Education Scotland News by Education Scotland

SLF Special Focus on... tackling inequality.

EDUCATION

New magazine for everyone involved SCOTLAND NEWS in education...

Focus on Inequality in Education

Update on Inspection and Review

Useful Things to know about us

new resources, events and much more

AUTUMN 2014

EDUCATION SCOTLAND

Contents A word from

A Focus on tackling inequality in education

Education Scotland’s focus on closing the equality gap

Inspection and review

Families, Inclusion and Local Authorities

School Years

Lifelong Learning

CURRICULUM, LEARNING, TEACHING, ASSESSMENT AND SUPPORT (CLTAS) FORUMS Useful information on Education Scotland

Bill Maxwell

Hello and welcome to the first edition of a new magazine that aims to bring you the latest news on how Education Scotland is working to improve outcomes for Scottish learners across all education sectors.

It’s now over three years since Education Scotland was created as Scotland’s new integrated national improvement agency for education and I’m committed, as head of this exciting new agency, to ensuring that we communicate effectively with our wide range of stakeholders about everything we are doing. The launch of this new magazine reflects that commitment. In Education Scotland we are aiming to create new ways of working in partnership with educators across all education sectors in order to deliver improved lifelong learning outcomes for all. We provide an integrated improvement service because we promote actively the development and spread of high quality teaching and learning approaches whilst also evaluating and reporting impartially on the quality of education provision and the success of national policy in practice through our inspection work. We work closely with many other education bodies as well as with Scottish Ministers and policy colleagues within the Scottish Government.

We have created this new magazine to help keep you up to speed with key developments across the full range of our work. Each edition will have a special focus to help share best practice and knowledge on a specific topic. This edition focuses on inequity in educational outcomes and what we’re doing to help drive it out of the system. I’m sure you’ll agree this is an extremely important issue which affects everyone involved in education to some degree. You’ll also find a range of updates from across our main areas of activity here at Education Scotland. For example, there’s information on the School Improvement Partnership Programme, designed to promote new styles of collaborative improvement working across education establishments, and you’ll also find information on what’s happening with inspection, including a look ahead to the long-term review of future inspection strategy which is about to take place. Community Learning and Development also features in this edition and we look forward to the exciting developments we are promoting in that sector in the year ahead. I hope you enjoy reading our new magazine. I should also highlight that we also provide a range of other more targeted methods of spreading information and communication, so please do also look at the section in this magazine which lists our full range of complimentary email bulletins, each focusing on more specific subjects and topics. Do sign up to any of interest so you can stay up-to-date with the very latest in resources, support and events. We are going through exciting times in Scottish education and, whatever your interest, as parent, learner or professional stakeholder, I look forward to working with you to achieve success for Scottish learners in the years ahead.

Bill Maxwell, Chief Executive

A FOCUS ON

John Carnochan

Tackling

Consultant in Knowledge Exchange

Inequality

“Reducing the attainment gap is necessary, it’s feasible and it’s also measureable” Jim McCormick, Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

The proposition that we should help our children be all they can be is easy to agree. The evidence supporting the need to raise attainment in schools for all our children is cast iron. Maximizing achievement for our children is what parents want to do and it’s what schools and teachers want to do. Already several national policies and strategies have been introduced to make that happen. Getting it Right for Every Child, Curriculum for Excellence, Opportunities for All and the Early Years Framework together provide a great foundation to help realise our ambitions.

Knowledge into action What are we doing? Addressing issues of inequality in education is a complex area and a key focus for Education Scotland. We have recently established an Analytical Services team bringing together research and statistical expertise to support educators in their work. Through doing this, we believe we can contribute to building new insights and a shared Average Tariff Scores of understanding of the issues affecting Scottish education. School Leavers by SIMD, 2007/08 to 2012/13

Average Tariff Scores of School Leavers by SIMD 2007/08 to 2012/13

KEY

600

most deprived 20% least deprived 20%

500

400 Score

Average tariff scores are an overall measure of attainment calculated for each young person based on their total attainment when leaving school. The scores are calculated using the Unified Points Score System.

