The Scottish Government's Flexible Route to Headship (FRH) programme is a leadership development opportunity for aspiring headteachers.

The Government introduced this additional route to achieving the Standard for Headship in 2007. This project came out of a demand from teachers for greater choice of development routes to achieve the Standard for Headship. Since then a number of aspirant headteachers have been successful in achieving the Standard for Headship.

The programme is about developing teachers with the leadership capabilities needed to effectively lead a school. That is the professional actions, strategic vision, knowledge and understanding and personal qualities and interpersonal skills defined in the Standard for Headship.

The FRH programme amongst other things:

• offers choice and flexibility for individual participants
• capitalises on experiential learning opportunities
• is predominately practice-based with a strong focus on impact

The Government had the first phase of the project evaluated by Cambridge and Glasgow universities. The report was very positive and believes that the FRH deserves a place in the landscape of Scottish school leader development.

The evaluation report highlighted coaching as forming the centrepiece of FRH but the programme also gives you the chance to develop your interpersonal skills. We see these as being vital in running an effective school. It is that day to day dialogue with colleagues where headteachers can push forward their thinking.

We currently have a further two cohorts undertaking the programme and intend to start Cohort 4 early in 2010. If your local authority is interested in becoming part of this or future cohorts than please contact Jim Keegans, Project Manager, on 0131 474 9362. He would be delighted to discuss this further with you.