News at a glance

27th February 2015, 12:00am

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News at a glance

https://www.tes.com/magazine/archive/news-glance-68

Glasgow Clyde College principal suspended

Susan Walsh, the principal of Glasgow Clyde College, has been suspended from her role just weeks after she was praised by Education Scotland inspectors. A statement from the college’s board said it had “confirmed the decision by the chair and the vice-chair to suspend the principal on full pay, pending a review”, but did not give any reasons for her suspension. A recent Education Scotland report praises Ms Walsh’s leadership, stating that the college is “led well by the principal, ably supported by an experienced and highly committed senior management team”. Ms Walsh was appointed OBE in the 2014 Queen’s Birthday Honours for her contribution to further education.

Councils `bulldozed’ into teacher numbers pledge

Last week’s news that 31 of Scotland’s 32 councils had committed to maintaining teacher numbers was welcomed by the EIS teaching union - but local authorities body Cosla insisted that many had been “bulldozed” into agreement. Larry Flanagan, general secretary of the EIS, said: “This announcement should finally put to rest any ill-conceived plans at council level for damaging proposals such as cutting the length of the school week.” But Cosla president David O’Neill said that councils had “a gun to [their] heads”, with the Scottish government threatening to withdraw a share of pound;51 million from those that did not agree. “When this goes wrong, the public should remember that,” he added.

New headteachers’ MA to be mandatory by 2018

First minister Nicola Sturgeon has announced a new master’s qualification, which will become compulsory for all new headteachers in less than four years’ time. The qualification, designed by the Scottish College for Educational Leadership, will be available from this August and will become mandatory for all new school leaders from 2018. Ms Sturgeon also announced pound;1 million of funding to create new opportunities for teachers to learn at master’s level. In her announcement, she said she wanted “all schools to be led by the best-qualified people who are ready to take on the role as headteacher”.

Teachers admit lack of confidence in new Highers

More than two-thirds of teachers are not confident in their ability to assess pupils for the new Higher qualifications, which pupils will be sitting for the first time this year, according to a survey by the Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association (SSTA). The results also show that more than half of teachers are not confident in delivering the appropriate course materials for the new qualification, and more than 90 per cent of respondents feel that working time agreements mean there is insufficient time to implement the new Highers. SSTA general secretary Seamus Searson said the results “confirmed the view of many secondary school teachers that more time is needed to bring about these important changes”.

New general secretary for School Leaders Scotland

Jim Thewliss, pictured, will be taking over from Ken Cunningham as general secretary of School Leaders Scotland (SLS), the headteachers’ association has announced. Mr Thewliss is a former president of SLS, and was also vice-convener of the General Teaching Council for Scotland, as well as a member of the national implementation board delivering Graham Donaldson’s Teaching Our Future report. Having started his career as a geography teacher, for the past 18 years he has been the headteacher of Harris Academy in Dundee. Mr Thewliss is expected to take up his new post in the summer.

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