As I was reflecting on my hopes for the school year ahead, this quote - often attributed to St Augustine, although that may be apocryphal - came to mind: “Hope has two beautiful daughters: their names are Anger and Courage. Anger at the way things are, and Courage to see that they do not remain as they are.”
It’s a powerful reflection on hope as an active force - a call to challenge injustice and take bold steps toward change. Anger fuels the recognition of what’s wrong, and courage drives the action to make it right.
Then I decided to mention this article I was planning for Vlog at the fortnightly drop-in for directors that ADES holds (a positive legacy of the pandemic; a time for updates, discussion, planning and support) and asked colleagues to share their own hopes.
Education as a political football
The responses were strikingly similar. In summary, they can be categorised as follows:
- Abandon the game of political football that surrounds and distorts the education system in Scotland
- Let the rhetoric of change reflect the reality of need for improvement
- Be evidence-led, data-informed, adequately resourced and relationally led.
We all hope for an end (or at least a reduction) to political football. Blaming the players, instead of questioning the game, is how the system will forever remain unchanged. We should all refrain from an unhelpful blame game, projecting at the wrong targets.
Let’s stop wasting time engaging in this phoney war. And to be clear, political gaming and blaming occurs throughout the system - in schools, local authorities, national agencies and in Holyrood. Instead, we should be working collectively to build a positive, optimistic and realistic narrative about the central role of education in delivering the best outcomes for our children and young people.
On the rhetoric of change, we hope to see a shift from consultation to co-construction, to produce educational policies that truly reflect the needs within the system. Often you are asked to comment on a framework or approach that has been broadly set, rather than asked what that framework or approach should look like or if it’s needed at all. Another way to think about this is seeing a move from compliance to genuine collaboration.
Regularly reviewing curriculum
The is clear about the importance of working in partnership to deliver what might be called a networked learning system across all local authorities, early learning and childcare settings and schools, embedded at a national level. This system would need to regularly review the curriculum to better meet the learning needs of individuals and ensure the development of the skills and capacities required in a rapidly changing world.
We also contend that schools and local authorities are part of a “national networked learning system”, seeking to work with national agencies and national government to collectively make things different and better for all of our children and young people.
On the third point - being evidence-led, data-informed, adequately resourced and relationally led - the , published in June, set out “a bold agenda for transforming how public services operate”. Interestingly, it talks about there being a “commitment to delivery and hope”.
The first of the three strategic pillars outlined in the strategy is prevention, which itself includes three priorities: shift resources to tackle root causes rather than symptoms; invest in early intervention across health, education, justice and social care; and embed preventative thinking in budgeting and service design.
There is a strong back catalogue of evidence and data sitting behind these priorities. We hope to see an unashamed focus on investment in them all, to help arrest and reverse the decline in children meeting their developmental milestones before they start school. Family support work, working with a range of partners from health, social work, community learning and the third sector, will be critical to any long-term success.
Longer-term approach to ASN
We hope that the uplift in funding in the 2024-25 Budget for additional support needs (ASN) is just the first step in a longer-term approach to improving provision of ASN services. This was a welcome sign of recognition of the increasing volume and complexity of need being experienced in our schools.
We hope to see relational leadership flourish. It is a way of leading that places relationships - between people, communities and systems - at the heart of improvement. It’s not just about what leaders do, but how they do it: through trust, dialogue, empathy and shared purpose. It requires dialogue over direction; in other words, listening as well as questioning.
It’s also about “power with, not power over”. This allows all players in the system to exercise their authority to the fullest, taking accountability for that at all times.
Importantly, relational leadership is also about patience. I like Marvilano Mochtar’s concept of “strategic patience”. He says: “In the realm of strategic decision-making, embracing patience can lead to significantly superior results in the long run.”
Strategic patience is about resisting impulsivity and the notion of quick fixes. It requires restraint, careful thought and good timing. And for those who would talk of the need for urgency and deride the notion of strategic patience, I would argue that this is not about doing nothing; it’s about waiting for the right moment to act, based on careful planning, clarity and discipline.
Our hope is for a growing consensus that tinkering around the edges and isolated quick wins will not bring about the system change that is essential for improving outcomes. We need to be prepared to value intellect over symbolism and be collectively angry enough at the status quo and collectively courageous enough to change it - and we need more curiosity where blind certainty often prevails.
Sheena Devlin is general secretary of ADES, Scotland’s education directors’ body
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