(Re)launching IPDA Scotland

Above: Catriona Oates speaks about professional learning in Scotland at the IPDA Annual Conference 2019.

This post was written by IPDA Scotland Chair, Catriona Oates.

Tuesday 19th May saw the (re)launch of IPDA International’s Scottish association. IPDA provides a forum and promotes national and international networks of individuals and organisations concerned with professional development and learning.

It is an independent association of practitioners which supports and promotes professional development of education practitioners, stimulates discussion around policy and practice and disseminates research related to professional learning.

The Scotland launch had been a long time coming, but was worth the wait. We are very lucky in many respects here in Scotland; Professional Learning for educators in Scotland is an active and crowded space. There is no shortage of networks at local and national level and some amazing grassroots collaborative associations, all working to support, share, develop and improve knowledge and practice of teaching and learning in a range of settings and contexts. Part of the delay in the launch of IPDA Scotland was working out just where IPDA can find a space and justify it in this busy landscape.

My personal engagement with IPDA came originally through the association’s journal, Professional Development in Education. Then my former boss (colleague and friend is more accurate), Margaret Alcorn was made a fellow of IPDA in 2011. A year ago, after some encouragement from IPDA Hong Kong’s indefatigable chair, Paul Campbell, I got in touch with the international branch of the association and made a start at reviving IPDA Scotland.

Tracking down former members was difficult as the current list of IPDA members in Scotland was very small, but the only starting point I had! It was clear that there was still interest in IPDA. After the IPDA international conference in November, having noticed a Scottish presenter on the programme who presented online, I got in touch. Suzie Dick was keen to help and, being based on Arran, to ensure that the association was inclusive, networked, and did not disadvantage educators in remote areas. Not long after this, John Mynott contacted me to say he too was keen to be involved in IPDA Scotland and was taking up a post as Head of ITE at Aberdeen University. John had worked with IPDA England supporting online engagement. The planets were aligning! We’ve agreed to take on interim committee roles until May 2021 when hopefully we can formally elect members to the roles of; chair (presently Catriona, vice chair (Suzie), communications lead (John) and former (and present) IPDA member Linda Bell has also agreed to be treasurer. We still require a secretary, so please let us know if you’re interested.  

We four have not yet met face to face, but we managed to coordinate Tuesday’s launch and were delighted with the result. We trailed the event in advance, and contacted our small membership list to encourage participation. Our only option was to launch online but this perfectly reflects what we aim to achieve as an organisation: to provide an independent and inclusive platform for stimulating and challenging conversations about professional learning to take place. We would like to reach educators in a wide range of professions and contexts, in schools but not exclusively focused on the schools sector. We are aiming for a follow-up very soon. If you have something you’d like to share or discuss concerning professional learning in policy, practice or research, we’d love to hear from you to help us inform our future programme.  In the meantime, thanks for your interest so far and please consider becoming a member of IPDA.

Membership of IPDA entitles you:

• to participation in national and international networks of practitioners
• to news, updates and opportunity to participate in regular events, formal and informal
• to a yearly subscription to the SSCI – rated journal Professional Development in Education and its newly launched sister-title, Practice.

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