300 200 100

2007/08

2008/09

2009/10

2010/11

2011/12

2012/13

Year

One of the most important issues in Scottish education today is the impact of poverty and deprivation on learners. This is highlighted by both national data and published research. For instance, national data published in June 20141 on average tariff scores and the Scottish Survey of Literacy and Numeracy2 highlight that pupils living in the most deprived areas are less likely to do well in comparison to their peers living in less deprived areas. Recent findings from the Growing up in Scotland3 study also draw attention to the poorer outcomes faced by children from deprived areas. Additionally, there is also evidence that adults who live in the most deprived areas are more likely to face serious literacy challenges4. Research shows the complex nature of the link between poverty and deprivation and educational outcomes. We are aware of the factors which are important, but we need to know more about how and why they matter, and how they combine to shape individual learners’ experiences. Education Scotland’s analytical services programme aims to ensure that our research, analysis and evaluation helps

OBE QPM FFPH

us to increase our understanding of the ways in which poverty and deprivation can lead to poorer educational outcomes for some learners. This will contribute to the ongoing development of effective solutions. Communicating the findings of our work is a priority to ensure that research and analysis really do have relevance for practice. We hope to provide you with an update on this work in future issues of this newsletter and we look forward to working together to help address issues which negatively impact on education in Scotland. In the meantime, if you have any questions relating to this area of research, please contact us at analyticalservices@educationscotland.gsi.gov.uk 1. 2. 3. 4.

We know there are children in our schools who do not achieve their full potential and most come from disadvantaged backgrounds. Some will be living in poverty, there will be looked after children or children with additional support needs. There can be gender differences and wider issues of inequality and some will be living in difficult family circumstances. The Raising Attainment for All programme aims to ‘do what it says on the tin’ by using the lessons learned from health improvement science and the work of the Early Years Collaborative. I’m not a scientist but the idea of working with those on the front line - teachers - to make small meaningful improvements makes sense and it works. It’s all too easy to presume, as we often do, that teachers have the sole responsibility for Education. James Heckman is an Economist and Nobel Laureate, he said this about schools,

“A major determinant of successful schools is successful families. Schools work with what parents bring them. They operate more effectively if parents reinforce them by encouraging and motivating children.” The report ‘Closing the Attainment Gap in Scottish Education’ commissioned by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation listed several effective approaches, and parental involvement is one. It will not always be easy as some of the parents we must work with will have been school pupils who did not • Scottish Government (2014), achieve their own potential. So as well as improving Summary Statistics for attainment, attainment one child at a time we might also need Leaver Destinations and Healthy Living, No 4 to think about doing it one family at a time, that’s 2014, Edition real partnership. • Scottish Government (2014) Scottish Survey of The prize is a Scotland that is the best Literacy and Numeracy 2013, (Numeracy) place in the world to go to school. We all conform to expectations but we need to • Growing up in Scotland give some children a new expectation, an expectation of hope, to be the best they • Scottish Survey of Adult Literacies 2009 can be.

Useful Links

Scottish Government (2014) Summary Statistics for Attainment, Leaver Destinations and Healthy Living, No 4 2014 Edition Scottish Government (2014) Scottish Survey of Literacy and Numeracy 2013 (Numeracy) Growing up in Scotland, 2014 Scottish Government (2009) Scottish Survey of Adult Literacies 2009

Education Scotland’s focus on

Closing the

Equality Gap

Improving early learning

Investing in the early years of a child’s life is crucial to developing strong and resilient children and young people and can help prevent problems later on.

Identifying and driving strategies to improve attainment in literacy and numeracy

Skills in literacy and numeracy are key to accessing all other learning, achievement and employment.

Promoting social and emotional wellbeing

Ensuring children and young people are included, engaged and involved, promoting positive relationships and behaviour and supporting children’s wellbeing.

Providing high quality learning and teaching

Increasing levels of physical activity and healthy eating are important in tackling health inequalities. Those living in deprived communities have a higher risk of developing preventable ill-health.

OECD to visit Scotland The review aims to focus on education outcomes and the skills developed in basic education by considering the Broad General Education phase (from P1 up to the end of S3) delivered by schools, and how this is preparing young people for progression to the Senior Phase (S4-S6).

these be improved? Attainment refers not only to exam performance, but also to key skills for life and work, including literacy, numeracy and other abilities across the four capacities, according to evidence available.

The review will address the following questions: •

How is the Scottish education system performing in terms of attainment and achievement, and how can

•

Curriculum for Excellence, the Early Years Collaborative, Getting It Right For Every Child, Teaching Scotland’s Future and the Post-16 Widening Access agenda provide the framework for focus on closing the equity gap and raising attainment for all children and young people.

