The first groups of some 5000 candidates from the head teacher training programme will graduate over the next few weeks. They will receive the National Professional Qualification for Headteachers which is awarded by the National College for School Leadership. The leadership programme was launched in Autumn 2000 and is being run at ten regional centres. It takes between 6 months and two years to complete according to candidates previous experience. A new round of applications for the programme starts today.The programe is made up of three elements. The residential training challenges thinking about current practice and provides experience in dealing with different scenarios. The information and communication technology element gives access to the online community ‘Virtual Heads’ which allows candidates to get a wide range of views and to network with colleagues from across the country. The school-based assessment deals with the practicalities of leadership.
Robert J Kirk and Anthony P Wall.The Private Finance Initiative -PFI- was launched by the United Kingdom Government in 1992 in order to encourage the private sector in the UK to become more involved in public sector development projects. A key theme of the initiative was that the public should receive ‘value for money’. This article investigates the accounting issue as to whether or not the private or the public sector should record any property related to PFI projects on balance sheet. It argues that although both HM Treasury and the Accounting Standards Board (ASB- might agree on the accounting principles, the practical impact is that in order for related properties to stay off the public sector’s balance sheet, substantial risk needs to be transferred to the private sector. As a consequence of this, the objective of providing value for money to the public may not be achieved.