Education
Scotland
AUTUMN 2015
NEWS
New standard for Career
Education & Work Placements
– Back Page
Now available to download
FOCUS ON
DEVELOPING
THE YOUNG
WORKFORCE
THINKING
SENIOR
PHASE
LITERACY
CREATIVITY
EARLY
YEARS
Scottish Attainment Challenge
– Page 12
An interview with Dr Bill Maxwell
SECONDARY
ENTERPRISE
How good is our school?
(4th EDITION) – Page 9
New copy being distributed to
all schools
EMPLOYABILITY
PRIMARY
YEARS
NUMERACY
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CONTENTS:
A Word from Bill Maxwell
03
Developing the Young Workforce – One Year On
04
Developing the Young Workforce – News in Brief 05
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Career Education – a journey from 3-18
and beyond
06
Learning in the Workplace
08
The Future of Inspection and Review
09
How Good is Our School? 09
Preparing children and young people (3-18)
for the world of work
10
Scottish Attainment Challenge
12
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National Improvement Framework
13
http://bit.ly/1i2Vspu
Families, Inclusion and Local Authorities
14
School Years
16
Lifelong Learning
18
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02 Education Scotland NEWS
A Word from Bill Maxwell
WELCOME
Welcome to the third edition of Education Scotland News. In this issue we’ll focus on the
Developing the Young Workforce (DYW) agenda, which has grown at pace since the
publication of the Wood Commission report in June 2014.
Bill Maxwell
Chief Executive of
Education Scotland
Dr Bill Maxwell, as Chief
Executive, is responsible
to Scottish Ministers
for the management,
performance and future
development of Education
Scotland. Bill chairs an
internal management
board which comprises
non-executive directors
and the executive team of
Education Scotland. The
executive team supports
Bill in providing leadership
and direction.
In response to that report, the Scottish Government published its Youth Employment
Strategy with implementation plans covering a seven-year period. Education Scotland
has a strong role to play in delivering those plans working alongside a range of other
key partners. Important strands of this work will focus on improving work experience,
career advice and education in schools and colleges as well as a review of Modern
Apprenticeships, all with the aim of reducing youth unemployment by 40% by 2021.
Significant progress is already being made. For me, the actions we are taking forward
through the DYW programme are certainly a very natural progression of the development
of Curriculum for Excellence and, in particular, the guidance on skills contained in ‘Building
the Curriculum 4’. DYW places a strong focus on the development of employability skills
to build upon the foundations laid by CfE. This has naturally followed through to the DYW
team working closely with the CfE Implementation Group to make sure our plans for DYW
are fully integrated with coherent pathways and choices for children and young people
throughout Broad General Education and the senior phase.
One area ripe for improvement is getting more meaningful and productive school/employer
partnerships in place consistently across Scotland. To support this, overarching guidance on
school/employer partnerships has been developed by the Scottish Government with input from
ourselves and a wide range of other partners. This is underpinned by comprehensive standards
for career education and work placements, which we also recently published. Both sets of
standards have been co-created with a range of partners from inception, and children and young
people have been at the very centre of development. Over 300 young people have been involved
in producing these documents, shaping their design and testing the language and rationale.
We are running a series of learning events to support those with a key role in the implementation
of the programme. These events are designed to give them the opportunity to share and
shape our collective thinking; evaluate and build on existing activity to identify new learning
opportunities and to agree approaches and methods for development.
Of course, the work of DYW plays into a broader commitment to improving social equity
within Scottish society in general, and Scottish education in particular, an issue we
highlighted as a core priority in our own Corporate Plan. Against that background I was
delighted that the Scottish Government has launched the Scottish Attainment Challenge
(SAC), with major commitment of resources and sustained effort over a four-year period to
drive up attainment amongst young learners from our most disadvantaged communities.
Education Scotland will be playing an integral part in the delivery of the Attainment Challenge,
working closely with policy colleagues in the Scottish Government’s Learning Directorate and,
of course, with local authorities and schools. We have started the process of recruiting new
Attainment Advisors to work across all Scotland’s local authorities, and are already in detailed
discussion with the local authorities receiving funding in the first phase about their plans for action.
In this edition you’ll find out more about how we plan to support the implementation of both
DYW and the Scottish Attainment Challenge. If we can work collectively across Scottish
education to make a major impact through these two flagship programmes, we will go a
long way towards addressing some of the most persistent and intractable issues in our
system and making it possible for every young Scot to achieve their full potential, whatever
their background or ambitions
Bill Maxwell
Chief Executive of Education Scotland
Education Scotland NEWS
03
DEVELOPING
THE YOUNG
WORKFORCE –
ONE YEAR ON
One year on from the publication of the report
from the Commission for Developing Scotland’s
Young Workforce is a good time to pause and
reflect on how far we have travelled together to
achieve the ambitions set out in the report for
young people in Scotland. And to consider the
opportunities and challenges ahead.
Joan Mackay
Joan Mackay, DYW
Implementation Lead
(Schools)
Education Scotland
There has been an overwhelmingly positive
response to the report and the moral imperative
it sets out from the wide range of partners and
stakeholders who work with children and young
people. Across Scotland we are seeing a real
desire to find new and creative solutions.
Education Scotland’s role in supporting
implementation has been shaped by the
feedback from extensive engagement activities
with a wide range of partners and stakeholders.