How can the education system achieve more equitable outcomes across the social spectrum?

The review will take a comparative approach, building on evidence and experience of education systems which have undergone major curricular reforms, and/or which have shown progress in improving performance, including numeracy, or improved equity of outcomes.

Education has an important role in improving the wellbeing and life chances of our children and young people by mitigating the effects of socioeconomic disadvantage. Key to this is ensuring a strong focus on early intervention and prevention. Working in partnership with children and young people, their parents, communities and services is fundamental in ensuring approaches are designed to meet individual and local needs. A wide range of approaches is being taken forward both nationally and locally to support practitioners across all sectors in prioritising their focus on closing the equity gap.

Engaging families and communities

Promoting use of evidence and data to evaluate and improve closing the gap in educational outcomes

Promoting healthy lifestyles and tackling health inequalities

Providing high quality learning and teaching is likely to result in better outcomes for all children and young people but particularly for those from disadvantaged backgrounds . High quality feedback supported by quality dialogue helps learners develop an understanding of their learning and what they need to do to improve their progress and achievements.

The OECD will be visiting Scotland next year to find out how well we are getting on with implementing Curriculum for Excellence.

Education Scotland’s Corporate Plan 2013-16 places a high priority on improving high-quality and equitable outcomes for all. The vision has a strong focus on improving outcomes in ways which seek to eliminate the inequity which currently exists amongst learners from different backgrounds and from particular vulnerable groups.

Helping parents to support their children’s learning and having high shared ambition, aspirations and expectations are important strategies in raising attainment. Working with community planning partnerships to address the impact of deprivation helps ensure a shared commitment across services.

Using a wide range of evidence and data, including Insight, the new online benchmarking tool, is essential to support the identification of those children and young people not fully realising their potential and to inform all improvement work.

Providing focus and support targeted to needs and abilities

Developing employability skills and improving positive and sustained destinations

Identifying and addressing barriers to engagement and learning, in line with Additional Support Needs legislation and Getting it Right for Every Child, contributes to improving the life chances of our most vulnerable learners.

Preparing children and young people for the world of work and employment gives a firm foundation for their future. Opportunities for All, Modern Apprenticeships and Developing Scotland’s Workforce are all important initiatives in ensuring all young people participate in postschool learning, training and employment.

Developing professional learning and leadership at all levels

Promoting and participating in professional learning and developing practice as a result has the greatest impact on improving outcomes for learners. Leadership is central to education quality. Education leaders need to ensure a strong focus and commitment to tackling inequality and promoting professional values and personal commitment to social justice.

Working with partners to explore new and innovative approaches to tackling inequality

Promoting innovation and new partnering arrangements, including the School Improvement Partnership Programme and the Raising Attainment for All Programme, is ensuring the use of the education system’s collective expertise, knowledge and skills to maximum impact with a focus on addressing inequality in education outcomes.

Conducting research into the equity gap

Collecting and promoting the use of knowledge and research to provide succinct and easily accessible advice for practitioners and professional learning communities supports the development of an understanding of the impact of deprivation and effective ways of minimising its impact.

Inspection & Review

Subscribe to FREE email updates Education Scotland offers a number of free email updates and news alerts to keep you informed of the latest developments and events in Scottish education. Simply select which updates you would like to receive and provide your name and email address. You can subscribe to as many as you like. Headteacher and Local Authority A monthly email for headteachers providing the latest news, key information, new resources and support materials. CfE Implementation A monthly update providing you with the latest CfE support materials, information and links to help support practitioners.

Inspection Advice Note

Review of inspection

how good is our school?

The Inspection Advice Note for session 2014-2015, which is published on the Education Scotland website, supports colleagues involved in early learning and childcare settings, school, and learning community inspections from August 2014. It sets out an adjustment in expectations, in line with national Curriculum for Excellence implementation expectations, for HM Inspectors’ evaluation of Quality Indicator (QI) 5.1 (The Curriculum) and QI 5.9 (Improvement through self-evaluation).

We have just started a review of our approaches to inspection across all sectors to ensure that inspection continues to make a positive contribution to improvements in the performance of educational establishments and services. This review is seeking to explore what inspection might look like in 3-5 years’ time. All stakeholder groups will be involved in the consultation process, and as part of this we are organising a series of Conversation Days over the next few months to which local authority representatives will be invited. As the review progresses we will keep you informed via our website and other communication channels.

