There have been a lot of changes at The Herald since I became editor nine months ago.
We have brought in new writers and columnists, reached out to wider audiences through an exciting package of newsletters, reevaluated our content and approach, and made our social media offering more engaging.
Behind the scenes, we have restructured our operation to become properly digital first, allowing us to grow while also meeting the demands of our much-valued print product.
This week there was another change – and I am keen to tell you more.
We welcomed journalist, author and teacher James McEnaney to our team to help us transform our coverage of Scottish education.
When I joined The Herald, I promised to champion our great country, its people and institutions. On this, I feel for a long time there have been too many negative headlines around education and not enough stories to celebrate the great work being done in our schools, colleges and universities.
But more importantly, there has not been enough celebration of our teachers and learners, their achievements, or how their success stories could be replicated across Scotland to influence meaningful change.
McEnaney shares my frustrations, and I am delighted to have him, his passion and energy, not to mention his experience and knowledge of what is one of the most important areas of Scottish society.
On Wednesday, we published a video of McEnaney explaining so much of this. You can watch it here:
We’re keen to cover education in Scotland differently.
— The Herald (@heraldscotland) June 21, 2023
Joining us is writer, journalist and teacher @MrMcEnaney to do just that.
Hear more from him here: pic.twitter.com/CfGncYt9D1
And on Thursday, he introduced himself fully to our readers in a beautifully candid piece explaining why education means so much to him.
“I believe that every single day, in every education setting in the country, learners of all ages, stages, abilities and backgrounds have their lives changed,” he wrote. “Those stories deserve to be told too. From now on, they will be.”
But while we aim to celebrate and steer change, we are not going to shy away from holding those who need to be held to account. That will never change as part of our education coverage. McEnaney will also break down a lot of the complicated issues relating to education through video explainers, starting with the Hayward Report, a review of qualifications and assessments, published on Thursday by the Scottish Government.
I hope you will join us as we embark on a new approach to education at The Herald.
Many thanks,
Catherine Salmond
Editor
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