These resources were originally published on the ESCalate (The Higher Education Academy's Subject Centre for Education) website.
Permission is granted unless otherwise stated to copy and distribute ESCalate materials in an unaltered form only, for the purposes of teaching, research, private study, criticism and review, provided that the original author and publisher is acknowledged.
Scottish Qualification for Headship
Author: Scottish Executive Education Department
The site contains an outline of the Scottish Qualification for Headship programme, documentation on the programme including the standards, the modules, assessment of the standards and a list of consortia of providers.
Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education
Contains details of the role and functions of HMIE and their publications including copies of inspection reports on pre-school, primary schools, secondary schools, community education, further education colleges, teacher education and education authorities.
Uses
Publications provide a useful insight into what is considered to be important in educational provision.
Scottish Qualifications Authority
A comprehensive site that covers the SQA's areas of responsibility in curriculum development, accreditation, and assessment of awards such as national qualifications, Scottish Vocational Qualifications, Higher National Qualifications and Professional Development Awards.
Uses
Excellent descriptive and statistical information on educational and training awards in Scotland
Scottish Executive Education Department
Provides an overview of the Scottish Executive Education Department's aims, duties, responsibilities, agencies, and partners.
National Grid for Learning Scotland
Due to the educational, cultural and political differences between Scotland and the rest of the UK, the NGfL Scotland team was appointed by the Scottish Executive Education Department in September 1999 to drive forward the initiative in Scotland
Although it has started with schools and colleges, the National Grid is intended ultimately to provide access to all sectors of education and lifelong learning in Scotland, including communities and the voluntary sector.
In order to reach the national goals, the National Grid for Learning in Scotland must seek to:
- raise standards and achievement
- extend access and participation to support social inclusion and opportunity for all
- create a highly ICT-literate workforce, suitable for the developing knowledge economy
- make Scotland a centre of excellence for the creation of networked learning software
- provide high quality content
- develop in a way which is cost-effective and sustainable.
Educating for Excellence: Choice and Opportunity: The Executive's Response to the National Debate
Author: Scottish Executive
The site summarises the findings of The National Debate on Education, provides the Executives response to these findings and sets out a timetabled list of actions to address issues identified in the National debate.
Uses
Clear statement of Scottish Executive policy on school education.
The National Debate on Education
Author: The Scottish Executive
This site follows the process of the National Debate on Education in Scotland from its inception through the discussion, reflection, and response stages to the actions to be taken by the Executive and other parties.
Uses
This is a useful site for those wishing to gain an understanding of the concerns of each of the key stakeholders in School education in Scotland. It is also a site that provides an insight into the process of education policy development in post-devolution Scotland.
The General Teaching Council for Scotland
This site contains information on the roles of the General Teaching Council for Scotland with respect to education, initial teacher education, probation, continuing professional development, membership services, and conduct and competence. It has links to policy documents prepared and published by GTCS on matters such as guidance, for which there is a report for each of the primary, secondary, and FE sectors, the voice and teaching, antiracist education, entry qualifications and standards.
Uses
One interesting policy was that on protection of the voice in practising teachers and on voice training for trainee teachers. A document on this site provides a clear outline of the situation at present and the recommends steps to be taken.
Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Committee: Final Report on Lifelong Learning. Response from the Executive
Author: Scottish Executive
A detailed response from the Executive to the Scottish Parliament Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Committee's Final Report on Lifelong Learning. The response is published in parallel with the Executive's Strategy for Lifelong Learning - Life Through Learning: Learning Through Life
Uses
As well as providing direct information on the Scottish Executive's thinking on post-compulsory education this and associated websites give an interesting insight into the processes of policy formulation in the internet age when consultation and information exchange is greatly facilitated by technology.
Chartered Teacher Programme for Scotland
Author: Universities of Edinburgh and Strathclyde & Arthur Andersen
This site was set up to facilitate and provide feedback on consultation on the development of the Chartered Teacher Programme in Scotland. It contains details of the current stage of development, links to important sites providing additional information, and the facility to provide feedback as requested by the development team.
Uses
This site is an excellent guide to the Scottish Chartered Teacher Programme for those in all sectors of education.
Caveats
Site maintenance could be better. At the time of writing (August 2003) the latest information from course providers does not appear to be on the site. This of course may just be a delay caused by the long vacation.
