In the news...

Demands on leaders

John Dunford was on Radio 5 Live and BBC News 24 on 28 April speaking about the growing issue of recruitment for senior leadership jobs. The debate was reignited by the coverage of the teacher conferences.

John said: "If the demand for school leaders is to be met, levels of pay must reflect the weight of the job and the increased accountability. The review of school leaders pay and conditions, which is underway at the moment, will be critical in identifying what needs to be done to reverse the trend."

On the same day, he was a guest on the You and Yours programme on Radio 4 speaking about the problems of senior leaders' workload.

Admissions minefield

An article in The Times on 4 May quoted John Dunford describing the new admissions requirements in the education bill as "a minefield".

The bill proposes that schools be required to balance the social and racial mix of all students and to ensure they "attract all sections of local communities".

In a quote from the article, John said: "These proposals are inconsistent and I think they will place impossible demands on headteachers.

"The provisions on a mixed intake are a bit of a minefield because I do not know how people will determine whether schools have a balanced intake.

"It could mean a large amount of work for headteachers in making all the calculations into whether they have got the approved mix in their school. I think that whole area needs a lot more work."

Latest on CVA data

ASCL's campaign for more intelligent use of CVA data by inspectors resulted in two and a half pages of coverage in the TES on 12 May.

The articles outlined concerns raised by ASCL and individual schools and featured case studies with two ASCL members, Brian Rossiter of Valley High School and Richard Brown of Minsthorpe Community College.

Global education for all

About 100 million children in the world do not have a school to go to, and millions more struggle to learn in poor facilities and crowded classes, as ASCL's projects in Namibia and Sri Lanka have so vividly shown.

To help change this, ASCL is supporting the government's campaign to carry out the promise made at the Gleneagles summit in 2005 to provide schooling for every child in the world.

We would encourage members to download the document Keeping our Promises: Delivering Education for All, published by the Treasury and Department for International Development, at www.hm-treasury.gov.uk

It outlines a number of ways that schools and colleges can support education for all, including Comic Relief Red Nose Day activities, establishing school links and professional opportunities for teachers through the VSO.

Call for international bursaries

ASCL is offering up to £2,500 for members who wish to attend one of two international education conferences next academic year.

The International Confederation of Principals (ICP) and the European School Heads Association (ESHA), each hold an international convention every other year. For ESHA this will be in Rome in November 2006, and ICP will be in Auckland in April 2007.

To enable more ASCL members to attend the ESHA and ICP conventions, the association has agreed to provide five bursaries of up to £500 each towards the cost of attendance.

The funds may be used to pay for conference fees, accommodation, subsistence and travel. Preference will be given to members who have not attended an ICP or ESHA conference before or who are submitting papers.

The association was a founding member of both ICP and ESHA and is still actively involved in each. Kate Griffin, a Council member and former association president, will become ICP president in 2007.

Go to www.esha2006.it or www.icponline.org to find out more about the conferences.

For the ESHA conference in Rome, applications must be submitted by 7 July.

Details of how to apply and a form can be obtained from Carole Baldam, Operations Director, at headquarters or on the website at www.ascl.org.uk. Go to 'about us' and 'international'.