Education secretary Jenny Gilruth has announced that Scotland is to set up a new centre of excellence for teaching.
Ms Gilruth said “excellent teachers make the difference” and that the centre would help make the country a “world leader in new approaches to learning and teaching”, as well as support the “national mission to close the attainment gap and deliver excellent learning and teaching for our children”.
She said the centre would be developed as part of the government’s education reform agenda because “education reform can’t just be about changing organisational structures or creating new bodies - it has to be focused on what happens in our classrooms”.
The Scottish government has committed to creating a new inspectorate, a new national agency for education and a new qualifications body. It has also pledged to reform school qualifications.
However - in the wake of Professor Louise Hayward’s independent review of assessment and qualifications, which was reported in June - Ms Gilruth put the reform programme on hold, saying she needed more time to consult with the profession.
Announcing the new centre at the SNP conference in Aberdeen, Ms Gilruth said that “excellent learning and teaching must be the foundation of all that we do in Scottish education”.
She said: “I’m sure you can all remember a teacher who made a difference in your life; who inspired and encouraged you to lift your ambitions.
“I want to ensure that all of our hardworking teachers are supported and empowered in our classrooms.
“That is why, as part of the education reform agenda, I can announce today that we will establish a new Centre of Teaching Excellence, making Scotland a world leader in new approaches to learning and teaching.”
Ms Gilruth said the centre would be developed by the Scottish government along with teachers and professional bodies, with the next steps for its establishment to be announced after discussions have taken place with these groups.
However, responding to the announcement, Scotland’s largest teaching union, the EIS, said it was “unfortunate” that Ms Gilruth had not consulted the professional associations about the plans in advance - or made it clear how the new body will “interface holistically” with the government’s wider reform agenda, including the reform of key national bodies.
EIS assistant secretary, Anne Keenan, added that whilst the new centre might “offer additional and welcome advice and support on pedagogy” it would not address other key issues impacting on excellent learning and teaching including “rampant and increasing poverty” or “the chronic under-resourcing of ASN provision”.
She said a “long-term resourcing strategy” was needed if the government wanted to “meaningfully affect change” - including action to reduce class sizes and teacher class contact time, as well as to “significantly enhance” ASN support and expertise within schools.