How Good Is Our school? (HGIOS) presents a set of indicators for school self-evaluation, organised within a quality framework, which is the same as the framework used by early learning and childcare settings, education authorities and children’s services. The current (third) edition was published in 2007 and, since 2012, has been supplemented by a series of Inspection Advice Notes which have taken account of increased expectations arising from annual national implementation plans for Curriculum for Excellence.

We recognise 2014-2015 as a year of consolidation when many of the priorities identified in the Inspection Advice Note for 2013-2014 remain work in progress. The advice note therefore contains only minimal change from the 2013-2014 version. It is supplemented by toolkits for evaluating the Broad General Education in S1-S3 (June 2014), and at the primary stages (September 2014).

Planning is underway to create a new evaluation framework for schools (HGIOS 4). The new framework will be developed in conjunction with the work on developing future models of inspection. It will be published in the autumn of 2015. Child at the Centre will also be revised to take account of the HGIOS Framework and the new guidance on the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014.

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Families, Inclusion and Local Authorities Families

Director’s update We are really pleased to be able to share with you all the latest from the Families, Inclusion and Local Authorities teams in our new newsletter. It’s been a very busy year so far with lots to look forward to in the coming months. Our various teams have been working together on some exciting projects, some of which you can learn more about here. The directorate has a strong focus on the effects of inequity on learner outcomes, from specific work on inclusion, to working with families to support children’s learning, to promoting and supporting work in local authorities. I would like to wish you all the very best for the year ahead, no doubt it is going to be an interesting and busy one.

Early Learning and Childcare settings We are continuing to undertake shared inspections with the Care Inspectorate. Details can be found on our website. This autumn sees the implementation of the Early Learning and Childcare commitments from the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014. For the first time there will be an entitlement to early learning and childcare for certain two year olds, as well an extension to 600 hours for 3-5 year olds. The National Practice Guidance on Early Learning and Childcare: Building the Ambition was published in August and Education Scotland is working with Scottish Government, the Care Inspectorate and national partners to develop a training pack which will complement the guidance. Keep a check on our website for updates. Glow users can also access the Early Learning and Childcare professional learning community. Parentzone Scotland We are redeveloping the Parentzone website to give it a fresh look and feel, as well as updating the information that is available on the website. The site contains all sorts of information that you may find useful from resources to support learning at home, to information on career pathways which may help in planning for the future. Click here to sign up for our regular email bulletin parents and carers.

Alastair Delaney, Chief Operating Officer, formerly Strategic Director for Families, Inclusion and Local Authorities.

School Improvement Partnership Programme We are working with local authorities and university researchers to broker and facilitate partnership projects within and across schools and local authorities as part of the School Improvement Partnership Programme (SIPP). SIPP projects are part of an action research programme involving a process of collaborative inquiry which creates leadership opportunities and professional learning. The programme encourages staff to learn from each other, experiment with their practice and monitor and evaluate change. The partnerships aim to develop a shared commitment to improving outcomes and raising attainment for all children and young people, particularly for those from the most deprived backgrounds. A key feature of the SIPP is the evaluation support being provided by researchers from the Robert Owen Centre at Glasgow University. The evaluation report of this first stage of the programme is planned for autumn 2014. The next stage of the SIPP will build on the findings of the evaluation of the programme.

Local Authorities Inclusion We are working with a range of education providers in providing career-long professional learning in universal and targeted support entitlements, preventative work with a focus on improving the life chances of our most vulnerable learners and supporting implementation of GIRFEC. The new GIRFEC self–evaluation tool developed by the Scottish Government and Education Scotland is designed to fit within the overall evaluative framework used within educational establishments. It can be used at whole school, at departmental or stage level to gauge how well GIRFEC approaches are improving outcomes for all children. We are also assisting local authorities in reviewing and developing their policies and practices for inclusion and delivering children and young people’s rights and entitlements to support with a particular emphasis on promoting positive relationships and ethos in

Local Partnership Agreements

light of the new guidance in Better Relationships, Better Learning, Better Behaviour.

Area Lead Officers We have a team of Area Lead Officers (ALOs) who maintain an overview of the work of local authorities in carrying out their education functions. Each local authority has a link ALO. The ALO acts as the main point of contact between the local authority and Education Scotland. They carry out a wide range of activities, including: visiting schools; meeting with groups of headteachers; attending events; and meeting with senior staff in their link local authorities. Part of their work includes working alongside local authority staff to support approaches to improvement and selfevaluation.

