Education Scotland are proud to support ScotEd 2020, a professional learning conference run by teachers Fiona Leadbeater and Darren Leslie.

Fiona and Darren are past PLL programme participants and the PLL team are delighted to see them continuing to promote professional learning to colleagues in such a dynamic way.

The PLL team recognise the power of grassroots professional learning and hope that the first ScotEd conference is the start of something great. You can read below what Darren and Fiona have to say:

ScotEd is the future of teaching conferences.

Since lockdown began on 23 March the outstanding resilience and flexibility shown by teachers has been nothing short of extraordinary. We quickly moved our entire curriculum online and engaged our learners in outstanding learning from the off. We adapted, we learned from our mistakes as we went, and we found new ways of working.

These new ways of working also branched out to our professional learning. Many organisations, like ResearchEd, quickly brought their content for professional learning online, and since March we have amassed a significant number of hours of learning around our craft. Being able to log on to a talk or presentation from the comfort of our homes has meant that teachers were able to access content they otherwise would not. With no long drive, night in a hotel and ticket fee much more professional learning can be accessed.

We first came across NewED, organised by the wonderful Emma Turner (author of Be More Toddler) on Twitter. This was a free, ticketless conference that we could dip in and out of as we pleased. It was so rich with content and discussion that we both took a lot from it. This inspired us to think about how we could bring this type of professional learning to Scotland. So, we decided to take the plunge and organise our very own conference similar to that run by Emma, so we embarked on planning ScotEd.

ScotEd 2020 will be our inaugural online professional learning conference which will take place on 19 September 2020. This event hopes to make a real difference in the classroom, empowering teachers and leaders, whilst giving access to a wide range of professional learning around pedagogy, classroom practice and learning and teaching.   

ScotEd is a platform for teachers across all sectors in Scotland to connect and we have collated an amazing group of presenters. The sessions will be delivered by these presenters through a live-stream feed and our online conference aims to help inspire ‘Great Teaching for Scotland’. As the event is easily accessible online, the short 15-20 minute sessions are designed to be dipped in and out of depending on individual context and situation. We will also be recording the presentations to be shared afterwards for anyone unable to attend live.   

We have arranged for the brilliant Bruce Robertson, headteacher and author of 'The Teaching Delusion', to be our keynote speaker and kick off the day. We also have a whole host of other practitioners from early years and ASN through to ITE including Amanda Corrigan, Blair Minchin, Nuzhat Uthmani, Emma Turner, Kate Jones, Sarah Mullin and Michael Chiles. Our list of speakers goes on and to say we are excited is an understatement as we really do have something in store for everybody. The event is free and is aimed at anyone with an interest in Scottish education.  

There will also be lunchtime entertainment in the form of Scottish band Bruach who are not to be missed.

ScotEd aims to inspire continued professional learning and encourage all practitioners to learn from each other, to get better and better. Follow @ScotEd2020 or visit www.ScotEd.org.uk for more information on our speakers, the programme for the day and a link to the livestream. We hope to see you there.

Fiona Leadbeater, Principal Teacher Art and Design at Kirkintilloch High School, passionate about learning,  teaching and school improvement and Darren Leslie, Teacher of Physical Education at Lornshill Academy, host of the Becoming Educated podcast, interested in teaching and school improvement.