280 teachers have signed up to take part in the Education Scotland leadership programme ‘Into Headship’, the most participants the programme has ever seen.

Into Headship is Scotland’s national programme for aspiring headteachers. On successful completion of the programme participants will be awarded the GTCS Standard for Headship, which is a mandatory requirement for all new headteachers in Scotland. The programme is delivered in partnership between universities, local authorities and Education Scotland.

The 7^th cohort of the programme launched in September at the National Into Headship Conference. This was the first opportunity for all participants to come together to start their Into Headship journey. Ollie Bray, strategic Director at Education Scotland was joined by Professor Jason Leitch, Professor Mark Priestley and Professor Rowena Arshad to meet with the 280 teachers.

Throughout the afternoon participants had a chance to meet with all seven universities to talk about the programme and start planning the inspiring journey ahead.

Ollie Bray, Strategic Director at Education Scotland said: “Evidence tells us that school leadership is one of the key drivers of education improvement. It is very encouraging that so many teachers have sign up to improve their leadership capacity. I’m looking forward to seeing the impact this group of aspirational head teachers will make on education in Scotland both immediately and into the future.”