Young people asked for improvements in work
experience. We made the development of the
new work placements standard a priority and
involved young people in its production. The
standard will be ready for use in September
2015. Parent organisations are working with
us to support new developments and to use
their networks to communicate with parents in
their communities. Practitioners asked us to
build on what was already in place, to support
partnership working and to share learning across
the country to help them develop local solutions
to this national challenge. We have worked
closely with groups such as Scottish Councils’
Enterprise in Education Network (SCEEN)
and the World of Work network to develop the
standards. Working with a range of national
partners we are faciltating a series of learning
events bringing together the enablers and
leaders across college regions who will make
change happen locally.
Early years and primary practitioners asked
that their involvement in the development of
Scotland’s young workforce be more explicit.
The career education standard sets out clearly
what children will learn about the world of work
from the early years onwards. We built stronger
working relationships with national partners
such as Skills Development Scotland to support
joint delivery of the changes needed. We have
asked employers to be part of an Education
Scotland external reference group.
The work we have done so far points us to the
need to make real progress with developing
a senior phase offer that meets the needs of
all our young people. In session 2015/16 we
will be intensifying our efforts to work with
schools, colleges and their partners to support
the development of the range of high quality
pathways that young people want and need.
We will share the learning from the most
recent and relevant school/college partnership
approaches that enable young people to begin
a vocational pathway as an integral part of their
senior phase curriculum. We will learn what
works best from newly emerging provision
such as the pathfinders for foundation and
advanced apprenticeships being developed
by Skills Development Scotland. We will work
closely with local authorities and schools as
they develop the work placement offer for
young people and the links between this,
career education and senior phase profiling.
The challenge requires cultural change and
structural change. It asks us to recognise what
could be, and to put our efforts into working
out how to get there.
04 Education Scotland NEWS
Developing the Young Workforce –
NEWS IN BRIEF
Over the coming months our Lifelong Learning team will
continue to focus on DYW to ensure that all young people,
up to age 24, have opportunities to engage in purposeful
and work-related learning across education and training.
In doing so we will be linking directly with a range of partners
and colleagues as the work progresses and have created a
number of formal groups, to help take forward the activity.
Our successful External Employers’ Reference Group has
met twice and, at the next meeting, will be discussing how
employers should engage in inspection and review, as well as
what they would like to see included in evaluative activities.
EXTERNAL REVIEW OF MODERN APPRENTICESHIP
(MA) OFF-THE-JOB TRAINING
The initial review of MAs, known as Pathfinder, was in the
engineering industry sector. The visits to nine colleges and
independent training providers (ITP) are now completed and the
review has been published at http://ow.ly/RkFaC.
The report uses evidence from the fieldwork visits to generate
grades and recommendations. The next review will encompass
Hairdressing MAs and will commence in October. After the pilot
year, Education Scotland will undertake three or four reviews
each year to cover the different industry MA frameworks.
DYW IN COLLEGE EXTERNAL REVIEWS
Education Scotland and Scottish Funding Council (SFC) have
significantly increased the focus on DYW and Employability
Skills in all college evaluative activities. This has been written
explicitly into the SLA between our two organisations, and it is
monitored closely by HMI on all visits to college.
CLD ASPECT REPORT
In early autumn, Education Scotland published an aspect report
on the CLD Sector’s contribution to Curriculum for Excellence in
the senior phase. The report and makes direct links to actions
taken by partners in schools, CLD, colleges and employers to
address Recommendation 13 of the report “Education Working
for All” http://ow.ly/RkFaC.
BUILDING THE CURRICULUM 4
Skills for learning, skills for life and skills for work are embedded
in the experiences and outcomes and the senior phase. They can
be developed and applied across learning and in different contexts.
Building the Curriculum 4 (BTC4) is part of the suite of Curriculum for
Excellence documents and it underpins learning and teaching
through early years onto lifelong learning.
The Career Education (3-18) Standard and the Work Placements
Standard have evolved from the key messages within BTC 4 together
with the work and the evidence underpinning the findings of the
Commission for Developing the Young Workforce.
All work being taken forward to develop the young workforce is key
to the full expression of a Curriculum for Excellence.
http://bit.ly/1NeCDNJ
Education Scotland NEWS
05
CAREER EDUCATION –
A JOURNEY FROM 3-18 AND BEYOND
As children and young people experience the curriculum they develop skills
that prepare them for the world of work.
What could such a journey look like?
“I am 3 and all I know about myself and the
world came from my family and the place I live.
In nursery I play lots. I can be a gardener and a
nurse and a dragon. Mr Kerr works in the nursery.
So do other people. They get money. They need
money to buy food.
We go to the shop and talk to the people there. A
lady came today and helped us to set up our own
shop. We will be selling pictures and cakes today.
My friends’ mums and dads and other grown-ups
come into nursery and tell us about their jobs. We
got to talk to a police officer last week.
I know what my parents’ jobs are – my mum works
on a computer and goes to meetings and my dad
counts people’s money.
“Next year I will go to secondary school. I
know what kind of jobs interest me right now
– I’ve kind of got a top ten list. Some are actual
jobs I know about and some are just ideas for
now but I know that it’s okay to change my mind.
I know what I’m good at and what I need to do to
get better. I think some of what I want to do will be
there in secondary school but I may have to ask
or find out where to do other things. I’ve had lots
of conversations about different types of work with
people in my school and at home and the place
where I live. We’ve had lots of people in to talk to
us about the jobs they do. I’ve been online to check
things out. I’ll take my profile summarising all my
information with me to secondary. It’s pretty cool
looking back to see everything I have learned and
looking ahead to where I might go next.”