We are developing Local Partnership Agreements with local authorities. Local Partnership Agreements involve ALOs working with local authorities to agree a tailored package of activity, which will help improve outcomes for learners. Thereafter, teams across Education Scotland work with local authority staff to deliver customised support based on identified needs. Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010 We have been working in partnership with the Scottish Government and the Association of Directors of Education Scotland to develop a self-evaluation toolkit to help improve the quality of educational benefits statements within proposals taken forward by local authorities under the terms of the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010 as amended. The self-evaluation toolkit can be found on Education Scotland’s website.

News in brief • We are working with partners, including the National Parent Forum of Scotland (NPFS) and the Scottish Parent Teacher Council (SPTC) to support parents and educators to work more effectively together. This year, the Scottish Learning Festival is welcoming parents and carers to a brand new Parents Connect area. Hosted by the NPFS and the SPTC you can ask questions, meet the experts and hear seminars. • NPFS has lots of useful information, resources and details on their national conference. • Applications are being sought for the Access to Education Fund. It aims to reduce the barriers to learning experienced by pupils from the most deprived areas. Closing date is 10 October. • A new batch of films available on our Journey to Excellence website, highlighting examples of good practice from schools to inspire practitioners. These cover the three areas of creativity, health and wellbeing, and religious and moral education.

School Years Primary

Director’s update Some of you will have had exams in your lives in one guise or another over the summer break; congratulations on all the hard work that went into these. This year is another important year for the introduction of the new National Qualifications, as we move into the second year of the Nationals being examined as well as the first round of exams for the new Highers. Our school inspections are showing that across centres the new curriculum is having a positive impact on learners. As we move ahead with the embedding of the new curriculum, we will continue to work with other educational bodies and you to ensure we are responding to your needs and building on the programme of support already in place. This term sees a series of leadership events taking place for primary headteachers, which will focus on the curriculum and the ongoing embedding in primary schools. These will take place at various locations across the country through to October and I look forward to seeing some of you there. Please remember to sign up for the new email bulletins relevant to your area of work and interest.

This term brings some exciting activity in the world of primary education. September sees the launch of the Primary Broad General Education Toolkit. This online resource will help support primary schools in evaluating and developing aspects of their curriculum. At the end of last term we published the Primary Language Learning framework for P2-P7. The framework contains advice and support for practitioners who are introducing, or planning to introduce, the teaching of a modern language from P1-P7. It contains learning maps to aid planning for teaching the first modern language (L2), as well as an overview of the essential Knowledge about Language required for children to progress in their language learning. There are film clips of primary language teaching, sound files of useful classroom language, progression grids and useful web links to support practitioners in their preparation and delivery of a contextualised modern language experience.

Top 5 Resources for Primary 1. A 1+2 Approach to Modern Languages 2. Quality Assurance and Moderation Professional Learning Resource 3. Tigtag Science- available to all primary schools via Glow 4. SSLN Professional Learning Resources for Numeracy 5. Skills in Practice Resource

of visits and conferences to support leadership of the Senior Phase, have shown many strengths. There are also aspects where many schools have identified a need for further improvement: • • • • • •

For each of these aspects, this resource provides: • • •

key features of effective provision; some questions to help you weigh up strengths and aspects for improvement in your school; and suggestions for possible sources of evidence.

We are offering practical assistance to early learning and childcare settings, schools and local authorities to address the issues involved with unnecessary bureaucracy. Our assessment team, working closely with the SQA, has provided advice to support practitioners’ understanding and confidence in assessment. We have reviewed our website and ensured that advice and support materials are easier to find through the Key Curriculum Support tool which will soon have a dedicated section containing all the information you need about tackling bureaucracy. This will include examples of good practice in tackling bureaucracy, advice on monitoring and tracking progress and key messages on assessment. We will continue to challenge evidence of excessive bureaucracy through our inspection process, advice on which can be found in the latest Inspection Advice Note.

Route Maps for Higher In partnership with the SQA we have also published Route Maps for all Higher qualifications, which provide a sequenced list of main messages and links to resources. These route maps have been produced in response to teacher requests for more streamlined and simplified guidance on delivering the new qualifications. They aim to consolidate current approaches and help practitioners reflect on their processes this year and prepare for next year. They cover subject specific material to over-arching information on assessment and verification.

