Top Scottish university chosen to host new teaching excellence centre

A new Centre of Teaching Excellence is to be established at Glasgow University to try to make Scotland a “world leader” in the field, it has been announced.

Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth first announced plans for the centre at the SNP conference in October last year, but few details have been revealed since then.

However, Ms Gilruth told MSPs on Wednesday that Glasgow University had been chosen to host the facility, which she said would now get up and running “at pace”.

Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth. Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images | Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

She made the announcement as the new Education (Scotland) Bill cleared its first hurdle at Holyrood, meaning the scrapping of the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) and creation of the new Qualifications Scotland has moved a step closer.

A majority of MSPs backed the general principles of the Bill at stage one. But opposition members warned changes would need to be made to the draft legislation at later stages to deliver the level of reform required.

Opening the debate, Ms Gilruth said: “It is really important we build back trust with the teaching profession, but also with Scotland’s parents and carers. The Bill can rightly be seen as the scaffolding that supports a range of different education reform, all of which builds on evidence, including the findings of the OECD [Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development] and Professor Muir.

“And, of course, there are a number of non-legislative reforms which are already moving forward, including, for example, the curriculum improvement cycle. And furthermore I also want to see more opportunities for Scotland’s teachers to develop their own practice drawing on best research.

“That is why we are establishing the Centre for Teaching Excellence working closely with teachers and national education organisations. And I’m delighted to say that through a competitive process, we have now identified the University of Glasgow as the host institution.”

The former teacher added: “I’m very grateful to other institutions who came forward with an interest, showing the world-class strength of our academic institutions across Scotland. It is very fitting that the new centre will be based in Glasgow, which was announced as Unesco’s new learning city earlier this month.

“We will now work with the university to take forward the establishment of the centre at pace, so that we can, at pace, offer those important opportunities to Scotland’s teachers.”

Documents published by the Scottish Government show funding for the new teaching centre is available for two financial years - £800,000 to the end of March 2025, and then between £3.5 million to £4m between April 2025 and end of March 2026.

They add: “While funding can only be confirmed for the 2024 to 2025 and 2025 to 2026 financial years, there is an expectation that the centre will continue for a further two years.

“However, this is subject to further approval processes and satisfactory delivery of outcomes that will be reviewed on an annual basis.”

The centre is expected to be launched between January and March. Its aim will be to “support teachers to actively lead and engage with research and evidence to help inform and develop their practice”.

The Scottish Government has said: “This will help support teachers to engage with research and evidence to help enhance their practice, which in turn will help to improve the overall outcomes for the children and young people across Scotland.”

Professor Sir Anton Muscatelli, principal and vice-chancellor of the University of Glasgow, said: “This is worthy recognition of the extensive work our School of Education has undertaken over many years on issues such as educational improvement and innovation, and approaches to supporting professionals in making decisions that matter for the learning and wellbeing of our young people.

“This also comes at a time when Glasgow has just recently been announced as a Unesco Learning City in recognition of outstanding achievements in life-long learning, which gives us the exciting opportunity to showcase our widening participation programmes and civic engagement partnerships as global exemplars of best practice."