When I grow up I want to be a ballet teacher or
zoo keeper because I love dancing and animals.”
“Our children have a natural curiosity about the world around them. Through a variety of play contexts they understand the
different jobs people do within the world of work. They engage in projects that develops a depth of learning and to scaffold this
we connect to and work with local businesses and professions. We value the uniqueness of each child within an environment
where they develop their skills to make choices, know the decisions they make during their play are valued and can understand
what success feels like as their achievements are celebrated.”
Judith Thomas Head of Centre, Ferguslie Pre-five Centre
06 Education Scotland NEWS
“I’ve been learning even more about
industries, businesses and employers in
secondary school. My teachers and the people we
work with are really good at bringing it all to life.
They help me see the links between what I learn
in school and the work that’s out there now and
how it might be in the future. Next year I will be
making choices about courses and what sort of
qualifications I want to take from S4. I am pretty
confident that I and other people in my life have
a good understanding of who I am and what my
strengths and skills are. There has been lots of
chat about what is on offer and I know what I need
to choose for some of the things I’m interested in.
Some of my S3 friends have started Skills for Work
courses alongside their other subjects. They are
really enjoying the chance to develop their skills in
a real life work area. I want to find out more about
this and other possibilities and I still need to update
my profile.”
“I am really happy with the qualifications I
got last year in S4. I am enjoying most of the
courses I’ve chosen for this year and think I’ve got
a pretty good balance. I like having responsibility
for my own timetable – most of the time. I’m doing
a college course now and I feel like a real student
managing my own travel to and from the college.
I’m still thinking about my options but I know there’s
folk there to support me with this. I’ve done one
work placement already and it helped me decide
what I don’t want to do. Next term I start another
one, maybe that will be for me. I like the idea that
I have the chance to get a qualification as part of
the placement. I’ve signed up for another coaching
about careers session next term. Looking back I can
see how all my learning about jobs and the world of
work all the way through school has really helped
me. It means that when I choose to leave school
that is just like stepping out into something familiar.”
“We strive to break down barriers to employment for young people. Through our range of flexible, structured youth training
and employment programmes we motivate young people in their senior phase with pathways of learning and valuable work
experience. By equipping young people with skills and confidence, we aim to open up rewarding employment opportunities.”
Eileen Cummings, Executive Director – Education and Youth Training, Kibble Education and Care Centre
Education Scotland NEWS
07
LEARNING IN
THE WORKPLACE
AN INSIGHT INTO THE ACADEMY – BAUER MEDIA
GROUP’S TALENT DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME
The mention of ‘work experience’ can trigger sighs. For some,
it has become a bit of a chore. It is a tired term, often equalling
‘little work’ and ‘poor experience’ for individuals with few
benefits for employers.
Young people in our Academy not only develop skills. Our
personalised approach enables them to confidently learn inside
the workplace and shape their own learning journey. They feel
valued because they are valued; our investment in them is real.
Bauer Media set out to revitalise, arguably redefine, its work
experience provision when it launched its Academy three years
ago. With a clear commitment to more meaningful partnerships
between education and industry, the Academy delivers
opportunities to young people that are genuine stepping
stones to employment. The results have been remarkable.
Through the Academy, Bauer Media is shaping the workforce
of tomorrow, developing the skills and attributes our business
needs, whilst positioning the company as a destination employer.
What’s more, providing excellent learning opportunities within the
business has supported the development of staff.
Our talent development programme provides new ways to
identify talent with innovative approaches to develop individuals.
We replaced work experience with personalised learning
placements, including industry mentors. It works well; we gave
10 people personalised placements last year at Radio Clyde in
Glasgow. All of them went on to secure paid work in the radio
station – four are already on air.
That’s why we welcome Education Scotland’s new career
education and work placement standards. It is a significant
step towards changing the culture of work experience
which could help other employers benefit, as Bauer has, by
exploiting the multiple opportunities work placements can
bring to any business.
Learning inside the workplace needs to be employer led, made
flexible enough to align with changing business needs, and
designed to ensure young people gain the skills necessary for
employment. Whilst our approach might not work for others,
Bauer Media has shown that companies can create successful
new strategies to provide extensive and inspirational learning
for young people.
The new career education and work placement standards can
help other employers achieve this.
08 Education Scotland NEWS
THE FUTURE
OF INSPECTION
AND REVIEW
Alastair Delaney
Chief Operating Officer and Director of Inspection
Education Scotland has been reviewing its approaches to inspection and review across all sectors
in wide consultation with a broad range of stakeholders. At this stage of the review, in response
to stakeholder views, we are planning to try out two new approaches in November 2015. These
“try-outs” will be carried out alongside inspections using the current model and will consist of:
1. Shorter school inspection visits to a small sample of
primary, secondary and special schools. Just under half of
the schools will be given two working days of notice and
the remainder will be given two weeks of notice. We want
to evaluate the impact of the different notice periods. Our
shorter school inspection visits will involve a small team of
HMIs visiting a school for two and a half days. The visits will
have a specific focus on raising attainment and achievement
and how a school is addressing the need to close the equity
gap; and teaching, learning and assessment.
As we have done throughout this ongoing consultation, we will
keep all stakeholders informed as the work progresses and
continue to update our website.