Top 5 Resources for Secondary

Secondary Graeme Logan Strategic Director for School Years

rationale for your curriculum S3 experience aspects of the curriculum that are the ‘responsibility of all’ staff monitoring and tracking progress universal support transitions

Tackling Bureaucracy

We recently launched a new resource Evaluating and Improving our Curriculum S1-S3, which provides a clear and concise ‘toolkit’ to help secondary schools evaluate their curriculum.

2. 3.

It draws together key aspects of advice related to Curriculum for Excellence and self-evaluation. Inspections and other engagements with secondary school staff, including a series

1. Quality Assurance and Moderation Professional Learning Resource Supporting Learners Senior Phase Core Physical Education Resource Implementing Curriculum for Excellence in the Senior Phase Support for new national qualifications on Glow

News in brief • Have you checked out Glow recently? It is evolving, developing and improving to meet the needs of learners and teachers and offers a first class digital environment for learning. The new Glow environment is available now with replacement blogs, wikis and other services appearing over the next few months. Don’t forget there’s lots of other information, resources and helpful content there that could make life easier for you. Learners and educators can use it to connect and collaborate. Each term we have a wealth of interesting events and Glow Meets taking place so keep an eye out for them too. World War I features heavily this term so you’ll have the chance to join some great GlowMeets around this topic. You can get more info at Glow Connect. You can sign up to receive updates at Glow. • A group was set up earlier this year to consider the experiences of the first session of the new CfE qualifications. The group was asked to suggest actions which would benefit all parts of the education system as we move to the second year of the qualifications. Find out more about the Reflections Group Report. • The National Parent Forum of Scotland has published a new Highers in a Nutshell series following on from the popularity of their Nationals in a Nutshell series.

Lifelong Learning Teacher Education

Director’s update Education Scotland works to promote and improve learning opportunities for all, throughout their lives. Lifelong Learning supports individuals, families and communities to tackle real issues that they face, daily, through learning and action. In the college sector, our review and capacity building activities are providing a central element of support and challenge as colleges develop within the new regional arrangements. This will include, of course, an appropriate focus on the role colleges will play in implementing recommendations from the Commission for Developing Scotland’s Young Workforce and ensuring young people have skills relevant to modern employment opportunities. Our work in teacher education is helping to place career-long professional learning within the framework of lifelong learning for practitioners. Through support for a range of initiatives the directorate is helping to improve opportunities for teachers to access the professional learning they need to build their skills and expertise. We are all well aware of the links between deprivation and attainment. Whilst many answers lie within early years, school and college settings, CLD has a significant role to play in closing this gap. Through the new CLD Regulations 2013 that we developed and published and our developments in youth work and adult learning, Education Scotland has led a step-change in the clarity of ambitions for CLD and an energy and sense of purpose for the sector that will provide guidance over the coming years. The impact of lifelong learning is extensive. Learning means different things to different people at different stages but one thing is certain, it can mean lifechanging possibilities both for individuals and for their communities, given the right level of support and encouragement.

Our Teacher Education team is continuing to take forward the recommendations of Teaching Scotland’s Future: A Review of Teacher Education in Scotland. We work closely with national partners including the Scottish Government, the General Teaching Council for Scotland, the Scottish Teacher Education Committee, the Scottish College for Educational Leadership, local authorities and professional associations. We are focusing on enabling teachers at all stages of their careers to improve their practice and impact in a more positive way on children and young people. The team provides resources, advice and guidance on professional learning and leadership through capacity building, engagement across the profession and publication of key materials. These materials can be accessed through the Education Scotland online service.

Key resources include: •

•

I look forward to the year ahead and all the activity we have planned, more of which you find out about here. • Alan Armstrong Strategic Director for Lifelong Learning

Career-long professional learning (CLPL) which builds on current strengths of CPD and extends the concept of the enhanced professional. Mentoring Matters which is an online resource to support educators as they selfevaluate the quality of their coaching and mentoring Revised National Guidance on Professional Review and Development (PRD) which supports effective PRD and the positive engagement of teachers, headteachers and system leaders in the PRD process Guidance for aspiring teachers and those in the early phase of their careers

We also support the work of the National CLPL Network in delivering three key events a year. We lead on the delivery of the national Flexible Routes to Headship programme which involves

aspiring headteachers from 16 local authorities. Over the next few months, members of the team will be engaging with colleagues in schools, local authorities and professional associations through a variety of events and presenting seminars at the Scottish Learning Festival.

