Education Scotland has been asked by the British Council to be part of a pilot project, International Collaboration on School Improvement, which is designed to build international partners specifically around self-evaluation.

The project will involve 24 secondary schools from across Scotland who will be paired with 24 secondary schools in Hong Kong. The partnership will be a virtual one where participants will work together to learn collaboratively, share ideas and good practice.

The programme is for secondary school headteachers who are currently working on improving their self-evaluation for improvement as a core part of their school improvement plan. The programme will be funded and facilitated by the British Council and supported by Education Scotland.  Education Scotland will host the training days.

The commitment required from headteachers in Scotland is as follows:

• Attendance at three days facilitated training on 18, 19 and 20 March 2014 in Denholm House, Livingston
• Collaborative work with their Hong Kong partner
• Attendance at two  facilitated training days in October 2014 to share experiences and evaluate the project.

We have asked for expressions of interest from headteachers who would like to be considered for this project.  Headteachers who are interested must have the support of their local authority. In the first instance they will be asked to write a brief statement (no more than 250 words) explaining clearly why they should be included in the project, how this will support other developments in their school and the intended benefits to learners.

We look forward to working with the British Council to deliver this project and will share future developments and evaluations with you.