2. A localised cross-sector thematic review relating to the
senior phase and involving secondary schools, community
learning and development and further education. We will focus
on one local authority to carry out a week-long review and aim to
evaluate how well senior phase pathways are supporting young
people to achieve appropriate positive destinations. We will
seek stakeholder views on how well the “try-outs” have gone.
If you have any particular questions or comments
about these “try-outs” please get in touch with us
using the dedicated email address inspectionreview@
educationscotland.gsi.gov.uk
HOW GOOD IS
OUR SCHOOL?
By the end of September every school in Scotland will
receive a copy of the new edition of the quality indicator
framework How good is our school? (4th EDITION) This
new toolkit builds on the success of previous editions
and is intended to support effective self-evaluation and
improvement planning in all schools across Scotland. The
revised structure of How good is our school? brings a new
set of 15 quality indicators together aimed at answering
three high level questions about school effectiveness.
(4TH EDITION)
Leadership and
management:
How good is
our leadership
and approach to
improvement?
What is our
capacity for
continuous
improvement?
Successes and
achievements:
How good are we
at ensuring the best
possible outcomes for
all our learners?
Education Scotland NEWS
Learning
provision: How
good is the quality
of care and education
we offer?
Education Scotland are publishing How good is our school?
(4th EDITION) in September 2015.
You can keep abreast of developments via
http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/inspectionandreview/
about/principles/futureapproaches/index.asp
For each of the quality indicators, this new edition of
How good is our school? includes illustrations of very good
practice, features of highly effective practice and a set of
reflective questions. These aspects of the toolkit will help
schools to identify the sorts of evidence which support
effective self-evalaution and consider how they might plan
their journey of continual improvement. Over the course of
the autumn term all local authorities will receive invitations
to a How good is our school? professional learning event.
These events will provide further support for introducing class
teachers and school leaders to the new toolkit. A professional
learning resource pack will also be available to download
from our website. Further information about How good is
our school? can be found at http://bit.ly/1Mg5lh0 and any
specific comments or questions can be emailed to us at
hgios4@educationscotland.gsi.gov.uk
09
10 Education Scotland NEWS
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www.educationscotland.gov.uk/developingtheyoungworkforce
Children and young people develop interests, strengths, skills
and aspirations through experiences as part of the curriculum
and life beyond school. A range of partners support these
exciting journeys through co-design and co-delivery and together
shape children and young people’s decisions about their future
and the pathways they follow. Where will these journeys take
children and young people and how can YOU contribute?
Developing the Young Workforce
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Education Scotland NEWS
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11
INTERVIEW
WITH DR BILL
MAXWELL
Can you explain to us what the Scottish Attainment
Challenge (SAC) is about?
What will Education Scotland’s role be in the Scottish
Attainment Challenge?
The Challenge tackles an issue that’s been around for some time
in Scottish education, that is the large and persistent ‘gap’ that
exists between the attainment of young people from the most
advantaged social backgrounds compared to the attainment of
young people living in more disadvantaged circumstances. We
know this gap is evident even as children enter school and it’s
clearly present at every stage in the learner journey from then
on. There is a systematic pattern of underachievement amongst
learners from some sections of our community, which is resulting
in restricted opportunities and loss of individual potential. The
Challenge is making available a substantial new resource of
around £100 million over a four-year period, with a view to making
a decisive impact on closing this gap and ensuring all children can
succeed in their learning, regardless of background.
As Scotland’s national education improvement agency we have
a key role, working alongside our Government policy colleagues,
in providing professional expertise and leadership for the coordination and development of support for Local Authorities
(LAs) and schools as they rise to the challenge and begin to
implement their projects on the ground. As a first step a new
team of Attainment Advisors are developing networks, advice
and resources to support practitioners involved in the Challenge.
As the Challenge develops in the years ahead we will have a key
role in drawing out learning from across Scotland about ‘what
works’ and actively cross-fertilising successful practice so others
can benefit from it.
Has the Scottish Attainment Challenge been influenced
by other countries?
Initially the Challenge will be focusing on attainment in literacy
and numeracy of young people from more disadvantaged
communities as key indicators of success, especially in the primary
school years. We will know we are succeeding when we see
substantial rises in scores for these young people, bringing them
in line with the rest of the population. We will also be looking to
develop measures of health and wellbeing so we can focus similar
attention on those core aspects of learning development, where
we know a similar ‘equity gap’ exists and needs to be closed.
We are certainly not alone in having this problem. It exists to
varying degrees in almost all countries. That being the case, I
think it’s important that we learn from the experiences of other
countries who’ve tackled this issue head on. It’s very clear that
there isn’t one easy solution that we can pick up and borrow
from others but understanding their experiences can help
influence our own approach, which itself needs to be carefully
customised to our own unique situation in Scotland.
How will we measure the success of SAC?
continued overleaf >
12 Education Scotland NEWS
NATIONAL
IMPROVEMENT
FRAMEWORK
Graeme Logan
Strategic Director, Attainment and Improvement
On 1 September the Draft National Improvement Framework for Scottish education was published
as part of the First Minister’s Programme for Government.
The National Improvement Framework will help ensure that the Scottish education system is
continually improving and preparing children and young people with the skills they need to thrive
in today’s world. It will help focus the collective efforts on closing the attainment gap between the
most and least advantaged children in Scotland’s communities.
The first phase will focus on improving approaches to
assessing children’s progress and achievement with
standardised assessment of children in Primary 1, 4 and 7,
and at S3, being introduced in reading, writing and numeracy.
