Education Leadership and Professional Learning Subgroup - minutes: April 2022

Attendees and apologies

Present

• Mark Langdon(chair), Glasgow Life
• Tara Lillis, NASUWT
• Khadija Mohammed, Scottish Association of Minority Ethnic Educators (SAMEE)
• Lesley Whelan, Education Scotland
• Olwen Fraser, Northern Alliance Regional Improvement Collaborative
• Sarah Guy, Early Learning and Childcare, Scottish Government
• Samir Sharma, Quality Improvement Officer, Glasgow City Council
• Carol Young, Coalition for Racial Equality and Rights (CRER)
• Rhona Jay, Association of Directors of Education Scotland (ADES)

Apologies

• Charlotte Dwyer, ScotDec (Scottish Development Centre)
• David Smith, Association of Directors of Education Scotland (ADES)
• Pauline Stephen, General Teaching Council (Scotland)
• Victoria Smith, General Teaching Council (Scotland)

• Richard Bell, General Teaching Council (Scotland)

Items and actions

Welcome

Mark Langdon chaired the meeting and welcomed those in attendance with apologies noted. 

Note of last meeting

The group agreed that this was an accurate note of the meeting.

Building Racial Literacy update and brief review

Lesley Whelan provided a brief update and review of the BRL programme which finished in March. A full update will be provided at the next meeting when more evaluation information will be available. Lesley thanked everyone involved in the development and delivery of the programme with particular thanks to Mélina for all her work. 

The programme has been a very positive development in the system with 89 educators from 27 different Local Authorities involved. The two videos focusing on the Building Racial Literacy programme and the Seeds of Anti-Racism poem provide excellent resources and tell the story of learning from the programme. 

Importantly the programme was designed, developed and delivered collaboratively with important learnings for the programme in future as well as for other learning opportunities. From the 89 participants who began the programme, 60 have submitted their anti-racism action plan. The delivery team are working with those who still wish to complete it. Feedback indicates that participants feel more confident talking about and identifying racism and are committed to anti-racist action and they felt supported by the programme. 

There are plans in place now to open up applications in May for a further 2 cohorts of a similar size which will run in September and January. A submission covering the full REAREP programme is being prepared for the Cabinet Secretary which will include aspects related to future proposals and budget. 
All members of the sub-group agreed that the programme has been excellent, really well designed and delivered and were appreciative of all Mélina’s hard work. The engagement with participants has been fantastic. Sub-group members were interested in exploring how best to sustain that support and ensure appropriate follow up and keep the connection with the participants who have engaged to date. 

The current evaluation of the programme is an important aspect. Those engaged in the first cohort are the one who were most interested in the programme and this area of work however we will get to a point where we have teachers who are less engaged in this area so consideration needs to continue around how we broaden the suite of professional learning and leadership programmes to enhance the connections and value. 

The content and pace was ok for this cohort but for future cohorts we may have to adjust the pace and level of learning curve.

Sub-group members felt that there was now a need to look more closely at education leadership in this area and how to ensure system level leadership. The Leading in Colour: Fierceness of Now report was mentioned and this is an area that it was felt needed to be pursued with colleagues across the system including ADES and COSLA to avoid operating in silos and make connections across broader public services. 

Reviewing the terms of reference and action plan

Group members updated the Terms of Reference and action plan and this will be shared with SG colleagues. 

Chair cover

Olwen Fraser has agreed to chair the next meeting.