Strategic Board for Teacher Education minutes: June 2016

Attendees and apologies

Present

• Clare Hicks - Scottish Government
• Morag Redford - STEC
• Susan Quinn - EIS
• Gillian Hamilton - SCEL
• Alan Armstrong - Education Scotland
• Seamus Searson - SSTA
• Tim Wallace - AHDS
• Ken Muir - GTCS
• Michael Wood - ADES
• Christine Stephen - University of Stirling
• Stuart Robb - Scottish Government
• David Roy - Scottish Government

Items and actions

Welcome and introductions

1. Clare Hicks welcomed everyone to the third meeting of the Strategic Board for Teacher Education. Apologies were received from Jim Thewliss and Margaret Lannon. Morag Redford was welcomed to her first SBTE as the new Chair of the Scottish Teacher Education Committee.

Previous minutes and matters arising

2. The minutes of the meeting of 27 April 2016 were agreed. In terms of actions from previous minutes two remained outstanding. Action 01/02 in respect of the make-up of the teaching workforce will be taken forward by SG in the coming months while more information is required about local authority practice in respect of funding Into Headship Cohort 1 (Action 02/01) for a final decision to be taken.

3. Clare Hicks provided the Board with an update on the Education Summit that had taken place on 15 June that included the announcement of a package of support for headteachers that will be taken forward by SCEL. Gillian Hamilton confirmed that this would be developed in conjunction with partners and that a design group would be brought together to take forward the work. The Board also briefly discussed the possible make-up of the International Council of Education Advisors although it was not possible to confirm the membership of this group.

4. Further to the discussion on masters level learning at the last meeting of the Board David Roy confirmed that he hoped that the letters to partnerships inviting proposals would issue soon.

Action – Scottish Government to take forward a range of actions related to the composition of the teaching workforce.

Action 02/01 - Scottish Government to consider whether teachers in cohort 1 of the Into Headship programme should have their costs reimbursed (subject to full information being provided by LAs).

Feedback from the sub-group on evaluation of Teaching Scotland’s Future

5. David Roy introduced a paper drafted further to the meeting of the Sub-Group considering the outcome from the Evaluation of Teaching Scotland’s Future. The Sub-Group made a number of proposals in relation to the key findings and these were discussed by the Board. Key proposals include strengthening the Principles of Partnership, reviewing existing resources in respect of coaching and mentoring and increasing the coherence of the national message around professional learning.

6. It was agreed that the Scottish Government would write to the key organisations involved in the on-going development of tools and resources that had been created under the auspices of the National Implementation Board (NIB) to take forward the Sub-Group’s proposals. It was suggested this work could be taken forward in a similar vein to the NIB Project Managers group which had worked effectively to help manage a similar package of work under the NIB.

Action – SG to write to key partners to initiate work to take forward the proposals of the Sub-Group on the Evaluation of Teaching Scotland’s Future.

Workforce planning

7. Clare Hicks drew members attention to the draft letter from the Board to the Deputy First Minister setting the agreed actions in respect of teacher workforce planning. The Board broadly agreed that the letter was an accurate summary of the position but requested small alterations to the ordering and asked that the need to actively promote teaching as a rewarding career was highlighted. It was also agreed that a pro-forma designed to consistently gather additional workforce planning information that would be sent to local authorities, would be jointly signed by the Scottish Government and COSLA.

Action – SG to amend draft letter and send it to the Deputy First Minister.

Action – SG, in conjunction with partners, will take forward the actions in the letter. This will include ensuring that the new pro-forma is jointly signed with COSLA.

National Improvement Framework

8. David Roy introduced two Actions Plans for the Teacher Professionalism and School Leadership drivers of the National Improvement Framework drawing members attention to key deliverables. The Board had a brief discussion about membership of the project teams supporting the two action plans and it was confirmed that these were not stakeholder groups, but represented the small number of individuals tasked with taking steps to gather the information cited in action plans.

9. Ken Muir confirmed that Charlaine Simpson had been recruited by the GTCS to take forward key parts of the Teacher Professionalism driver of the NIF and that she would spend some time working directly with SG colleagues on the delivery of the Framework.

Aspect Review

10. Alan Armstrong introduced a paper setting out options for the second phase of the Aspect Review. Options included carrying out the next phase of the Aspect Review in the first quarter of 2017 or delaying it until later in that year. The Board agreed that given the range of other work underway in relation to initial teacher education notable aspects of the National improvement Framework and the increased focus on new routes to teaching the next phase of the review should be delayed.

11. The Board further agreed that a round of informal meetings with partnerships, organised by SG/ES, towards the end of 2016 to take stock on progress and discuss any developing issues would be helpful. It was felt this would be welcomed by the partnerships themselves.

Action – SG/ES to arrange a series of meetings with local authority/university partnerships to take place towards the end of 2016.

Update from the Scottish College for Educational Leadership

12. Gillian Hamilton tabled a paper providing an update on the work SCEL and also provided a copy of SCEL’s Teacher Leadership report. The Board were updated on SCEL endorsement processes, the recruitment for Into Headship including recruitment for cohort 2, SCEL’s developing suite of programmes including on teacher leadership and the recruitment of Regional Network Leaders.

AOB

13. None intimated.

Date of next meeting

14. 26 October 2016, 14:00, St Andrew’s House, Edinburgh.

Summary of Actions

	Action	Deadline	Owner
01/02	• SG to engage with BEMIS and teachers’ representatives to consider the issue of under-representation of the BME ethnic community in the teaching profession. • SG to consider with STEC the number of students applying to enter ITE courses. • As part of this work the Scottish Government will work with STEC to investigate drop-out rates in ITE for underrepresented groups.	22/08/16	Scottish Government
02/01	Scottish Government to consider whether teachers in cohort 1 of the Into Headship programme should have their costs reimbursed.	31/08/16	Scottish Government
03/01	SG to amend draft letter and send it to the Deputy First Minister.	04/07/16	Scottish Government
03/02	SG, in conjunction with partners, will take forward the actions in the letter. This will include ensuring that the new pro-forma is jointly signed with COSLA.	31/08/16	Scottish Government / COSLA
03/03	SG to write to key partners to initiate work to take forward the proposals of the Sub-Group on the Evaluation of Teaching Scotland’s Future.	29/07/16	Scottish Government
03/04	SG/ES to arrange a series of meetings with local authority/university partnerships to take place towards the end of 2016	22/08/16	Scottish Government / Education Scotland