Keynote speakers 2008
The keynote presentations at the Scottish Learning Festival are of universal interest to everyone attending and are a central focus of the event. This year we are delighted to welcome internationally respected keynote speakers:
Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning - Fiona Hyslop, MSP
Fiona Hyslop was born in Ayrshire in 1964 and was brought up in her early years in England before returning to Scotland and graduating from Glasgow University with an MA (Hons) in Economic History and sociology.
She completed a post graduate Diploma in Industrial Administration at the Scottish College of Textiles.
She then moved to Edinburgh and joined the financial services company Standard Life where she held various positions in sales and marketing latterly as Brand Development Manager.
She was elected a Lothians MSP in 1999 and was latterly the Shadow Minister for Children, Education and Lifelong Learning and a member of the Parliament's Education Committee.
In her keynote address, she will outline the central role of learning in supporting the Scottish Government’s strategic objectives.
Further information and booking for keynote: Cabinet Secretary's Address on Wednesday at 10:30 am.
Richard Teese, Centre for Post-Compulsory Education and Lifelong Learning, The University of Melbourne
Richard’s research is about how well education systems work and for whom. His recent books include Education and Equity: International Perspectives on Theory and Policy in 3 vols. (2007), Academic Success and Social Power: Examinations and Inequality (2000) and Undemocratic Schooling: Equity and Quality in Mass Secondary Education in Australia (2003) (with John Polesel).
In addition to his academic research, Richard has worked closely with state governments in Australia on a range of projects, including the redesign of the school global budget in Victoria, monitoring of student destinations in four Australian states, evaluation of equity programmes in New South Wales, and geographical variations in participation in vocational education and training across Australia.
Richard Teese was the rapporteur for the OECD review of equity in Spain in 2005, and in 2007 led the OECD review of quality and equity in Scottish schooling.
Further information and booking for keynote: Reforming the High School Curriculum: Tools for Raising Quality of Learning and Improving Equity on Wednesday at 14:30 am.
Charles Leadbeater
Charles Leadbeater is a leading authority on innovation and creativity. He has advised companies, cities and governments around the world on innovation strategy and drawn on that experience in writing his latest book We-think: the power of mass creativity, which charts the rise of mass, participative approaches to innovation from science and open source software, to computer games and political campaigning.
As well as advising a wide range of organisations on innovation including the BBC, Vodafone, Microsoft, Ericsson, Channel Four Television and the Royal Shakespeare Company, Charles has been an ideas generator in his own right. As an associate editor of the Independent he helped Helen Fielding devise Bridget Jones’s Diary. He wrote the first British report on the rise of social entrepreneurship, which has since become a global movement.
Charles has worked extensively as a senior adviser to governments over the past decade, advising the 10 Downing Street Policy Unit, the Department for Trade and Industry and the European Commission on the rise of the knowledge driven economy and the internet, as well as the government of Shanghai. He is an adviser to the Department for Education’s Innovation Unit on future strategies for more networked and personalised approaches to learning and education.
A visiting senior fellow at the British National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts, he is also a longstanding senior research associate with the influential London think-tank Demos and a visiting fellow at Oxford University’s Said Business School.
Further information and booking for keynote: The Shape of Things to Come: Personalisation andCollaboration in Education on Thursday at 12:00 am.
Ellen Moir, University of California
Ellen Moir is Executive Director of the New Teacher Center (NTC) at the University of California, Santa Cruz, a national resource for high quality new teacher and new administrator induction programmes. The NTC conducts research, develops and administers induction programmes, and consults with organisations, educational leaders, and policy makers throughout the US on issues related to new educator support.
Ellen has also served for 15 years as Director of the Santa Cruz New Teacher Project, a beginning teacher induction programme that has supported more than 12,000 beginning teachers during the first two years of their careers. From 1985 to 2000, she was UCSC Director of Teacher Education.
Ellen is recognised throughout the state and nation for her work in beginning teacher development. In 2003, she received the California Council on Teacher Education Distinguished Teacher Educator Award.
She has recently addressed issues of new teacher support at the conferences of the National Governors Association, National Board for Professional Teacher Standards, American Educational Research Association, and National Staff Development Council. Recent journal publications include articles for Educational Leadership, Journal of Staff Development, Teacher Education Quarterly, and Chief State School Officers Council Newsletter. Ellen has authored several book chapters related to induction and produced video documentaries on teacher induction and bilingual education. Her induction work has been supported by 15 private foundations and by the National Science Foundation. She is a passionate advocate for investing in teacher quality and equitable learning opportunities for all students.
Further information and booking for keynote: Beyond Buddies: Mentoring New Teachers to Instructional Excellence on Thursday at 15:00 pm.