Monday, July 23, 2007

It should be a quieter time of the year as many of our customers in the College and School sector are on holiday. Yet, between finalising an e-portfolio system with learndirect Scotland , securing funding for some ESOL work from Executive , planning meetings with Social Services Sector Skills Council and attending a Parliamentary Reception while juggling some judging for learndirect and some marking of bids for JISC there has not been a dull moment.


It was nice to get out with some of the team for a glass of wine on Friday.

Sunday, July 08, 2007


Windy Four Days in New Quay
Originally uploaded by joecar80
Spent a windy week in Newquay - I love surfing - but the rain and the cold proved too much for me - but not my four year old who was in the sea every day. Not quite a week. As we had to get back to Glasgow for the dancing display - my first as a dresser. Reminded me a bit of Little Miss Sunshine. Still trying to get glitter spray off my shoes . The fairies were having a great time.

Two of Forty Fairies


IMG_0090
Originally uploaded by joecar80
You don't get the eye stinging hairspray, shrieks of excitement or glitter filled dressing room - a new experience for all

Saturday, July 07, 2007

Back to work with a great meeting of the Partners in Learning Steering Group. Success on all fronts the developments around the local authority challenge funds , individual teacher challenge funds and the game are all progressing at a rate of knots. Vanessa and Jaqueline are really managing this massive project well in addition to all they contribute to the team. Nice to see HMIE, GTC , Learning and Teaching Scotland , Microsoft and SQA among others all working to make these developments work for teachers and learners.

Spent the rest of week doing the tail chasing that is always needed when you get back from leave. Delighted to meet the new Sector Panel for Financial Services, spent some time with e-assessment project board reviewing developments across SQA, some time with Scottish Executive working on delivery of Scottish ESOL strategy and then finally at end of week a 5 hour drive to and from Llandudno to present the first canidates with their ICTL Certificates and Diplomas. North Wales was worth the journey if only for a few hours - sunshine and showers here too.
A week of working around and with Scottish Sector Skills Development Agency. It really is good to see all the sector skills councils beginning to work towards sector skills strategies and sector qualifications strategies. Would be good if they understood Scottish Qualifications Landscape a bit more - I suppose that is our job.

Ended week with a showcase event that reflected all that is good about the team. We have huge range of developments rolling out and underway in computing area. The team took on the task of coordinating an event at Hampden Park. A major undertaking which hit the mark in that it was heavily oversubscribed.

Also provided nice platform for Mike Jannetta to bow out. He has more that earned his new post at Glasgow Metropolitan College . We will miss his get up and go.

Friday, July 06, 2007

#WriteTimes and SQA

Demon has been updating my home page server and this looks like keeping these postings off -line for a week or two.

Spent a week in meetings and in recruiting staff. The organisation is going through that positive flex that any organisation goes through when a new chief executive arrives. We are both planning for next year and reviewing our current processes.

We recruited a new project manager to lead on English as a Second Language developments. A critical area for the Scottish economy currently.We have probably for the first time since the 1940's a large community of migrants who need to develop language skills quickly to work within the Scottish economy.

It was great to meet so many employers and training providers at the SQA Customer Conference on Thursday. It rolled well into SQA's celebration of 10 years with an event for current staff with 10 years service and for some of the staff who worked for SCOTVEC and the Scottish Examinations Board our predecessor bodies .

The organisation launched "Write Times" a celebration of all the great creative writing produced by candidates. The writers were present at the launch some really great and moving stuff in this modest publication.