Keynotes

Keynote Programme – Lomond Auditorium

Deputy First Minister’s opening Keynote address
John Swinney MSP, Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills
Wednesday 25 September, 10.30 - 12.00

John Swinney MSP, Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills will deliver the opening keynote address at the Scottish Learning Festival 2019.

Education change and leadership
Pak Tee Ng, Associate Professor National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Wednesday 25 September, 12.30 - 13.15

Pak Tee Ng is a Singaporean educator who is deeply involved in the development of school and teacher leaders, and considers it a privilege to be able to educate a community of students who are educators themselves and who inspire others through their leadership, work and lives. He encourages educators to walk a path not easily travelled, with love, courage and resilience.

Pak Tee began his career as a Mathematics teacher, served as a Ministry of Education officer before joining the National Institute of Education (NIE) in Singapore as an academic. At the NIE, he has served as Associate Dean, Leadership Learning, and Head of the Policy and Leadership Studies Academic Group. He is currently a member of the International Council of Education Advisers (ICEA) which was established in 2016 to advise Scottish Ministers on how best to achieve excellence and equity in our Scottish education system.

For Scotland’s Learners, with Scotland’s Educators: making the change real
Gayle Gorman, HM Chief Inspector of Education and Chief Executive of Education Scotland
Wednesday 25 September, 14.00 - 14.45

Right from the beginning of her career, Gayle Gorman has been a strong advocate of working in partnership with colleagues locally, regionally and nationally to support Scotland’s children and young people.

Gayle will be talking about the exciting new role of Education Scotland in a teacher led system. She will consider the role of individual teachers and practitioners in shaping Scottish education through the development of teacher agency, ensuring that we grow as a learning system.

Empowering A Culture of Staff Wellbeing
Claire Lavelle, The Hive of Wellbeing
Wednesday 25 September, 17.00 - 18.00

In this session, Claire will be looking at how as individuals we can empower ourselves in the classroom to support our self-care and self-efficacy, as well as considering opportunities to develop a school culture that focuses on increasing emotional capital and transforming attitudes towards work and staff wellbeing.

Claire Lavelle has over twenty years’ experience in Education. Claire has been a teacher, a principal teacher, a primary head teacher in Scotland, and abroad, and a quality improvement officer in a Scottish local authority. She now runs the Hive of Wellbeing which is for teachers, school leaders and school communities who want to transform their own perspectives on life in order to transform the lives of their children and young people. The Hive is based on the principles of positive psychology, coaching for performance and self-efficacy theory.

The Power of Everyday Heroes
Jaz Ampaw-Farr, inspirational speaker and author
Thursday 26 September, 14.30 - 15.15

It would be easy to say you’ve never met anyone like Jaz before. Her passion for the potential we can uncover in ourselves when we are just 2% braver and her insight into how to remove the barriers that hinder connection between us and those we seek to influence make Jaz one of those people you will never forget.

Jaz’s story is one of growing up in the midst of most appalling abuse, poverty and hardship during which she encountered five adults (and, importantly, one pimp) whose belief in her literally saved her life. She shares her fantastic journey of how saying yes first allowed her to progress from council estate and foster care to advising international governments on education policy.