Qualification for aspiring headteachers to become a prerequisite from August 2020
As of August, this year, any teacher appointed to their first permanent headteacher post must have been awarded the Standard for Headship.
Aimed at teachers likely to reach a headteacher post within the next two to three years, the fully funded ‘Into Headship’ programme brings a wealth of career benefits and opportunities.
Headteachers play a vital role in shaping schools and the lives of pupils and staff – and their leadership is central to it all. The role has many different priorities to balance, and the programme has been specifically designed to help participants meet the requirements for the Standard for Headship. A great learning experience, the programme enables teachers to build career-long networks and opens the doors to longer term career prospects.
Throughout the programme, participants will have the assistance of a headteacher mentor and a local authority co-ordinator to support and develop the necessary knowledge, skills and understanding required of senior leaders in leading a dynamic school community.
On successful completion of Into Headship, participants are awarded the Standard for Headship – a required prerequisite for all new permanent headteachers in Scotland from 2020.
Shelley McLaren has been teaching for 11 years, 8 of which have been at Craigroyston Community High School in Edinburgh where for the past 18 months 
she has been headteacher.
“Doing the Into Headship programme has been the best decision I have made and the best experience I have had. The responsibility of being headteacher is huge, as you have so many aspects to managing a school, but the course gave me so much confidence to do my job and helped me to grow my relationships within the school. Through attending the programme, I have met so many headteachers and aspiring headteachers and together we are open and honest with each other and are able to share advice and give each other strength to do our job!”
The Into Headship programme offers support and guidance through a mix of theory and practical examples.
Shelley continues: “It is very challenging academically and you do need to be committed but what you get out of it is so worth it! I learnt so much and created new ideas that I was then able to put into practice back at school. Having the mix of professional and academic reading to support the work was invaluable”
The programme is led by Education Scotland in partnership with local authorities and universities. The application process is managed at local authority level who then provide the names of successful applicants to Education Scotland.
Education Scotland strategic director Gillian Hamilton said: “I’m really pleased that recruitment is now open for the Into Headship programme, which provides high quality professional learning for headteachers. Feedback from previous participants on each of these programmes is consistently positive about the impact of the professional learning on their confidence and knowledge.”
The application process for entry to the programme starts in January each year with recruitment for this year open now. For further information please visit https://teachinscotland.scot/career-progression/
