Don Ledingham’s Learning Log

Amongst a number of  other duties the Standards in Scottish Schools Act 2000 sets out two key responsibilities for Scottish Local Authorities in respect to school education, namely Raising Standards and Reviewing School Performance.
Yet I was wondering if it’s time to reconsider these duties in light of the impact - or otherwise - that Local Authorities [...]

The challenge presented by the financial situation as set out in my last post should focus the mind of any of us involved in public service.  Nevertheless, the temptation will always be to approach any problem - regardless of how potentially devastating that problem might be - from the point of view of self-interest (and not necessarily [...]

John McCann, Director of Next Practice at Scotland’s Colleges, has kindly provided me with a piece on the development of Scotland’s Colleges from their Incorporation in 1993 when they gained their own autonomy. 
 
I will be returning to this on numerous occasions over the next few months.
 
Introduction
 
Any reasonable commentator on the lifelong learning landscape [...]

It was  Cyril Northcote who came up with the adage known as Parkinson’s Law which appeared as the first sentence of a humorous essay published in The Economist in 1955:
“Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.”
I’ve been thinking about this a great deal in recent meetings with teachers (and managers) who complain that [...]

 
I’ve been approached by quite a few people over the last couple of weeks about our ideas relating to Community Ownership of Schools.
I thought it might help to gather together in one place a number of related posts which provide an insight into the evolution of this idea and the underpinning rationale.
The first point to [...]

ACCOUNTABILITY IS DETACHED FROM THE FUNDING PROCESS.
FUNDING IS NOT CLEARLY LINKED TO NATIONAL OBJECTIVES, GOALS OR TARGETS FOR IMPROVEMENT
Professor Richard Teese 2008

Back in December 2007 the OECD published a report entitled Reviews of National Policies for Education - Quality and Equity of Schooling in Scotland. I’ve written previously about Professor Richard Teese - the main reporter [...]

One of the conclusions I’ve gradually come to over the years is that in order to facilitate real change in any system it’s necessary to change the landscape.  It’s come to me slowly and for all that I believe that focusing upon cultural change is still fundamentally the correct route to improvement - I’ve also [...]

 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/joi/2941559903/
A recurring theme in discussions with colleagues about the implementation of A Curriculum for Excellence has been the need to keep a strong focus on promoting a culture of trust in the professionalism of teachers.
All too often people in positions such as mine can focus upon the technical elements of implementation and see it a [...]

 
A couple of months ago I joined my colleagues on the Leadership Team of East Lothian Council on a weekend course entitled “The Innerwick Experience”. The Leadership Team is made up of: all Heads of Service, e.g. Head of Education, Head of ICT and Finance, etc; the four Directors - Finance; Planning; Community Services; and Education and Children’s Services [...]

Every educational leader, regardless of position, has to wrestle with the powerful temptation to intervene or to meddle in the business of those whom they manage. The logic is fairly simple - “I’m being paid to manage and to be accountable for the work of others - so it’s reasonable that I take action in order [...]