For two days in March, School Leaders Scotland (SLS) council members set aside the day-to-day leadership demands in their school contexts to consider, in collaboration with colleagues from across the country, the future of educational leadership in Scotland.
Drawing on our manifesto for education and the Scottish findings from the Sustainable School Leadership (SSL) project, both published in February 2026, we explored the challenges and opportunities that will shape school leadership during the next parliamentary cycle. These discussions were enriched by contributions from Qualifications Scotland, Education Scotland and SSL project lead Professor Toby Greany.
The future facing school leaders in Scotland is increasingly complex. The turbulent social and political landscape was characterised at our council meeting in discussions about the following (not exhaustive) issues that increasingly impact on the school leaders’ role.
Recruitment and retention ‘increasingly challenging’
Workforce sustainability remains among the most immediate concerns, with recruitment and retention increasingly challenging, particularly in shortage subject areas and in rural or island communities. This is having an impact on equity of experience and opportunity across Scottish schools.
The deal on reduced-class contact time now gives an implementation date of August 2029, allowing some time to recruit the appropriate teachers in the right subjects in the right places. However, current difficulties with recruitment cast doubt on whether that is entirely realistic or achievable.
We are navigating significant reform across curriculum, qualifications and assessment, yet SLS council members questioned the connectedness and alignment between the reform led by Qualifications Scotland and Education Scotland, suggesting that the apparent lack of coherence creates challenges for leaders both in confidently supporting and promoting education reform to their staff teams, and in leading its implementation within their schools.
Meanwhile, issues of trust between government, agencies and the profession - and of professional autonomy - are increasingly significant, with public and media narratives that place the profession under scrutiny and criticism in ways that do not always reflect leaders’ reality.
The role of school leaders has grown significantly in scale, intensity and complexity. Schools are increasingly required to respond to global, intersecting “polycrises” that manifest within their own contexts and communities, alongside rising social and emotional needs. Increasingly, they do so with limited or no external agency support and with precarious local budgets and resources.
Following lead of England’s schools White Paper
Our manifesto highlighted a clear need to consider how leaders are supported in managing these demands. We were interested to see the UK government’s schools White Paper commitment to a targeted package of interventions to support school leaders, including ”£1 million additional funding each year for wellbeing support, providing up to 2,500 leaders annually with a safe and confidential space to develop new strategies to manage their resilience and capacity to thrive in their role”.
We hope that political parties in Scotland will follow suit with their May 2026 manifesto commitments and post-election actions.
The priorities in our SLS 2030 strategic plan will recognise the scale of the challenges ahead, with targeted actions focused on where we can have the greatest impact. Our plan will also reflect the full breadth of leadership experience, ensuring that the voices and insights of headteachers, depute headteachers, business managers and our growing number of middle leaders are represented in our planning, and in the future direction of educational leadership in Scotland. (See our membership offer for middle leaders here).
SLS council is clear that preparing our schools for a sustainable future requires courage, strength and critical (and reciprocal) engagement with all agencies. Our respected voice and national influence, built on credibility, strong relationships across the country and a solutions-focused approach, must remain central to our work.
National conference
To build on the momentum of our council discussions and our national partnerships, SLS will host a national conference on Sustainable School Leadership on 20 May, in partnership with the SSL research team at the University of Nottingham. This event will bring together practitioners, policymakers and researchers to explore what sustainable leadership looks like in practice and how it can be embedded across the system.
The conference reflects our determination to move beyond the challenges identified in our manifesto towards shaping practical, evidence-informed solutions. It will also strengthen our role as a bridge between research and policy, ensuring that the insights from the SSL project continue to inform real change in our system.
The SLS council discussions have been underpinned by optimism, determination and confidence in the collective capacity of our organisation to lead with hope and impact positive change - in response to the various challenges we face in the years ahead.
David Barnett is general secretary at School Leaders Scotland and Alison Mitchell is its professional learning and policy officer
