Don Ledingham’s Learning Log

As Head of Education I had a very clear and unambiguous role, i.e.  I was responsible for everything which came under the banner of education of children and young people from 3-18 years of age.  In my new role as Acting Director of Education and Children’s Services I have a much wider remit which includes the oversight [...]

I watched one of my favourite films this evening. Kes made a big impact on me when I first saw this film as 13 year-old. I remember laughing and crying in equal measure and it’s interesting to reflect upon how much it might have influenced me throughout my career.
As a [...]

 
Having to make difficult decisions is a key part of my job. Some of these decisions can often be unpopular - but I suppose that’s what I get paid for.
Every decision is usually associated with a variety of options which will usually have a number of distinct features, namely:

Consequences - each option will have positive and negative consequences directly associated with [...]

 
I felt enormously privileged today to be able to attend the Tapestry Conference in Glasgow to hear Jerome Bruner give a spellbinding performance.
For a man born in 1915 (93 years ago) he displayed humour, warmth and humility which would bely most men half his age - quite aside from his iconic intellect. In what was a [...]

 
It’s that time of year when the consequences of trying to deliver our service within the available budget require difficult decisions to be made.
Maybe I’m just kidding myself but I still believe passionately in the value of education, that teaching and learning is at the core of what we do, and that caring for kids [...]

 Someone said to me today that some people found me scary. 
I laughed it off but it’s set me to wondering.
I really don’t like the idea that anyone would be put off coming to speak to me because they were scared. 
As ever Gill put it into context - “it depends what people mean by scary?”

 
I spent this morning at the Ansel Adams: Celebration of Genius at the City Art Centre in Edinburgh.
I first encountered Ansel Adam’s work a few years ago when I led a party of Dunbar Grammar School pupils to Yosemite Valley where we were “Following in John Muir’s Footsteps” - John Muir was a former pupil of [...]

 
I was just about to write my evening’s post when I saw on the dashboard that I’d written 639 posts and had 1,151 comments on this log since it started in August 2006.
I just wanted to thank all those who have left comments over this  period and to say that they have had a significant impact [...]

We recently went to see Joan Eardley’s exhibition at the National Gallery for Scotland.  I loved her paintings of Street Kids- see below. It reminded me of a photograph I took of my own kids when they were small.  I’ve played around with photoshop to try to recreate Eardley’s feel - and failed miserably.
It’s work [...]

  
You know that niggling feeling that you get when you’ve got an idea bubbling just underneath the surface and can’t quite express it - then again perhaps you don’t but it’s one with which I’m often afflicted.  It’s like that for me at the moment with this business of parents and children as customers.  I just can’t [...]