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Don Ledingham

Monday 05 December 2005

7.30am Peter Peacock Ministerial Breakfast at the Town House, Melrose. What pleasure it was to only have to drive five miles to work! I won't go over Peter's presentation which was about Ambitious, Excellent schools but just pick up on some of the issues I thought it raised:

Looks like the exec' are looking for some way to record the four capacities, i.e. successful learners, confident individuals, effective contributors, responsible citizens ( I sometimes wonder if people would notice if you switched the adjectives around?). This has the potential to really give some leverage to curricular change by enabling schools to break free from attainment being the only measure of success. However, it struck me later in the day - how would I like to have had my record for responsible citizenship as a 17 year old linked to me throughout the rest of my life? I had my prefect's badge taken away from me in 6th year for spending too much time playing sport and not doing my duties. It's bad enought trying to make up for a pooor academic record but will employers in 30 years time consider how you compared against the four capacities as a teenager? This is going to be a difficult challenge.

Second point - on the way out of the meeting Peter suggested the audience had been quiet and reserved - it may have had something to do with the time of day but I genuiinely believe that people trust what he is saying. However, he had mentioned that he is the longest sterving education minister for over 20 years. I asked Peter what happens when he moves on - is the agenda so dependent upon one person that it might leap off in another direction with a change in leadership? I think it's a question worth asking and I suggested we needed to build in some means of giving the current diirection some sustainability. Once again a difficult task given the demands of politics but Peter was at painis to poinbt out the damage done to generations of teachers by the "teacher proofing" of curricular development over the past 25 years. If teachers start to really engage with the change agenda and pick up on the empowerment which is promised then time must be given for it to take sustantive effective.

Last observation - I think policitians should make use of talking partners and ask people to reflect upon a presentation in pairs. I think there would be a much greater chance of real dialogue taking place if this were adopted.

Back to the office by mid-morning. worked on GANTT charts for service improvement plan. I'm keen to break free from the bureacracy of our current system which demands that more time is spent filling in the form that planning or tracking action. I wonder of we could look to produce a brief rationale for each element of a development plan and then produce a Gantt chart which outlined all the necessary actions, personnel, timelines and budgets i.e. be much more action focussed?

1.00pm Met Carole Hall for lunch - good to meet up with Carole again. Carole was the first appointment I ever made - back in 1984.

3.30 Directorate Meeting - business meeting .

4.40-5.45pm Office and home.

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