CLD We provide advice, leadership and support to develop CLD policies and improve CLD practice in Scotland as well as undertaking inspection and review activity to ensure high standards and quality. Key initiatives developed this year include implementation of Our Ambitions for Improving the Life Chances of Young People in Scotland: National Youth Work Strategy 2014 2019 and the Statement of Ambition for Adult Learning in Scotland. We are also assessing the quality of the developing opportunities for 16+ young people in education, training and employment with a particular focus on supporting the learning experiences of young people in custodial care.

College Over the past two years, Scotland’s colleges have undergone radical change which has involved the merger of many local colleges into regional colleges. The Post-16 Education (Scotland) Act 2013 altered the status of colleges to public bodies, bringing with it significant changes in college governance. This period of change has impacted on the external quality arrangements and activities implemented in colleges by Education Scotland. Over this session, we are continuing to carry out external reviews, annual engagement visits and aspect reports across the college sector on behalf of the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council (SFC). It contracts with Education Scotland to provide these assurances for colleges and with the Quality Assurance Agency Scotland (QAA) for universities. Education Scotland and SFC, along with the sector, are also considering the next model of quality assurance. This is likely to centre around a validated self-evaluation approach. Whatever the final model looks like, it will represent a radical change in the way we review colleges and provide public assurance of quality. Our Showcase for Excellence highlights

examples of excellence that have been obtained during annual engagement visits, college external review and aspect report activities.

Post-16 News With the recent publication of the Education Working for All! report from the Commission for Developing Scotland’s Young Workforce, we will be working with external partners to deliver outcomes and recommendations. Work is well advanced in a number of new post-16 developments, which align with and support the Commission’s report. These include: •

External review of Careers Information, Advice and Guidance (CIAG) services. We are commencing the review programme with five pilot reviews, two of which have already taken place (in Argyll and Bute and West Lothian) and are published. A further three reviews, as well as one aspect task (My World of Work) will take place this year.

•

External review of the off-the-job training element of Modern Apprentice Programmes and the Employability Fund. These review programmes are in development, again in partnership with SDS and the Scottish Government. They are likely to commence in April 2015.

What to expect in 2014-2015 • Support to partners implementing the CLD Strategic Guidance and the Requirements for CLD (Scotland) Regulations 2013 • Delivery of the CLD Innovation and Improvement Fund • Support to Strategic Funding Partnerships • Roll out of the Curriculum for Excellence implementation plan • Offender learning project with the Scottish Prison Service • National priorities outlined in Adult Literacies In Scotland 2020 delivered • A refresh of the national ESOL strategy • A pilot of How Good is Our Third Sector Organisation? and How Good is our Culture and Sport? initiatives • College sector aspect tasks; engineering, CfE, employability, partial success 15

A fresh, new approach to keeping the curriculum relevant: CLTAS FORUMS

Provides a variety of professional learning opportunities Is home to the largest education exhibition in Scotland

September 2014

Gives you access to world renowned keynote speakers

We are establishing national Curriculum, Learning, Teaching, Assessment and Support (CLTAS) forums whose purpose is to secure, consolidate and embed improvements to the curriculum, learning, teaching, assessment and support, and to maintain their relevance to deliver high-quality outcomes for all learners.

We are excited about establishing Curriculum, Learning, Teaching, Assessment and Support (CLTAS) forums. The purpose of these forums is ‘to secure, consolidate and embed improvements to the curriculum, learning, teaching, assessment and support, and maintain their relevance for all learners and ensure they are capable of delivering high-quality learner outcomes’. Over the last year we have consulted widely with many groups who have a stake in education and all are agreed that the outcomes sought by Curriculum for Excellence can be the means to keeping learning relevant well into the future. We are also all agreed that the partnership culture which is at the heart of Scottish education, not least since the national curriculum debate in 2002, should be at the core of the way the forums work, thereby involving everyone who has a stake in learning in maintaining its relevance. The forums, led by our Senior Education Officers, are being created in a different way to previous working groups and committees. We are using an innovative approach based on our understanding of futures planning. Nominations from a wide range of partners and stakeholders have been sought and those who join the forums will have key strengths and sound experience. The forums will design their ways of widening their engagement, in ways which best meet the needs of the communities they serve. They will seek to address one of the challenges facing education systems around the world when bringing about significant curriculum reform – that of ensuring we continue to meet the needs of learners in the system whilst change is underway. The forums will use Scottish education’s unique approach to making change happen by using the three perspectives of looking

Brings together thousands of educational practitioners

2 DAYS IS JUST NOT ENOUGH! NEW SLF EVENTS PLANNED THROUGHOUT THE YEAR

inwards, looking outwards, and looking forwards. Everyone involved agrees that, if we succeed in making the forums work well, then the need for major educational reform of the sort we have seen every few years in the past is likely to be reduced.

