Foreword by Janey Irving; Lead Specialist, Education Scotland Professional Learning and Leadership Team

In 2024, recognising the dynamic needs of Scottish educators and the importance of accessible, high-quality professional learning, the Professional Learning and Leadership team embarked on a transformative initiative. We redeveloped key leadership programmes, transitioning them to open access resources, designed to foster flexibility, build capacity, and minimise duplication within the educational system. 

These resources empower educators at all levels, offering pathways for individual growth, collaborative learning within schools and settings, and streamlined delivery through local authority-led cohorts.

This strategic shift resulted in the launch of four comprehensive open access professional learning offerings in summer 2024:
•    Aspiring to Middle Leadership: This programme provides aspiring middle leaders with a structured exploration of the role. Participants engage with online learning modules and submit reflective work to earn a certificate of completion. Delivery options include self-directed study, group learning within schools, and local authority-led cohorts.   
•    Middle Leaders Leading Change: Tailored for existing middle leaders, this programme supports the implementation of change initiatives. Participants navigate online learning and submit their change initiative for certification. This programme is also designed to be flexible, supporting self-directed, group, and local authority led learning.   
•    Enquiry in Education: This resource promotes a culture of enquiry-based learning, guiding educators through a practical enquiry cycle: planning, conducting, and reviewing. It features real-world examples from previous Education Scotland programmes and other schools and settings. Participants who submit an enquiry poster receive a certificate of completion.   
•    Coaching in Education: This programme explores the transformative power of coaching within education. It aims to develop educators' understanding of coaching principles, build practical coaching skills, and demonstrate the application of coaching approaches in diverse educational contexts.

Engagement from our network of local authority leads for professional learning and leadership is crucial to the success of this initiative. This network facilitates effective communication about professional learning with schools and settings, and the gathering of valuable insights into the professional learning needs of the system. 

This collaborative approach has fostered stronger partnerships with local authorities, enabling them to effectively integrate and utilise these open access resources within their professional learning plans.

The following case study focuses on the Highland Council, where Senior Lead Manager for Professional Learning, Dr Tina Stones has leveraged these open access resources, specifically the middle leadership and coaching programmes, to enhance their own developing leadership framework. 

Case Study by Dr Tina Stones, Highland Council

The development of the Highland Council Leadership Framework includes ten distinct Professional Networks, such as an Early Career Teacher Network, Middle Leader Network, and Subject Specialist Network. The Professional Networks are complemented by four professional learning programmes which are a universal offering for all Education staff. These programmes include the GTCS Professionally Recognised 15-month programme ‘Lead On’ and the 3-day workshop ‘Follow On Lead’. 

In 2023, prior to Education Scotland launching the new suite of on-line resources, I undertook a review of current in-house professional learning offers and explored how the offers provided a baseline of knowledge and skills development in preparation for national courses, such as Into Headship. The evaluation revealed gaps in the LA Leadership Framework and new networks were developed to complement national courses such as the pre 2024 Middle Leadership offer which then became the self-directed Middle Leaders Leading Change. The development of the self-directed professional learning enabled more time for the in-person LA events to focus on skills development in coaching and mentoring and use the ready-made downloadable materials for some of the in-house activities. 

When designing the Leadership Framework, I was responding to feedback from teachers about the importance of in-person networking. The feedback was also gathered from schools on the difficulty of securing cover teachers to release colleagues to attend in-person professional learning. I researched flipped learning models and found this to be a suitable way to balance the depth of content and enable sufficient time for skills development in person. This is particularly important in learning about coaching, where peers and trios need time to develop their skills before applying in context. 

There has been a very positive early impact on the number of teachers attending the various networks. This has also resulted in an increased uptake in applications for national programmes, such as ‘Into Headship’ and ‘The How of Change’. We also refreshed our Professional Review and Development (PRD) and Professional Update policy and have seen improved engagement with the annual PRD process with many of the Education Scotland Open Access Professional Learning being completed alongside the Highland Council programmes. 

Plans for 2025/26 include embedding new programmes, such as Inclusive Practice, which is written with a flipped learning approach using the Enquiry in Education Open Access course to inform the in-person and school-based activities.