Dialogue in support of Highland Head Teachers
8th October 2015
The Highland Council is to hold further dialogue with Head Teachers and stakeholders on proposals to enhance support for Head Teachers and create sustained management support in Highland schools.
The Council's programme, Highland First, includes a commitment to work collaboratively with Head Teachers to provide them with the best opportunity to maintain standards, reduce unnecessary bureaucracy and to drive further improvement.
At a meeting of the Council’s Education, Children and Adult Services Committee this week, Members discussed a range of issues impacting on sustainable school management that were gathered from meetings with Primary and Secondary Head Teachers earlier this year in May. The range of issues affecting Head Teachers was categorised in broad headings including management time and support; operational issues; recruitment; and salary disparities.
Members agreed that Education Officials should continue to discuss proposals to address these issues and the support of Head Teachers, with Head Teachers elected Members, Council staff and pupil and parent representatives.
Councillor Drew Millar, Chair of the Council’s ECAS Committee said: "It’s vitally important that we take stock of where we are now with the variety of different models of Head Teacher management arrangements in our schools and how this can be improved for the long term support and sustainability of our senior school management and leadership."
He added: “We are preparing for the inevitable changes in education provision in the future, for which, teachers will need support. Combined with this we need to ensure that teaching and living in the highlands is an attractive prospect to potential employees. The continued dialogue will look at a management structure that will embrace change and be fit for purpose.”
Highland Council Leader, Councillor Margaret Davidson added: “We need to provide better support to our Head Teachers, and reduce their classroom commitments so that they can provide better strategic leadership in learning for our schools. The Council is committed to working collaboratively with Head Teachers to reduce unnecessary bureaucracy, drive forward further improvement and provide them with the best possible opportunities to maintain standards in Education.”
Further detailed discussions will be held with Head Teachers and stakeholders and the outcomes of those discussions will be reported back to a future meeting of the Council’s ECAS Committee.
Related Businesses
Related Articles
At the Highland Council Economy and Infrastructure Committee. (Thursday 2 May 2024) Members had the opportunity to review the work the Council is doing to progress active travel and improve road safety before approving the next steps.
At the meeting of the Economy and Infrastructure Committee members had the opportunity to review the last two years of the Community Regeneration Funding Programme before agreeing changes to how the 2024/25 programme will be delivered. Committee Chair, Cllr Ken Gowans said: "Following a successful two years, it is a good time to review what has gone well and what can be done better so we can continue to build on success, and seamlessly move the focus onto how best to support the delivery of projects." "With 279 live projects and over £6million of committed funds still to be claimed, there is no doubt as to the value and impact of the programme's potential.
The Highland Council's In-House bus service pilot project was launched in January 2023. The success of its first year of operation in delivering savings and creating a valued and reliable service was highlighted at today’s Economy and Infrastructure Committee.
Members of Highland Council's Economy and Infrastructure Committee today (2 May 2024) approved the local authority's draft Ecology Strategy and Action Plan which will now move forward to an 12-week public consultation. The Ecology Strategy sets out an ambitious set of actions to tackle biodiversity loss and address the ecological emergency.
Economy and Infrastructure Committee members today (2 May 2024) agreed to direct £100K from the Council's share of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) to fund a new staff training programme at the Inverness Castle Experience. The funding will enable the project team to provide specialist visitor attraction training to young people identified through partners at Developing the Young Workforce (DYW) and the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI).
The Housing and Property Committee met on Wednesday 1 May 2024 and noted the Housing Service performance report 2023/24 that met the agreed priorities and associated initiatives in the Local Housing Strategy 2023-2028. The report highlighted a number of achievements in 2023/24 in increasing housing supply.
Kate Lackie, Malcolm MacLeod and Allan Gunn have been appointed as Assistant Chief Executives with The Highland Council. Convener of the Council, Cllr Bill Lobban said: "I am delighted to say that Kate Lackie, Malcolm MacLeod and Allan Gunn have been appointed as Assistant Chief Executives with The Highland Council.
As intimated in Highland Council's budget plan, a new senior management structure is to be implemented following approval by Council 14th March. It reconfigures the senior management team into two layers, rather than three and brings Highland Council into line with other benchmarked authorities.
Today, Morrison Construction introduced some of their local apprentices who are working on the UK Governments' Levelling Up Funded refurbishment project at the Northern Meeting Park in Inverness. All these apprentices have been recruited from the Highland area.
The by-election to elect a councillor to represent Ward 19 - Inverness South on The Highland Council has been won by Duncan Cameron McDonald - Independent who was one of the eight candidates who contested the vacancy. Voters in the ward went to the poll yesterday (Thursday 11 April) and the by-election count was held this morning in The Highland Council Headquarters in Inverness.
