Teacher Education in Scotland: The Donaldson Review and the Early Phases of Teacher Learning

Vol. 2. No. 2 Oct 2012

Jim O'Brien is Emeritus Professor of Leadership and Professional Learning at the Moray House School of Education, The University of Edinburgh and Co-Managing Editor of the Professional Development in Education journal. His work is in 'leadership and professional learning' and he has been a member of a number of national development groups associated with teacher professional development and leadership themes such as Teacher Appraisal and Professional Review and Development; the Standard for Headship and Scottish Qualification for Headship (SQH) programme; the Chartered Teacher Standard and Development Programme; and the national CPD Advisory Group on School Leadership, participating in the OECD Thematic Review Improving School Leadership: Scotland. His recent books include Coaching and mentoring: developing teachers and leaders (with Christine Forde), The social agenda of the school (with Gale MacLeod) (Dunedin, 2009) and School leadership (2nd edition) (with Danny Murphy and Janet Draper) (Dunedin, 2008). Jim has written numerous articles and book chapters on associated themes. In this article he critically reflects on current developments in teacher education in Scotland.