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Acts Conference 2012. Walter Humes University of Stirling. Holyrood Launch of ACTS. ACTS as a new voice, a counterweight to managerial and corporate thinking The socialisation process: the rules of the policy community – ‘deference and trust’ Beyond the honeymoon period. McCormac Report.
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Acts Conference 2012 Walter Humes University of Stirling
Holyrood Launch of ACTS • ACTS as a new voice, a counterweight to managerial and corporate thinking • The socialisation process: the rules of the policy community – ‘deference and trust’ • Beyond the honeymoon period
McCormac Report • Control issues: Head Teachers and Local Authorities • Perceptions of classroom performance • Evidence on pupil attainment • Alleged lack of clarity in CT role • Recommendations driven by managerial and bureaucratic concerns about power?
Professional Development • Demands of CfE: new courses and qualifications; progressive pedagogy; teachers as curriculum developers • Reduced CPD capacity of local authorities because of budget constraints • Reduced CPD capacity of universities because of research pressures
Practitioner Research • School-based action research projects • The importance of ‘insider’ knowledge • Sharing findings with the whole school • Teaching as an evidence-informed profession • Schools as learning communities
The Discourse of Leadership • Debates about leadership training: e.g. SQH v. Columba 1400 • Types of leadership – inspirational, charismatic, transformational, spiritual, distributed, etc. • ‘Heroic’ leadership: leadership by example • Power and responsibility
Intellectual Leadership • Anti-intellectualism in Scottish education • ‘Best practice’ as the touchstone (HMIE) • Ambivalent attitudes towards professional training • CfE a-theoretical and a-historical? • ‘The parochialism of the present’ (G. H. Bantock)
Successful Schools 1 • A management team that commands trust and respect • Efficient administrative systems • Good communication (to pupils, staff and parents) • High expectations for pupils and effective support systems for all abilities
Successful Schools 2 • An attractive curriculum with scope for choice by pupils and innovation by staff • A wide range of pedagogic approaches • Assessment methods that support learning • Committed staff who are given opportunities for professional development
Beyond Systems and Structures • Imagination and creativity • Good relationships • Spaces which resist bureaucratic containment • Freedom to express ideas which may go against the grain of official thinking • Intellectual engagement with challenging ideas