Glow Scotland

November 20th, 2008

Leading Learning: The Role of the Education Authority

Andrew Brown

Comments: 11 Comments » Tags: Tags: ADES, Cumbernauld, Glow, Glow Group, Glow Meet, Richard Teese, Westerwood
 : Categories Events

Today I had the great pleasure of attending the annual conference of ADES – the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland. Why was I there? This year, ADES are moving their online community into Glow, and today saw the launch of their National Glow Group. As of today, all Directors of Education in Scotland have access to a National Glow Group for them to discuss, collaborate and share – and from the word ‘go’, they did just that.

The conference keynote was delivered by Prof. Richard Teese – not live in person, but live via Glow Meet. He’d very generously agreed to deliver the keynote speech for the conference from his study (at 2am his time) to those gathered on the other side of the world to hear him.  Prof. Teese is always challenging in his observations. He raised many important questions in light of the OECD report, and called those present to think critically about some of the challenges facing Scottish education. Two of his challenges for those present leaped out at me – to strengthening student engagement and to improving satisfaction with school – how would the directors of education envisage working towards achieving this?

No sooner had Prof. Teese finished speaking than the members of ADES set about discussing the points he raised – in a discussion forum in Glow. They now have collated responses to some of his questions, and set many new questions of their own to ask him. Those present seemed to appreciate what can easily be taken for granted – the ability to see the questions and responses from people seated at other tables instantly collated in the one place for all ADES members to see.

What a great start to the ADES Glow Group. An international speaker of high reputation joining by Glow Meet, and discussion in the Glow group. What a great example for us all of how we can share our ideas for Scottish education across the country.