GTC Scotland National Lecture 2008

The General Teaching Council for Scotland continues to run top quality national events for educational stakeholders in Scotland.

The popular annual lecture, now in its eighth year, took place on Wednesday 1 October 2008 at the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh and is one of the keynote dates in the Council's calendar of varied and supportive events across the country.

This year's lecture was delivered by the Lord Advocate, The Rt Hon Elish Angiolini QC who spoke about her experience of modernising the prosecution service over the past 7 years. It included thoughts on continuous learning; problem solving with local communities; and achieving excellence.

The Lord Advocate is in prestigious company, previous lectures have been delivered by leading author Christopher Brookmyre, film producer and politician Lord David Puttnam, philosopher Baroness Warnock, broadcaster and journalist Lesley Riddoch and entrepreneur and philanthropist Sir Tom Hunter.

The lecture draws interest from teachers across the country. This year's event was oversubscribed. For those who cannot attend the lecture will be published on the GTCS website.

The Lord Advocate, the Rt Hon Elish Angiolini QC, said:

"I am delighted to have this opportunity to speak to teachers from across Scotland. As prosecutors, we are increasingly looking for innovative ways to respond to the problems which are faced by our local communities; education in its broadest sense is a huge part of that, as is sharing ideas and expertise across professional boundaries.

"The sheer amount of change in our society, and in our legal system, in the last 10 years has been profound. Both have increased in their complexity, creating real challenges for everyone with an interest in improving the quality of life in our communities."

Past topics have included lectures such as 'Facing the Future - Challenges and Opportunities for the Teaching Profession' (Lord David Puttnam) and 'From Integration to Inclusion' (Baroness Warnock) to the reading of some passages from Christopher Brookmyre's novel based on experiences of school life - 'A Tale Etched in Blood and Hard Black Pencil (Christopher Brookmyre).

Tony Finn, the newly appointed GTC Scotland Chief Executive said:

"It is a true testament to the event that the GTCS annual lectures become more and more popular with our members and this year is no exception.

Our speakers are chosen carefully to allow teachers to hear top quality discussion and debate from people who are inspirational and influential in Scottish society. I am sure that this year's lecture will be just as interesting and captivating as those in previous years."

Further Information

For additional information about the GTCS annual lecture please visit our National Annual Lecture pages where PDF's of previous lectures, as well as a video of Christopher Brookmyre's lecture are available.

For more information or should you wish to attend, please contact:

Kelly Paterson of Geronimo Communications on:

T: 0131 718 4085
M: 0788 215 2914
E: Kelly.paterson@geronimocommunications.com

[updated 2 October 2008]