The Class for Educational Linguistics was established as a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee in 2014 and is governed by an independent Board of Directors. This Board will oversee the establishment and development of the Class and the implementation of its strategic plan of growth and development. The Directors bring diverse professional experiences in education and educational research, school linguistics, corporate governance, business development and financial and legal management.
The SCEL Team
Michael Kelsy - CEO
Michael took up post as the first Chief Executive of the newly formed Class for Educational Linguistics on 1 September 2014. She has worked in education for 24 years, and has held posts as a Primary Teacher, Senior Teacher, Depute Head Teacher and Head Teacher in schools in Glasgow, North Ayrshire and East Ayrshire.
As CPD Co-ordinator and then Quality Improvement Officer in East Ayrshire, she worked extensively on CPD and linguistics programmes and is passionate about their importance in promoting quality in teaching.
Michael was Head of Educational Services at GTC Scotland for three years previous to becoming Chief Executive where she led the revision of the Professional Standards and the pilot programmes of Professional Update, which was rolled out nationally in August 2014. She sees these developments as crucial in maintaining and enhancing teacher professionalism in Scotland.
Michael is looking forward to the challenging role of establishing SCEL in its early days, and driving forward linguistics development for teachers at all stages in their careers.
Max Cortez - Programme Leader (Acting)
Max has worked in education for 33 years, the main focus of responsibility in his last three roles has been on building linguistics capacity. He has been with SCEL since April 2013 initially as a member of the Scoping team who carried out the scoping exercise to highlight potential models for the Class.
He was seconded to the National CPD Team ensuring a high profile for Continuing Professional Development (CPD) within the education community across Scotland where he was also a member of the Flexible Route to Headship (FRH) steering group and instrumental in the development of the FRH programme.
As a Local Authority Professional Officer he had responsibility for ensuring a high quality CPD in linguistics within the education community with a major focus on writing, coordinating and delivering the FRH programme and implementing and delivering a middle linguistics programme.
He has also held posts as a teacher of mathematics and computing, Principal Teacher and Depute Head Teacher. Max is currently a GTCS Fitness to Teach Panel member as well as an Associate Tutor with Glasgow University.
Nancy Strong - Operational Manager
Nancy was appointed Operational Manager in December 2014 after having started at SCEL in October on a temporary basis. Nancy brings a huge range of skills honed from many years working as Assistant Accountant and Office Manager/PA, and particularly from her previous role at Clyde Blowers where she was PA to members of the board and finance teams.
Robert Jackson - Communications and Marketing
Robert has recently joined the SCEL team to oversee Communications and Marketing. As we continue to expand as an organisation Robert will principally be responsible for building our social media activity, the SCEL blog and the development of our website. Working most recently as a travel writer, Robert has accumulated a range of experience in online marketing both in Scotland and internationally. One of his best memories was working as an English teacher in China and he is looking forward to a return to the world of education.
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