It sounds tough, but good CPD can be put simply (7 December)

- “Embedding a level of excellence as standard for every teacher across the country.”

What about for managers and leaders? The political context for all of these debates is encased in resources. For years, managers’ mantra was “high-quality CPD courses” that required funding. Now, when there is no money, excellence comes from “learning rounds” and “coaching”. Really? It depends on the quality of the coaches and it depends on the monitoring and evaluation process being honest and imbued with integrity.

I still mainly experience the “sheep dip” method but the coaching philosophy will only flourish when the micromanagement approach of PTs, faculty heads, DHTs, HTs, LAs and governments is broken.

To me, this just reads like the latest philosophical shift in the wake of the new political context.

cochrane1964

‘Speak a foreign language and secure a job here’ (7 December)

- The current situation of MFL does not respond to the needs of the Scottish economy. Urgent, fundamental changes are needed to provide a framework for language learning and teaching that will produce confident speakers of languages other than English. Time allocation in beginners’ classes and funding for MFL should be reviewed.

rosered27

Open letter - what do they want? Better professional development (30 November)

- Even I agree with the statement that those isolated Inset days are of very little use, as they are just based on lecture and hands-on activities.

Farah Iftikhar, head, TCS Mardan Nursery

www.tes.co.ukscotland.