Introduction to effective timetabling

This is an intensive, 3-day secondary school timetabling course for those becoming involved in constructing the school timetable for the first time or those who need an overview of the basics of the theory and practice of timetabling, particularly with a focus on Curriculum for Excellence.

'How Good is our School 4' states that the school curriculum should have a clear vision of the school and its community. The needs of the learner should be at the centre of curriculum design and development. The school timetable is the vehicle which supports the delivery of an effective curriculum. The skills of the timetabler are key to bringing any curriculum design to fruition.

Programme summary

The course will:

develop timetablers' basic skills and the techniques required to produce a secondary school timetable
provide a series of in-depth practical exercises based around a real school timetable and real curriculum designs
promote efficiency within timetabling
provide an opportunity to share curriculum structures and development ideas with fellow timetablers
introduce techniques that can widen curricular offerings to learners
demonstrate software that supports the timetabling process

Who the course is for

headteachers
senior school managers
principal teachers
business managers
staff with a keen interest in learning how to timetable

Course information

We run three courses each year, in November, December and January. Each course lasts for 3 days (Wed - Fri).

There will be 20 places available for the online course and 25 places for each of the in-person courses.

We are currently confirming the course dates for 2025/26.

Fee

The course fee is £580.

Booking terms

Course fees are non-refundable. The Professional Learning Office operates a cancellation policy to ensure that delegates are not disadvantaged by the last-minute cancellation of courses due to withdrawals making the course unviable.

We will use your personal data to allow us to process your registration, communicate with you and obtain your feedback about this course. We are processing the information about you for these purposes because by registering for the course you give your consent for us to do so.

We will not share information about you with third parties.

We will hold the personal data you provided us for 12 months after course completion. If you have agreed to be contacted about future events, we will hold your personal data for as long as you subscribe to these updates. Financial data such as a payment record will be held for 7 years. We do not use profiling or automated decision-making processes.

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Paying the course fee

By invoice

If your employer or local authority is providing payment of your course fee, please ensure that the following information is included in the booking form:

Name and postal address of organisation which will be making the payment
Purchase order number
Email address to which our invoice should be sent

Any copies of purchase orders should be sent to professionallearning@ed.ac.uk

By credit card

Credit card payments can be made by ePay.

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For further information:

Email the Professional Learning Team

Booking

Booking is not yet available.

Please fill out the notes of interest form below if you would like to be notified once booking has opened:

Notes of interest - Timetabling 25/26

Student testimonials

Engaging delivery, content was excellent, and I feel I have a solid grounding in the theory and basic application of timetabling

It provides me with the confidence to create a timetable when the time comes.

Inclusion of practical exercises was extremely helpful.

Thank you for managing to condense a huge process into 3 days in a useful and clear manner.

This article was published on 2024-10-07