This provides another rich source of information and there
will be support for teachers in using this data and a range of
other evidence to underpin their judgements about children’s
progress. This should ensure that parents have clearer and
more consistent information on their child’s progress.
strong practice that we are seeing as schools implement fully
Curriculum for Excellence and will bring together all the data
and information we need to support further improvement.
The curriculum is now broader and richer than ever before and
we want to ensure that this continues whilst clarifying the data
and information needed to support further improvement.
There remains a commitment to tackling bureaucracy at all
levels and this Framework will bring real clarity to the range
of assessment needed in primary and early secondary. This
will help to reduce the burden of assessment on teachers and
children, by introducing a more streamlined and consistent
approach across Local Authorities.
We are developing a new National Improvement Hub which
will provide teachers with a rich range of tools and resources
to help them raise attainment and improve performance. I
know from my experience as both a teacher and head teacher
how important meaningful information is in informing learning
and teaching. We will increase support to ensure clearer,
consistent information is available on each child’s progress,
and we will provide rapid intervention to help schools improve
where weaknesses are identified.
Earlier this summer Graeme Logan was appointed to the
new role of Strategic Director Attainment and Improvement at
Education Scotland. Here he explains in more detail Education
Scotland’s key role in supporting progress on the National
Improvement Framework
We know that children’s learning experiences have been
transformed as a result of Curriculum for Excellence, and
we now need better and more consistent information about
the outcomes they are achieving in primary and early
secondary school.”
“In our role as Scotland’s national improvement agency for
education it’s really important that we work together to provide
the best possible support at a national and local level. The
Framework provides an opportunity to build upon the
More information on the Programme for Government and draft
National Improvement Framework can be found at
What methods will be used to measure this success?
What will practitioners learn about the Scottish
Attainment Challenge at SLF?
At local level there will be a whole variety of different ways of
measuring outcomes as schools and local authorities develop
their own projects, but I am clear we also need a few measures
which are consistently available nationally so we can compare
and contrast and draw out learning about ‘what works’ from across
Scotland. With that in mind, we are also working with the Scottish
Government and other key partners on the development of a new
National Improvement Framework which is being designed to
provide an agreed framework of assessment data which can meet
the specific needs of the Challenge as well as serving the wider
needs of local and national improvement work.
Education Scotland NEWS
http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Education/Schools/
NationalImprovementFramework
I would encourage everyone attending the Learning festival to
use the opportunity to learn more about the Challenge. Whilst it
has a strong element of targeting resources where the challenge
is greatest, young people from less advantaged backgrounds,
who could achieve more with the right support, exist in every
corner of Scotland. Every school should be thinking about how
they can engage with the Scottish Attainment Challenge and how
they can play their part in ensuring its success.
Find out more: http://bit.ly/1JGEzuf
13
FAMILIES, INCLUSION AND
LOCAL AUTHORITIES
DIRECTOR’S
UPDATE
The Families, Inclusion
and Local Authorities
teams have been
extremely busy in recent
months supporting a wide
range of work across the
sectors. Our teams are
‘cross-cutting’ and support
many different areas including Developing the Young
Workforce, which gives us a unique insight in to the
work of all Education Scotland teams and also your
work in schools and settings across Scotland.
Supporting children, young people and their families is
a key focus of our work. As we prepare our young
people for their future and the world of work we need
to ensure that this support is as effective as possible.
This is particularly the case for young people with
additional support needs and you will read more about
our work to support staff in schools and centres and
also our work to support local authorities in these pages
Lesley Brown, Strategic Director for Families,
Inclusion and Local Authorities
CHILDREN’S RIGHTS
As part of our commitment to supporting children’s rights-based
knowledge, understanding and practice, we have been working
with local authority partners in engaging with Recognising and
Realising Children’s Rights. Through local engagement and
national professional learning events, we hope to ensure that
all our stakeholders are well supported in their position as duty
bearers. Further learning events are planned for the coming
months. We have been working with YouthLink Scotland and
our CLD colleagues to revise the children’s rights professional
learning resource for the CLD and youth work sector. This is
being developed in collaboration with practitioners from across
the country and, following a period of piloting, it will be freely
available to download early in 2016.
AMBASSADORS FOR INCLUSION
In the spring Education Scotland held two events which featured
young people. We had the first Deaf Learners event with over
60 young deaf people from all over Scotland coming together
to discuss their achievements, challenges and support. On the
same day, we held a Peer Learners event about Diversity and
Equality with 120 young people engaged in promoting diversity
and equality in their school and community. Our next venture
with young people is setting up 32 Ambassadors for Inclusion
across Scotland to hear from young people on what makes the
difference to the success of their education.
INCLUSION
Professional Learning and Stakeholder Engagement
Across the Inclusion Team, we are committed to supporting
the professional learning and engagement of stakeholders
across settings and sectors. Our networks of local authority
representatives ensure that we can discuss issues about
emerging legislation, policy and practice. Through these
discussions, we have responded to Local Authority needs
and requests by continuing to organise national professional
learning events on such themes as ‘Recognising and Realising
Children’s Rights’, ‘Restorative Approaches’ or ‘Inclusive
Education, Scotland 2015.’