The implementation of the first group of forums: Digital Learning (19th September)

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Expressive Arts (19th September)

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Middle Years ‘8-16’ (22nd September)

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Mathematics and Numeracy (30th October)

The implementation of the first group of forums (Digital Learning, Expressive Arts, Middle Years ‘8-16’, Mathematics and Numeracy) is now underway and some meetings have already taken place. Once fully established they will include learners and their parents, teachers, headteachers, associations, employers and industry, Education authority staff, communities, post 16 education providers, researchers, and a range of partner services, amongst others. They have the potential to have a significant impact on the way educational relevance is maintained in the future. We will bring you further news of these forums in future. If you would like to know more, please contact customer services - enquiries@educationscotland.gov.uk.

BRINGING PROFESSIONAL LEARNING TO YOU SLF extra: SLF in Dumfries and Galloway September 2014: Taking place during SLF in September, includes live coverage of the Cabinet Secretary and Alma Harris keynotes SLF extra: EIS leadership event November 2014: Half day conference open to all practitioners in partnership with Education Scotland and the University of the West of Scotland Leadership theme with input from SLF 2014 keynote Alma Harris SLF extra: Lothian’s Learning Festival November 2014, January 2015 and March 2015: Friday afternoon learning events with themes from SLF 2014 SLF extra: Aberdeen Learning Festival February 2015: Brings together a range of professionals for high quality professional learning Provides opportunities to share practice and network SLF extra: SLS transitions event March 2015: Conference open to all practitioners in partnership with Education Scotland SLF extra: AHDS leadership event Spring 2015: Full day conference open to all practitioners in partnership with Education Scotland SLF extra: Children in Scotland November 2014 – March 2015: Six regional development days across Scotland Themes include young people as leaders, pupil and parent engagement and lifeskills partnerships For more information on all these events visit

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EDUCATION SCOTLAND Education Scotland is the key national agency for promoting improvement in the quality and effectiveness of education.

We are Scotland’s national improvement agency for education.

aberdeen

Our work covers the full range of education provision in Scotland for all learners in: • • • • • • • • •

Education Scotland Customer Services

Senior Education Officers Our Senior Education Officers (SEOs) play a key role in ensuring that everyone who has a stake in curriculum, learning, teaching and assessment can become involved in sharing approaches, contributing ideas, and in guiding future change in a manageable and effective way. Each SEO will take a lead role in the new CLTAS Forums that have been established to keep the curriculum relevant into the future. • SEOs appointed in curriculum and sectoral areas • Working with subject specialist teams • Leading on new CLTAS Forums

Our Customer Services team is here to help you with any enquiry you may have around our work or wider aspects of education. You can contact us either by telephone or email and we are committed to providing a high quality professional service which satisfies all customer enquiries by providing clear, consistent, accurate and prompt information. • • • •

Contact us by telephone or email Answering your queries professionally and promptly Committed to a high quality service Providing the answer to your questions

Contact this team via: enquiries@ educationscotland.gov.uk

TEL 0141 282 5000

Educational psychology services Primary, secondary and special schools Publicly and privately funded colleges Third sector organisations Community learning and development (CLD) Early Learning and Childcare settings Prison education Teacher education Independent schools

Dates for your diary September •

Update of CfE Implementation Plan 2014-15

Dundee

LIVINGSTON

clydebank glasgow

edinburgh

October • • •

10 October – deadline date for applications to Access to Education Fund 6 October - Moving Forward Together (discussion event on tackling sectarianism) Refresh of the English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Strategy for Scotland

November • •

School Improvement Partnership Programme evaluation report to be published Course Materials for National 1 and National 2 published

OUR OFFICES

Education Scotland has several offices across the country including Inverness, Aberdeen, Dundee, Clydebank, Edinburgh and Glasgow. Our headquarters is: Education Scotland Denholm House Almondvale Business Park Almondvale Way Livingston EH54 6GA