National improvement framework for Scottish education: evidence report 2017

Key Driver: School leadership

The Delivering Excellence and Equity in Scottish Education Delivery Plan sets out the commitment for all new headteachers to hold the Standard for Headship by 1 August 2020. Headteachers are responsible for leading schools effectively and play a vital role in ensuring high quality teaching and learning, as well as engagement with parents and the community. The Standard for Headship is a professional standard held by the General Teacher Council for Scotland ( GTCS) which defines the knowledge, understanding and skills required of headteachers.

Standard for Headship

The number of primary and secondary school teachers who have achieved the Standard for Headship was 1,203 in 2017, compared with 1,190 in 2016:

These figures are from the annual Teacher Census, and exclude certain teachers, such as those on maternity leave or secondment on the census day.

Into Headship Programme

The new "Into Headship" programme for aspirant headteachers was introduced in 2015 ( http://www.scelscotland.org.uk/what-we-offer/into-headship/). Successful completion of this development programme will result in the award of the Standard for Headship. Cohort 1 (2015) recruited 142 participants, Cohort 2 (2016) recruited 183 participants and Cohort 3 (2017) recruited 179 participants.

Effectiveness of the Framework for Educational Leadership

64% of respondents in the 'Survey of Professional Learning in Leadership – June 2017' undertaken by The Scottish College for Educational Leadership ( SCEL) reported having used the Framework for Educational Leadership at least occasionally.

22.5% reported using it often or more than often. Of those who reported using the Framework, 74% agreed that it was accessible, 80% found it to be helpful and 75% reported that it was effective.

The respondents who most engaged with the Framework were promoted staff and local authority personnel and were from the primary and secondary sectors. The highest agreement that the Framework is effective came from deputes and head teachers.

Potential barriers and recent experience in professional learning in leadership

74% of respondents in the 'Survey of Professional Learning in Leadership – June 2017' undertaken by The Scottish College for Educational Leadership ( SCEL) reported that there were barriers to their professional learning, though 79% reported accessing professional learning in leadership within the past three years and 54% accessed professional learning in leadership within the past year.

This might suggest that respondents were accessing professional learning in leadership despite perceived barriers.

Headteachers

Information from the Scottish Government Summary statistics in schools in Scotland shows that the percentage of local authority headteachers who were aged 50 or older has been falling, from 65% in 2010 to 46% in 2017, and the percentage who were aged 55 or older has fallen from 38% in 2010 to 24% in 2017.

Headteachers by age

Promoted Posts

% of promoted posts

The percentage of the teaching workforce that were in promoted posts was 24.4% in 2017, similar to the previous year but lower than in 2010 ( 27.3%).

Education Scotland Inspections

HM Inspectors looked at the approaches and impact of collaborative leadership at all levels. They evaluated the pace of change to ensure it was having a positive impact for children and young people and the approach taken to ensure that the vision and values were clearly linked to the context of the establishment and its community.

87% of the 120 schools across primary, secondary and special provision inspected as part of the sample for the National Improvement Framework between August 2016 and June 2017 were evaluated as satisfactory or better on ' leadership of change'.

52% of the 120 schools across primary, secondary and special provision inspected as part of the sample for the National Improvement Framework between August 2016 and June 2017 were evaluated as good, very good or excellent on ' leadership of change'.

Local Authority Data

Local authorities provided Education Scotland with information in relation to key Quality Indicator evaluations. There were a number of schools for which information was not provided. Therefore, this information should be treated with some caution.

75% of the 2,450 schools across primary, secondary and special provision, for which information was provided, were evaluated as good or better on ' leadership of change'.