14 Education Scotland NEWS
Nurturing Approaches in the Secondary School
Education Scotland has developed a professional learning
resource to support nurture at the secondary level. This
exciting, substantial resource is designed to be delivered at an
authority or cluster level to support whole school and targeted
nurture initiatives. This will enhance existing work in schools
and local authorities, as well as national programmes such
as the Scottish Attainment Challenge, School Improvement
Partnership and Raising Attainment for All. Professional
learning events will be on offer across Scotland in the autumn.
Look out for our events calendar!
AREA LEAD OFFICERS
Education Scotland’s Area Lead Officers are involved in an
agreed programme of support and challenge with each local
authority. Area Lead Officers regularly attend local authority
events and provide valuable inputs on the national perspective
of education. In many cases this includes working with
council officers to consider how local stakeholders can work
together to improve young people’s employment prospects.
Ken McAra, Area Lead Officer for Perth and Kinross Council
recently attended a council event focusing on Developing
the Young Workforce. The conference considered how local
stakeholders can work together to improve young people’s
employment prospects. It included presentations from
Education Scotland, Scottish Government, Perth and Kinross
Council, local employers, Skills Development Scotland and
Perth College UHI. Perth and Kinross Council also launched
its schools’ strategy on Enterprise and Employability.
LOCAL PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENTS
Area Lead Officers are working closely with local authorities
to identify and plan ways for Education Scotland’s Developing
the Young Workforce team to support local authorities in taking
forward the DYW agenda as part of our local partnership
agreements. This has included attending and contributing to
local authority strategic groups; sharing practice across local
authorities; and providing professional learning sessions for staff.
Local authorities are invited to discuss any support for DYW
with Area Lead Officers who will coordinate this with Education
Scotland’s DYW team.
Education Scotland NEWS
PARENTAL ENGAGEMENT IN LEARNING
We are working closely with a number of national parent
bodies including SPTC and NPFS to consider the best ways
to get information about employability and skills to parents.
The Parentzone Scotland website is regularly updated
and includes links on transitions from school to a range of
destinations. Colleagues from across Education Scotland
are working closely with the children and families team to
develop guidance and materials for use by parents and to
keep them informed. We will continue to work with colleagues
from across Scottish Government and external agencies to
enable parents to access and increase their understanding of
performance data in relation to achievement and attainment.
Creativity: The Creativity team held a joint event with
the National Creative Learning Network, Creative
Scotland, Skills Development Scotland and Edinburgh
City Council in June which focused on the links
between creativity, employability and attainment. It
brought together senior staff from across the sectors
and had a range of speakers from across the UK.
There is a strong commitment in Education Scotland
to roll out the recommendations from the Creativity
Across Learning 3-18 Curriculum Impact Report and
to embed creative approaches to learning in all of our
activities. Much of the work of the team has a focus
on skills and employability and we are developing
online tools for practitioners and managers to extend
the understanding of creativity.
Early Learning and Childcare: Building on the training
sessions with practitioners in all 32 local authorities last
autumn and spring, we are publishing materials on the
Education Scotland website to support engagement
with “Building the Ambition”. We are working closely with
Scottish Government, and partners including the Care
Inspectorate and SCEL, to respond to the recent review
of the early learning and childcare, and out of school
care workforces in Scotland.
15
SCHOOL YEARS
DIRECTOR’S UPDATE
The new session is in full swing
and as ever you will be actively
engaged in working with your
pupils on the detail of their
learning, now and over the
coming months. My colleagues in
Education Scotland maintained
momentum in developing a range of support over the
summer that you can draw on as the session progresses.
Check out the new Numeracy and Mathematics hub and
our route maps for Advanced Higher – and let us know how
helpful you find them.
Of course the OECD report on its review of the Broad
General Education will publish around Christmas and we’ll
reflect on that in looking ahead. With experiences of the
new NQs over two years now, I’m also aware that many
schools are looking again, naturally, at their Broad General
Education arrangements. So we will be working with
schools to prepare guidance later in the session.
With the ongoing development of Glow, numbers of users
continue to rise. You’ll want to make use of some new
services such as Yammer (a collaborative social media
style learning space), Delve (a new way to find relevant
content and connections) and O365 Video (a YouTube
style video storage service).
I look forward to working with you in these areas,
employability initiatives and other activities that we have
planned for the year ahead.
Alan Armstrong,
Strategic Director for School Years
INSPECTION ADVICE NOTE 2015-16
Education Scotland has published the Inspection Advice
Note for session 2015-16 which supports colleagues in local
authorities, schools and early learning and childcare (ELCC)
settings with information on how inspections, carried out
from August 2015 onwards, will take account of national
expectations of progress in implementing Curriculum for
Excellence (CfE). It sets out an adjustment in expectations for
HM Inspectors’ evaluations of Quality Indicator (QI) 5.1 (The
Curriculum) and QI 5.9 (Improvement through self-evaluation).
http://ow.ly/R2k6b
The Inspection Advice Note 2015-16 takes full account of the
Curriculum for Excellence Implementation Plan 2015-16 and its
key priorities which are focused on raising attainment for all, and
on using the curriculum to close the gap in attainment between
the most and least advantaged children and young people.
The Advice Note also highlights expectations that schools will
be tackling bureaucracy by ensuring that their approaches to
planning, assessment, tracking and monitoring are manageable.
It also makes clear the expectations around Developing the
Young Workforce – employability and skills.
NEW NUMERACY AND MATHEMATICS HUB
A new virtual learning environment for education practitioners
is now available to help improve numeracy and mathematics
across Scotland.
