedings underway after lunch with his eloquent and funny discourse on how we educate without unnecessary failure. After reminding us of the economic, moral and cultural purposes of education he delighted conference with a series of anecdotes that packed a heavy punch:
Watching a teacher’s reactions when he asked kids “which teacher is the best marker?” and seeing her delight when one pupil named her!
Visiting the maverick head teacher in London whose school was decorated with hundreds of favourite quotes from staff and pupils. The head teacher achieved this by paying “a quid for a quote”. It cost him over £1700 but worth every penny!
Tim recited the Buscemi poem “The average child” to considerable effect
He recounted a visit to a school senior management team in a small, cramped office who pleaded to him for more accommodation. His return visit after granting the request saw the team still in the same office and the extra accommodation used for learning!
He returned several times to the concept of “butterflies”, i.e. small interventions that make such a big difference, The ‘quid for a quote’ is an example of a butterfly as was his description of staff in one school who agreed four words to consistently use in lessons to remove barriers to learning. Many of these interventions can be found in Tim’s work online at www.timbrighouse.com.
You can get the gist of Tim’s presentation from the slides below. He ended by reciting from George Bernard Shaw:
“This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.
I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community, and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can.
I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no “brief candle” for me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations”
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Conference was privileged to hear the last public speaking engagement of Matt MacIver as Chief Executive/Registrar of the 
From Matthew MacIver on the profession
Tim Brighouse made reference to 15 essential skills of leadership. These can be downloaded with other useful resources at