Don Ledingham’s Learning Log

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 [...]

 “THEM” Vs “US”
I reckon one of the greatest challenges facing Scottish education is the way in which people use the third person plural in a negative sense.
Listen to any conversation about education and very soon “they” will emerge as the problem. So teachers will talk about “them” (management), management will talk about “them” (teachers and the local authority) [...]

One of the issues facing schools these days is the concern expressed by some parents about a probationer teaching their child’s class.
A probationer is a newly qualified teacher (NQT) and in the past they would have just started teaching as a teacher - but without  any of the support systems we now have in place.
I [...]

It’s accepted practice to give anyone who works for local authorities abuse and criticism.
The picture of petty bureaucrats and people who are not good enough to get jobs in the “real world” is rarely challenged.
When I met recently with David Spilsbury, our Head of Corporate Finance, to discuss issues relating to the education budget I asked [...]

I went along to meeting this afternoon to find out more about the Standard Council for Community Learning and Development. (CLD)

The new council will have three main functions:
• to approve professional qualifications and courses for everyone involved in CLD
• to offer a registration system for everyone delivering community learning and development
• to support induction to the profession and [...]