Information relating to the Into Headship Programme: FOI release

Information requested

You asked Education Scotland for information relating to the Into Headship Programme.

1. Into Headship was first delivered in 2015, could you please tell me for every year the course has run how many participants embarked on the course and how many completed it? I would like the figures for each year of the programme (including for 2021-22) broken down by local authority area and sector (primary, secondary, special, nursery). So the information provided should make it possible to be able to see how many primary participants embarked on the course from Argyll and Bute Council in 2018-19, for instance, and how many completed it. If this level of detail is not held by Education Scotland please provide as much information as you can on participation and completion rates for Into Headship, from when the programme started, to the most recent cohort (I appreciate for the 2021-22 cohort it will not yet be clear how many have completed the course – but please provide details of the number participating).

2. Are targets set for participation on the Into Headship programme? If so could you please share them making it clear what year they apply to; what the targets were by sector (primary, secondary, special and nursery); and whether they were met? In particular I would be interested in any information you hold on this for the current cohort, 2021-22.

3. Are places on Into Headship course capped – so is there a maximum number of teachers who can participate each year? Could you please share any information you hold on the number of places on the scheme this year (2021-22); how they were distributed among local authorities; and how many places there were for the different sectors (primary, secondary, special and nursery)?

4. Could you please share any work that has been done to try and understand how many participants will have to undertake the Into Headship qualification in order for there to be large enough pool of people with the qualification to apply for jobs leading Scottish schools?

5. Could you please share any work that has been done looking at how many participants who have taken part in Into Headship have gone on to become headteachers?

6. For the current cohort could you please provide any information you hold on how much the programme is costing to run in 2021-22, and how those costs are covered?

7. Finally could you please share any reports/papers/briefings/research on Into Headship produced over the course of the past two years?

Response

1. Into Headship was first delivered in 2015, could you please tell me for every year the course has run how many participants embarked on the course and how many completed it? I would like the figures for each year of the programme (including for 2021-22) broken down by local authority area and sector (primary, secondary, special, nursery). So the information provided should make it possible to be able to see how many primary participants embarked on the course from Argyll and Bute Council in 2018-19, for instance, and how many completed it. If this level of detail is not held by Education Scotland please provide as much information as you can on participation and completion rates for Into Headship, from when the programme started, to the most recent cohort (I appreciate for the 2021-22 cohort it will not yet be clear how many have completed the course – but please provide details of the number participating).

Please see Annex A attached which provides the information you have requested.

2. Are targets set for participation on the Into Headship programme? If so could you please share them making it clear what year they apply to; what the targets were by sector (primary, secondary, special and nursery); and whether they were met? In particular I would be interested in any information you hold on this for the current cohort, 2021-22.

The decision as to how many programme participants are required is taken at local authority level, with teachers applying through their employer. Targets are not currently set by the Scottish Government or Education Scotland for the Into Headship programme, with local authorities responsible for appropriate succession planning. From 2015, the Scottish College for Educational Leadership, and from 2018, Education Scotland, have accepted all participants endorsed by local authorities The number of participants for each local authority is detailed in response to question one.

3. Are places on Into Headship course capped – so is there a maximum number of teachers who can participate each year? Could you please share any information you hold on the number of places on the scheme this year (2021-22); how they were distributed among local authorities; and how many places there were for the different sectors (primary, secondary, special and nursery).

There has never been any national capping of places on the Into Headship programme and this continues to be the case. As with the response to question two, local authorities make the decision as to how many participants they endorse for the programme.

4. Could you please share any work that has been done to try and understand how many participants will have to undertake the Into Headship qualification in order for there to be large enough pool of people with the qualification to apply for jobs leading Scottish schools?

Local authorities have the responsibility of recruiting participants to the programme and establish needs based on their own succession planning arrangements.

The Scottish Government is currently in the process of re-establishing the Headteacher Recruitment and Retention Working Group (HTRWG), with a number of key stakeholders. Education Scotland will be represented on this group, with Scottish Government having a secretariat role. The group will consider the wider system context for headteacher recruitment and retention, but will have succession planning as an area of focus.

The Scottish Government’s Learning Directorate produces an annual data pack to share with each local authority to support their understanding of the context in their area and to use as part of recruitment processes. This includes projected figures, based on the annual census, age profiles for headteachers for each local authority and a projection of the requirement, based on the Into Headship programme data.

5. Could you please share any work that has been done looking at how many participants who have taken part in Into Headship have gone on to become headteachers?

Education Scotland does not hold this information for all participants as it is dependent on individual participants self-reporting. The information is held by local authorities as the employers of headteachers. However, the Scottish Government is exploring the possibility of using the annual census data to track participants.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the information you have requested for how many participants who have taken part in the Into Headship programme have gone on to become headteachers is not held.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

6. For the current cohort could you please provide any information you hold on how much the programme is costing to run in 2021-22, and how those costs are covered?

The Into Headship programme was introduced in 2015 as the national qualification leading to the awarding of the GTCS Standard for Headship. It is delivered by seven universities, in partnership with local authorities and Education Scotland, awarding 60 SCQF Level 11 credits. The Scottish Government have fully funded the university participation fees for the programme since 2016. In 2021-22 the total funding for Into Headship university programme fees was £840,084.

Part of Education Scotland’s funding is allocated for professional learning and leadership to support the ongoing leadership, design and facilitation of Into Headship which includes costs for staffing. Education Scotland also provides the Emotional and Social Competence Inventory (ESCI), a 360 degree feedback tool including individual coaching feedback for each participant, online modules to support learning on the programme, two annual conferences for programme participants and it also covers costs related to the planning and delivery of a comprehensive external evaluation of the programme.

Local authorities would be able to advise of any costs incurred through support for participants.

7. Finally could you please share any reports/papers/briefings/research on Into Headship produced over the course of the past two years?

Delivery of the Into Headship programme is coordinated through a Design Group which consists of representatives from Education Scotland, universities, local authorities and the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS). A Strategic Oversight Board is in the process of being reestablished for the Into Headship programme, to support delivery and ongoing national moderation, course monitoring and quality assurance for the Into Headship Programme. The intention of the Board is to ensure that it includes suitably experienced members from stakeholder organisations.

The Into Headship programme was recently re-accredited at the GTCS in March 2021, and the report is attached at Annex B.

However, while our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested within annex B because an exemption under section 38(1)(b) (personal information) of FOISA applies to that information. The reason why this exemption applies is explained below.

An exemption under section 38(1)(b) (personal information) of FOISA applies to some information which has been redacted from Annex B. This exemption applies because the information is personal data of a third party, i.e. names of individuals, and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018.

This exemption is not subject to the ‘public interest test’, so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption.

Education Scotland is currently in the process of commissioning a comprehensive evaluation of the programme, through an external provider. This was planned for 2021, but due to the pandemic and to avoid additional pressures on the system this was delayed and will start this year.

Individual universities would hold details regarding their programme offer.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

FOI - 202200280970 - Information Released - Annex A

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FOI - 202200280970 - Information Released - Annex B

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