The Leadership team within ES currently comprises the following members:

Gillian Hamilton -Interim Chief Executive

Gillian was appointed as Interim Chief Executive and Accountable Officer for Education Scotland in March 2023. As such, Gillian is responsible for the effective leadership, management and performance of the Agency and for driving quality improvement for learners across Scotland in order to raise attainment for all and close the attainment gap.

Gillian was, until her appointment as Interim Chief Executive, the Depute Chief Executive and the Strategic Director for Corporate Services and Governance within Education Scotland. She was also the Delivery Director for the reform of Education Scotland, leading this on behalf of Scottish Government.

Gillian is an experienced and respected leader, with a wealth of experience not just corporately but also across the education sector, having worked in Scottish education for 33 years. She has held posts as a primary teacher, senior teacher, depute headteacher and headteacher in schools in Glasgow, North and East Ayrshire. Gillian was also Head of Educational Services at the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) for three years where she led on the revision of Professional Standards and the pilot of Professional Update, which was rolled out nationally in August 2014.

From 2014 to 2018 Gillian was the first Chief Executive of the Scottish College for Educational Leadership (SCEL), a national organisation responsible for the leadership development of teachers and school leaders. She was appointed as Strategic Director at Education Scotland when the roles and functions of SCEL transferred to the agency on 1 April 2018 and as part of this she established the Professional Learning and Leadership Directorate within Education Scotland.

Gillian is currently a member of the Scottish Education Council and the Curriculum and Assessment Board. In addition to these roles, she is also the Chair of the Board for Glasgow North Wes Citizens Advice Bureau. She has been a member of a number of national educational groups with a focus on professional learning and leadership. She was a member of the Strategic Board for Teacher Education and a member of the COVID Education Recovery Group (CERG). She also co-chaired the two CERG sub-groups focused on head teacher and workforce support. 

Janie McManus - Strategic Director, Scrutiny

Janie is an experienced senior leader, with a Masters Degree in Education and an extensive range of experience across education, inspection and external evaluation.

Janie is responsible for maintaining stakeholder confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the Scottish inspection and scrutiny model as set out in Education Scotland’s Framework document. She provides strategic leadership for the work HM Inspectors, delivering a broad range of scrutiny programmes. Janie takes overall responsibility for the integrity of inspection analysis and findings providing public assurance on the quality of education and promoting improvement in the quality of experiences and outcomes for learners through inspections and scrutiny, identifying and disseminating effective practice, and by building capacity for improvement. Janie acts as Head of Profession for HM Inspectors of Education.

Prior to taking up her role as Strategic Director for Scrutiny, Janie developed strategy and change across Education Scotland. Working with Scottish Government, she played a key role in developing the Scottish Attainment Challenge programme, establishing the national team of Attainment Advisors. She led the work of Area Lead Officers who provided a support and challenge role to local authorities. She provided leadership to HM Inspectors to fulfil their statutory duties to provide impartial and independent evaluation on proposed changes to schools estates.

Throughout her career in education, Janie has been asked to serve on a range of national working groups and committees, to share her expertise and knowledge of the Scottish system and evidence of what is working well and where improvements are required.

Janie is an elected member of the Executive Committee for The Standing International Conference of Inspectorates (SICI), an association of national and regional inspectorates of education in Europe, who are focussed on supporting the improvement of education through improving inspection. Previously, she was seconded to work with SICI to develop their 3 year strategic plan.

Patricia Watson - Strategic Director, Regional (Interim)

Patricia has over 35 years’ experience in Scottish education. A graduate of University of Stirling and with an MEd from University of Edinburgh, she started her career in 1986 as a secondary teacher of religious and moral education in the Scottish Borders and progressed to a senior role within the local authority before moving back to a teaching post in her home town of Dundee where still lives.

Prior to becoming HM Inspector of Education in 2007, she worked with Learning and Teaching Scotland on the introduction of Curriculum for Excellence. She was a principal assessor for the Scottish Qualifications Authority for a number of years, leading the introduction and development of intermediate 1 & 2 qualifications in RMPS. Within HMIe and with Education Scotland, Patricia has led a range of significant national initiatives including some key recommendations from Teaching Scotland’s Future, the development of the current (4th edition) of the quality indicator framework “How Good Is Our School?” and the development of regional improvement collaboratives, working first with the Tayside RIC and more recently with the West Partnership. She is Strategic Director for Regional Improvement and also Education Scotland’s senior responsible officer for the Scottish Attainment Challenge.

Ollie Bray - Strategic Director, Curriculum Innovation, Design and Pedagogy

Ollie has responsibility for curriculum, pedagogy and innovation at Education Scotland. This responsibility includes major national initiatives, such as the ongoing implementation of Curriculum for Excellence; Glow; STEM; Developing the Young Workforce; Digital Learning and Teaching; the Learner Journey; 1+2 Languages; Inclusion, Wellbeing and Equality and Curriculum Innovation (including pedagogy and assessment).

Immediately before re-joining Education Scotland he was Global Director: Connecting Play and Education at the LEGO Foundation where he led the Foundations work related to education improvement through the use of technology and play. Prior to joining the LEGO Foundation he was headteacher of Kingussie High School, Highland. He started his career at the Glenmore Lodge (the sportscotland national outdoor training centre) before becoming a geography teacher and going on to hold a number of promoted posts in East Lothian.

Gill Ritchie - Strategic Director, Scrutiny (Interim)

Gill is responsible for leading and directing inspection programmes across Education Scotland, with a particular focus on tertiary education and the senior phase. She has responsibility, alongside Janie McManus, for the future direction of Education Scotland's scrutiny work.

Previously, Gill enjoyed a lengthy career in the college sector, having held several senior roles. Gill joined Education Scotland as an HM Inspector of Education in 2013 and worked across a number of areas of tertiary inspection and review including colleges, work-based learning, careers information advice and guidance, and private colleges and English language schools. Gill has worked jointly with Scottish Government, the Scottish Funding Council, and Skills Development Scotland in developing approaches to inspection and review in a number of areas. 

Maureen Hamilton - Strategic Director, Corporate Services and Governance (Interim)

Maureen has a Masters degree in Business Administration and has over 25 years’ experience in the education and training sectors.  She started her career in education as Business Development Manager for the Scottish Council for Educational Technology (SCET) and then Learning and Teaching Scotland (LTS) where she held a range of roles, including the national programme manager for Curriculum for Excellence, where she worked with a range of partners, including Scottish Government and SQA.  More recently, Maureen was the Head of Operations in Education Scotland.

In her role as interim Strategic Director of Corporate Services and Governance, Maureen is responsible for leading and directing the corporate functions of the organisation, including strategic planning, reporting and governance, organisational development and HR, financial management and budgeting, communications and engagement and the administrative functions of the organisation.

Non-Executive Board Member (NEBM)

Independent non-executive board members are selected and appointed by the Chief Executive. Their role is to provide constructive advice and support to the Chief Executive, including contributing to reviews of strategic direction and operating and business plans. NEBMs will be expected to offer, as appropriate, constructive critical challenge to the Advisory Board.