The National Numeracy and Mathematics hub will provide an
innovative resource for practitioners from early learning and
childcare settings through to the senior phase, where they can
develop their professional learning and share good practice online.
NEWS
IN
BRIEF
National Digital Learning
Week 2016 (DigiLearnScot)
The first DigiLearnScot Week
2015 was a great success
with schools and learning
establishments the length and
breadth of Scotland joining
in to showcase how digital
technologies can support
learning and teaching. We want
16 Education Scotland NEWS
relation to the implementation of Curriculum for Excellence and
its impact on improving outcomes for learners. A summary of the
key messages can be found on our website http://ow.ly/R2kjT
CHECK IT OUT
Following consultation with practitioners the National
Assessment Resource (NAR) has been redesigned,
to help improve user experience when accessing quality
assessment resources.
If you haven’t been on NAR for quite a while, why not
have another look and see the range of support and
resources available to you. www.narscotland.org.uk/
It has been developed with practitioners in mind to make it
an accessible and user-friendly resource where they can
share their work with colleagues from across Scotland,
as well as develop their own learning and teaching practice.
http://bit.ly/numeracyhub
PRIMARY
The Evaluating and Improving the Curriculum-Primary
resource (ow.ly/L8apc) has been updated and includes a
video of a primary specific keynote presentation for session
2015-16 setting out the big messages for the primary sector.
You will hear about a variety of areas, including How good is
our school? (4th EDITION), the Scottish Attainment Challenge,
Developing the Young Workforce. Professional learning
activities have also been published in the resource and are
designed to support the evaluation and development of
different aspects of the primary curriculum. They are linked to
the GTCS standards and support the content of How good is
our school? (4th EDITION).
SECONDARY
Fieldwork Visits
Education Scotland undertook 47 visits to secondary schools
across the country between August 2014 and January 2015.
The visits focused on important aspects of a school’s work in
to build on this success and
create even more opportunities
to get involved. Further
information about DigiLearnScot
Week in May 2016 is available
on the Digital Learning
Community blog on https://
digilearnscot.wordpress.com/,
please visit and start planning
now how you can get involved.
Education Scotland NEWS
1+2 Factor
On the 18th November
we are inviting individual
classes, schools or clusters to
demonstrate how they have
used digital tools to help in the
implementation of 1+2. This is
an ideal opportunity to not only
develop the language provision
in your school but also to
Building your curriculum – flexible pathways from BGE to
the Senior Phase
Education Scotland is working in partnership with a group of
secondary Head Teachers to support schools to reflect on
and develop their thinking around flexible pathways from BGE
to the senior phase. Education Scotland will disseminate the
findings of their engagement activities and advice through a
range of media by April 2016.
Route maps through learning, teaching and assessment
for Advanced Higher courses
Education Scotland has published route maps through
learning, teaching and assessment for Advanced Higher
courses. These route maps are designed to support teachers
and other staff who provide learning, teaching and support as
learners work towards qualifications at Advanced Higher level.
Route maps are a sequential list of the key guidelines, advice
and support for qualifications and are available for qualifications
from National 5 – Advanced Higher. They include important
information about assessment, learning and teaching. Route
maps for all levels can be found here http://ow.ly/R2jSm
CHECK IT OUT
Advice on Gaelic Education
Provides important information on the national context,
and describes best practice to support practitioners and
local authorities in devising a vision, evaluating and
planning for improvement in Gaelic Education.
http://ow.ly/RCQSo
improve your school’s use of
digital technology in languages
and other curriculum areas.
Find out more log in to Glow
http://tinyurl.com/1plus2Factor.
The National Digital Learning
Forum (NDLF)
Invites you to join the digital
learning community at
www.digilearn.scot. Get
involved in discussions relating
to digital learning and teaching
in TALKING POINTS. Use the
SHARING ZONE to contribute
ideas and resources that will
support Scottish learners and
teachers make best use of
digital technology.
17
LIFELONG LEARNING
DIRECTOR’S
UPDATE
The Lifelong Learning teams
have had another busy few
months working with a range
of colleagues and partners on
a wide variety of activities.
You will have seen earlier in this issue some of the work
our teams are doing to support the work of Developing
the Young Workforce and we will keep you updated on
further developments in this area as we move forward.
In addition, the teams have been working on a range
of other projects. Take a look at what we’ve been doing
and find out what’s to come.
I look forward to a busy and exciting time ahead,
working with practitioners and partners to strengthen
lifelong learning.
Juliet McAlpine
Interim Strategic Director for Lifelong Learning
CHECK IT OUT
International literacy day conference
Presentations from our recent international literacy
day conference are available online. Delegates enjoyed
keynotes from Dr Allan and Heather Reid as well as
workshops focusing on literacy and science.
(http://ow.ly/R5jX8)
TEACHER EDUCATION
In May we hosted a conference looking at what has been achieved
since the publication of Teaching Scotland’s Future http://ow.ly/
OVPyn (TSF). The day brought together key partners to share
and learn about practice that’s happening across Scotland.
Delegates recognised that we have policies and guidelines in
place and we are developing the practices that support teachers
and leaders to engage in career long professional learning.
The Professional Learning area of the Education Scotland
website is a one-stop shop for resources and guidelines
http://ow.ly/OVM94
For more information about the conference and to watch the
keynotes visit http://ow.ly/OVMfh
COMMUNITY LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT
The new How Good is Our Third Sector Organisation?
