Graham Donaldson, leader of Review of Teacher Education in Scotland, will be a keynote speaker at the Scottish Teacher Education Committee (STEC) annual conference at the University of Stirling this month.
The conference, Towards a New Professionalism, will be held at the Stirling Management Centre at the University of Stirling on 20 April from 10am to 3pm.
In January this year, Graham Donaldson and his team published Teaching Scotland’s Future. The Review commenced in February 2010 and in the months following, Mr Donaldson and his team met with a wide range of individuals and organisations both in Scotland and further afield in reaching their findings.
Together with responses to the call for evidence issued by the Review and the findings of the literature review, the information gathered helped to form the thinking behind 50 recommendations set out in the Report, which was published in January this year.
Graham Donaldson says: “The quality of the education our young people experience has never been more important both to them individually and to Scotland’s future.
“That quality depends crucially on teachers; not just in terms of their current competence but of their values and capacity to grow and develop across careers which will span much of this century. My Report aims to help create the conditions which will make this aspiration a reality.”
Teaching Scotland’s Future raises fundamental questions about the forms of professionalism we expect of educators in the future, and how such practices can best be developed. These questions are being addressed by educators in many countries and by many different professional groups.
The STEC annual conference will provide a forum to discuss such issues in the context of the outcomes of the Review. The conference aims to address the larger questions about professional practice and responsibility in education in the context of economic, social, political and curriculum change.
Professor Richard Edwards, Head of the School of Education at the University of Stirling and Convenor of STEC says: “No-one underestimates the challenges posed by the Donaldson Review to all those involved in teacher education. Universities need to ensure they produce the research and programmes to be able to address the challenges and enhance the education professions contribution to the future of Scotland.”
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For further information about the STEC annual conference, please contact Patricia Hess at the University of Stirling on 01 786 466 687 or at mediarelations@stir.ac.uk
Notes to editors
To read the Review in full, click on www.reviewofteachereducationinscotland.org.uk
To find out more about the School of Education, click on: www.stir.ac.uk