Leadership Team

The Leadership team within Education Scotland currently comprises the following members:

Gayle Gorman - Chief Executive

Gayle was appointed as Chief Executive and HMI Chief Inspector of Education in December 2017, and is the Accountable Officer for the organisation. Gayle is responsible for the leadership of Education Scotland in driving quality improvement for learners across Scotland in order to raise attainment for all and close the attainment gap.

Gayle leads Education Scotland’s staff to deliver the enhanced role set out in the Scottish Government’s Next Steps document, and leads both the HMIe teams and support teams at Education Scotland. Gayle has previously had the role of Regional Improvement Lead for the Northern Alliance Improvement Collaborative, which was comprised of eight local authorities across the north of Scotland.

Gayle brings a wealth of experience from her role as Director of Education and Children’s Services with Aberdeen City Council since 2012, and was the strategic lead for education, children’s social work, culture and sport. Prior to her appointment at Aberdeen City Council, Gayle was the Director of Learning at Cambridgeshire County Council and National Senior Director at the National Strategies, in England. In this role, she helped to shape major educational policies at a national level. In her early career, she was a primary teacher, before she became involved in curriculum development, was an Ofsted Inspector, and led a range of projects within the Department of Education (DfE). Gayle is also chair and Trustee of the Gordon Cook Foundation.

Janie McManus - Strategic Director for 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 of HM Inspectors, delivering a broad range of scrutiny programmes. Janie has responsibility for the integrity of inspection analysis and findings, providing public assurance on the quality of education and promoting improvement of experiences and outcomes for learners. Janie acts as Head of Profession for HM Inspectors of Education, identifying and disseminating effective practice, and building capacity for improvement. 

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, establishing a national team of Attainment Advisors, and led the work of Area Lead Officers providing a support and challenge role to local authorities. Janie also provided leadership to HM Inspectors to fulfil their statutory duty providing impartial and independent evaluation on proposed changes to school estates.

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

Janie is also the elected President of 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 processes. 

Gillian Hamilton - Depute Chief Executive and Strategic Director for Corporate Services and Governance  

Gillian is currently the Delivery Director for the reform of Education Scotland, leading this on behalf of Scottish Government.   

As Depute Chief Executive and Strategic Director for Corporate Services and Governance, Gillian has responsibility for corporate strategy, governance, business planning and performance management for Education Scotland. This includes the effective delivery of all internal enabling functions designed to ensure effective delivery of our outcomes, including, finance, HR, communications and procurement.

Gillian has worked in Scottish education for 31 years and has held posts as a primary teacher, senior teacher, depute headteacher and headteacher in schools in Glasgow, North and East Ayrshire. Gillian was 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. She established the Professional Learning and Leadership Directorate within Education Scotland.

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 COVID Education Recovery Group (CERG), and co-chaired the two CERG sub-groups focused on head teacher and workforce support.

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.

Craig Clement - Strategic Director, Regional Locality Performance and Improvement

Craig has responsibility for three Regional Teams. He is also the Senior Responsible Officer for Education Scotland Transformation Programme and will lead on a number of developments including Empowerment and Performance.

Prior to joining Education Scotland Craig was Head of Resources and Performance at Aberdeenshire Council where he was responsible for Early Years, Performance and Improvement, School Estate and Budget.

In 2017, Craig was seconded to Scottish Futures Trust for one year, where he worked with colleagues from Scottish Government and Local Government on the expansion of Early Learning and Childcare.

Craig was also formerly Chair of the ADES Resource Network.

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.

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.