(HGIOTS) resource uses a bespoke framework. It has been
designed to be easy to use and accessible to help organisations
understand what they do well but also where they can do better
and improve the positive impact they have.
This new resource to help third sector organisations evaluate
performance and improve services is now available on the
Education Scotland website http://ow.ly/OVVSS
Launch of Adult Achievement Awards
As part of taking forward a key strand of the implementation of
the Statement of Ambition for Adult Learning, Education Scotland
is supporting a consortium led by Newbattle Abbey College who
are piloting Adult Achievement Awards. These new awards are
designed to widen access to accredited learning and promote
progression to further options. The Awards are credit-rated by
Napier University at SCQF levels 3, 4 and 6 and are accessible
to adults of all ages in a range of contexts. http://bit.ly/1KON2O8
ESOL Strategy Implementation Phase
In April this year we launched Welcoming Our Learners –
Scotland’s ESOL Strategy 2015-2020 http://ow.ly/OVQ2y
To support delivery of the strategy we are now working with
stakeholders to develop an implementation plan.
18 Education Scotland NEWS
CLD Aspect Reports
In early autumn, Education Scotland will publish two aspect
reports. The first report is on the CLD Sector’s contribution to
Curriculum for Excellence in the senior phase. The second report
in September will be a review of the work of the Achievement
Awards Network and the role that wider achievement awards,
such as the Youth Achievement Award and the Duke Of
Edinburgh’s Award, play in Curriculum in Excellence and their
impacts on young people
PRIVATE COLLEGES AND ENGLISH LANGUAGE SCHOOLS
Since 2012 we’ve undertaken Educational Oversight
Inspections of private colleges and English language schools.
To be able to offer and deliver courses, establishments must
be inspected and be subject to annual engagement for four
years. From September to November we will be conducting one
inspection and 11 annual engagements. For more information
about our work visit http://ow.ly/OVZDV
COLLEGE EXTERNAL REVIEWS
In 2014-15 we conducted five external reviews and 19 Annual
Engagement Visits. As part of the external review process
each college receives an overarching judgement in relation
to effectiveness.
CHECK IT OUT
which will include observations of engagements between Skills
Development Scotland (SDS) staff and customers. The review
teams will include an HMI from the secondary school sector, as
well as Associate Assessors from SDS. Copies of our review
reports are available at http://ow.ly/OW3mt
ASPECT TASK ON MY WORLD OF WORK
In September, Education Scotland published a report on the
use of My World of Work (MyWoW) http://ow.ly/R30FV webservice by SDS staff, partners and customers to support effective
career planning. The report is set in the context of supporting
the implementation of the recommendations of the Commission
for Developing Scotland’s Young Workforce. The report seeks
to provide direction and support to all organisations and staff
who are involved in delivering CfE and implementation of the
recommendations of DYW.
CHECK IT OUT
College aspect reports
On behalf of the Scottish Funding Council we’ve
published aspect reports on the implementation of
Curriculum for Excellence in colleges, Research into
Partial Success, and Engineering in Scotland’s Colleges.
The reports are available at http://ow.ly/RkFaC
Aspect review of Initial Teacher Education (ITE)
Look out for the publication of our aspect review on the
partnerships between universities and education authorities.
There are eight external reviews planned for 2015-16 and
16 Annual Engagement Visits. In addition three colleges
are continuing with their involvement in the Scottish Funding
Council’s Action Learning Pilots.
Copies of the reviews are published online at http://ow.ly/R31Te
POST-16
Our latest review of Career Information, Advice and Guidance
(CIAG) in Shetland has been published. Between September
2015 and February 2016 will undertake a further five reviews
Education Scotland NEWS
Building the Curriculum 4 makes explicit reference to young people
developing career management skills (CMS). The report comments
on the arrangements made by partners to develop CMS and the
use of MyWoW to support the development of these skills.
The report takes account of the national Career Education
Standard (3-18) and Work Placements Standard which will
affect how schools and national bodies support young people
to develop CMS. The recommendations reflect the range of
partners who will be directly involved in taking forward DYW.
These include SDS, schools, colleges and Education Scotland.
We are working together internally and with our external partners
to take forward the recommendations.
19
NOW AVAILABLE...
Co-created by young people and a range of partners, new
standards for Career Education (3-18) and Work Placements
are available to download now.
Meaningful and productive school employer partnerships are key to Developing the Young
Workforce. To support this, overarching guidance on school employer partnerships has been
developed and is available to download. This is underpinned by the detailed standards and
support materials on areas of work related learning where employers have a role to play.
Career Education 3-18
Work Placements
A new standard which recognises the journeys
children and young people make as they
learn about the world of work from the
early years to the senior phase.
A new standard which recognises the
rich learning that a young person can
experience when they use and develop
their skills in a work environment.
I believe I can do
any job
I can talk about my strengths,
interests and skills and show
evidence of my progress
It should be
fulfilling and
a memory
everyone wants
forever
Placements should
be practical, hands
on and linked to
career aspirations
e skills I
I can recognise th
r work
have and need fo
I can apply my skills to get more
information about jobs/careers
Guidance for school/employer partnerships
Highlights the benefits of partnerships in developing employability skills, and suggests
approaches for employers, schools, local authorities and DYW regional groups.
Download your copy: www.educationscotland.gov.uk
A Denholm House, Almondvale Business Park, Almondvale Way, Livingston EH54 6GA
T +44 (0)141 282 5000
E enquiries@educationscotland.gov.uk
W educationscotland.gov.uk