Minister for Learning and Skills, Alasdair Allan has called on local people to help find education’s brightest stars as he opened the Scottish Education Awards 2012 this morning.

Dr Allan announced the opening of nominations for the 2012 awards as he visited St. Elizabeth’s Primary School in Hamilton, home of the UK Teacher of the Year Christine Emmett and winner of Teacher of the Year category at last year’s Scottish awards.

Commenting on the awards, Dr Allan said, “The Scottish Education Awards are a fantastic opportunity for us to celebrate the hard work, innovation and excellence of standards of schools, teachers, headteachers and school communities across the country.”, adding “I would encourage people across the country to take some time to nominate and reward the local schools and education professionals that make learning a rich experience, nurturing and motivating our children and young people to increase their understanding and realise their ambitions.”

The awards are open to all publicly funded schools, including secondary, primary, nursery and special schools.  There are also categories to recognise and reward the dedication of teachers, head-teachers and support staff across Scotland.  

Two categories make their debut this year, with the addition of a Parents As Partners In Learning Award and the Gaelic Culture and Language in Learning Award

See a full list of the 16 categories you can nominate in here. For further information and to make a nomination visit the Scottish Education Awards website.

Awards latest:
For the latest updates on the Awards follow us via twitter or on our facebook page. The hash tag for discussion is #ScotEdAwards.

Related:
Scottish Education Awards 2012 – Awards Categories.

Nominations deadline:
The closing date for all categories is Friday 2nd March 2012.