State schools are being invited to a high-profile annual gathering of independent schools from around the world to be held in Scotland later this year.
The Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference (HMC) and Independent Association of Prep Schools (IAPS) are jointly organising the event in Edinburgh from 5-7 October.
This year marks only the third time in over 150 years of HMC history that a chair has been elected from Scotland: Melvyn Roffe, principal of Edinburgh’s George Watson’s College, will take up the role in September, and he is keen for as many pupils and teachers in Scotland as possible to be involved in a series of events on Friday 7 October.
Billed as the Edinburgh Open Education Conference and supported by Tes, this will be open to all schools and free to attend for those in the UK and Ireland.
“How often do we have the opportunity to talk to people doing a similar job but in a different sector or another part of the UK?” asked Mr Roffe. The aim on the Friday is “to get as many heads and other school leaders from the independent and state-funded schools across the UK and Ireland together”.
Mr Roffe said: “From the outset, back in the 19th century, the whole idea of HMC as a ‘conference’ was that it should promote discussion, debate and dialogue between school leaders. Today, that is more important than ever.”
Opening up the event - being held in Scotland for the first time since it was at St Andrews in 2015 - as widely as possible was important, Mr Roffe added, because “even school leaders are not immune from confirmation bias and we can very easily end up listening only to those who agree with us”.
To become too enclosed in a particular education group or sector, he said, created “danger that professional dialogue becomes an endless process of responding to those with power or influence over our jobs and our schools, rather than a real opportunity to meet colleagues, to discuss issues we are all facing and be inspired to face the future with confidence”.
Speakers at the event on Friday will include:
- Professor Sir Geoff Palmer, the human rights activist who works to tackle discrimination and promote equality and is now chancellor of Heriot-Watt University, in Edinburgh.
- Sarah Brown, executive chair of the Global Business Coalition for Education and chair of Theirworld.
- Dr Avis Glaze, the first recipient of Scotland’s Robert Owen Award for Education and is a member of the Scottish government’s International Council of Education Advisers.
Organisers are also hopeful that there will be an address by António Guterres, secretary general of the United Nations.
The Edinburgh Open Education Conference will be free to attend for leaders of state-funded schools and colleges across the UK and Ireland.
Mr Roffe also said that, if it is well received, it could become an annual event.
Of the overall three-day HMC/IAPS event, IAPS vice-chair Charlotte Johnston - head of St Peter’s Preparatory School in Devon - said there was an ”appetite in our prep schools to embrace forward-thinking, inclusive and enlightened practice and to work hard to achieve these goals”.
The conference in Edinburgh aims to “move forward with this, to link with schools on a larger scale, a more global scale as well as towards our local colleagues from the maintained sector”.
She added: “Headteachers have had an incredibly challenging couple of years running schools in the pandemic, adapting to change rapidly and leading their schools confidently forwards. We want this conference to allow heads to get together, to share experiences and hear inspirational speakers as they look to the future.”
To book a free place at the Edinburgh Open Education Conference, click here.
