Brightwave, the workplace e-learning specialist, and the Improvement Service (IS) have announced the successful pilot of its new Development Profile tool for elected members in Scottish local government. The pilot comprises part of the IS Continuous Professional Development (CPD) Framework for elected members and will be demonstrated to delegates at the COSLA and IS Annual Conference (4-6 March) via video. The CPD framework is based on fourteen political skills and involves elected members assessing the extent to which they demonstrate a range of supporting behaviours. This assessment can be done personally or on a 360 degree basis using an online tool developed in partnership with Brightwave.
East Lothian Council, Falkirk Council, Fife Council, Scottish Borders Council, South Ayrshire Council and West Dunbartonshire Council, have been piloting the tool since September 2008. The framework will be made available for use in all 32 Scottish councils during Summer 2009.
Commenting on the development tool, Mark McAteer, Director of Governance and Performance Management at the IS said: "The development tool is enabling us to help all Scottish councils streamline the level of support available to elected members, whilst helping those members invest in themselves and develop their role."
Sarah Gadsden, Programme Manager at the IS, added: "We are grateful to Brightwave for their support in getting this pilot up and running. The response so far has been extremely positive and the take up across pilot Councils demonstrates a clear commitment to professional development."
Charles Gould, Brightwave's Managing Director said: "Following the success of this pilot project, we are delighted that all Councillors in Scotland will have the opportunity to develop their professional knowledge using this new online training tool - a tool which exploits our e-learning platform."
Brightwave is also sponsoring the 'Securing a workforce for the future' COSLA Excellence Award. The award will be presented on 5 March at the Excellence Awards ceremony, which runs alongside the Conference. Those short-listed for this award include Central Scotland Police, South Ayrshire Council and Scottish Borders Council.
