Learning and
Teaching Scotland
Transforming learning by
supporting education
Annual Review 2010/11
www.LTScotland.org.uk
www.LTScotland.org.uk
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2 Transforming learning by supporting education
Contents
4 Chief Executive’s Report
6 About LTS
7 Key Achievements 2010/11
8
Curriculum and Assessment
11 Targeted Support
14 Developing Global Citizens
16 Community Learning and Development
18Technologies for Learning
20 Area Advisers
21Corporate Services
www.LTScotland.org.uk
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Chief Executive’s Report
Welcome to Learning and Teaching
Scotland’s Annual Review 2010/11 –
a year marked equally by change and
by achievement.
This was the year in which Curriculum
for Excellence really took shape in
schools across Scotland, supported
by a comprehensive range of new
resources, CPD and support materials.
One of our key priorities was to support
schools in their curriculum planning,
and we initially focused on the senior
phase, developing five exemplar
models accompanied by a series
of reflective questions to encourage
creative responses from senior phase
managers. At the same time, we hosted
an international Glow summit for the
Early Years and developed frameworks
for Outdoor Learning and Financial
Education, supported by a wide range
of events throughout Scotland.
In September, we launched one of our
most ambitious pieces of work to date,
the National Assessment Resource
(NAR). NAR is an innovative model in
that it was created by practitioners, for
practitioners. We worked with more
than 100 schools to develop exemplars
of assessment approaches to literacy,
numeracy, health and wellbeing.
This reflects a wider change of focus
within LTS, from producing resources to
capturing and sharing good practice.
Both NAR and Curriculum for Excellence
illustrate our commitment to supporting
schools to find their own creative
educational solutions.
4 Transforming learning by supporting education
As you can tell, innovation and
empowerment are key themes for the
year, and nowhere are these principles
more evident than in Glow. I am
proud to say that every local authority
in Scotland is now signed up. Even
more encouragingly, Glow’s users have
created in excess of 80,000 blogs
and 90,000 groups. The recent Glow
Refresh energised and modernised
the service, building on the popularity
of social media as an educational
tool, and we are now watching as
thousands of learners harness its power
for learning.
At the heart of all of LTS’s achievements
is our strong commitment to working
in partnership with our stakeholders
in education and beyond. This
collaborative approach has delivered
some truly rewarding projects in
2010/11. Internationally, we worked
closely with HanBan – the Chinese
National Office for Teaching Chinese
as a Foreign Language – to develop
awareness of Chinese language
and culture. Our efforts in this area
resulted in LTS being acknowledged
by HanBan, and we have delivered
a number of valuable experiences to
practitioners and pupils, including a
headteachers’ study visit and the first
Chinese immersion course for Scottish
teachers, in Tianjin.
Closer to home, we welcomed the
creation of new government body,
Creative Scotland. Together, we
developed and implemented the
Education and the Arts, Culture and
Creativity action plan. One of the first
outcomes of our partnership was the
popular Creativity Portal, which aims
to stimulate creativity in learning and
teaching.
As Learning and Teaching Scotland now
enters a new chapter, it is with great
pride that I look back over the past
11 years. To me, the launch of the new
curriculum, our enterprising approach to
technologies such as Glow and game
based learning, and the phenomenal
success of the Scottish Learning Festival,
will leave a lasting mark on the Scottish
educational landscape.
I attribute much of that success to the
fact that LTS is an organisation made up
of practitioners. Our people understand
education ‘on the ground’, and they
have such passion for change, for
innovation and for creativity in learning
and teaching. It has been a pleasure to
help nurture their talents and I know that
future generations will benefit from their
commitment and ingenuity.
Bernard McLeary, Chief Executive
Our people understand education ‘on the
ground’, and they have such passion for
change, for innovation and for creativity
in learning and teaching.
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About LTS
Learning and Teaching
Scotland (LTS) has a key role
in transforming education in
Scotland. It is the national
body with responsibility for
reviewing the curriculum,
developing assessment to
support learning, providing
national guidance on
the use of ICT to support
education and community
learning development policy
implementation and practice
development.
We provide advice to Ministers
on all matters related to
learning and teaching, the
curriculum, assessment and ICT.
LTS is highly proactive in working with
partners and identifying partnership
prospects which will be to the benefit
of Scotland’s education system. By
engaging with key stakeholders and
facilitating effective partnership working
we support practitioners and others
involved in education, sharing research
and knowledge exchange, promoting
effective practice and facilitating
professional development opportunities.
All of our programmes of work
contribute to the Scottish Government’s
stated purpose: to create a more
successful country, with opportunities
for all of Scotland to flourish, through
increasing sustainable economic
growth. Our core remit, objectives and
deliverables align with this purpose and
contribute to the National Outcomes:
Core Remit
– from business plan
Outcomes
– from business plan
Key deliverables
– from business plan
LTS’s key activities are delivered through five programmes:
››
Curriculum and Assessment
››
Developing Global Citizens
››
Targeted Support
››
Technologies for Learning
››
Community Learning and Development
Whilst activities are aligned with a particular programme, each programme draws on the
expertise and collaboration of a range of teams across LTS.
6 Transforming learning by supporting education
Key Achievements 2010/11
We provided thousands of high-quality
continuing professional development
activities and events, offering rich CPD
experiences to thousands of education
professionals.
Working in partnership with Creative
Scotland and the Scottish Government,
LTS developed and implemented the
Education and the Arts, Culture and
Creativity action plan.
We supported local authorities,
schools and centres in their
developments of curriculum planning,
with a particular emphasis on the
senior phase.
We launched the National Assessment
Resource, with 179 exemplars
illustrating assessment approaches in
literacy, numeracy and aspects of health
and wellbeing, and developed further
exemplars in each curriculum area.
We launched the new integrated
LTS Online Service that supports
practitioners and others across the
learning community and is fully
aligned to Curriculum for Excellence.
We published the revised national
guidance, Pre-Birth To Three: Positive
Outcomes for Scotland’s Children and
Families.
We organised and led 15 national
conferences and seminars to support
over 1,100 Community Learning and
Development managers.
We led an international Glow summit
on Early Years, with practitioners and
policymakers from six countries.
In International Learning, we led
10 group study visits to European
countries and led a headteachers’
study visit to China, with 50 participants.
We developed frameworks for Outdoor
Learning and Financial Education,
supporting them with a wide range of
events throughout Scotland.
We published the National Framework
– Supporting learners from early years
to positive sustained destinations to
support delivery of the entitlement to
Personal Support.
We were acknowledged by HanBan
for our work in promoting knowledge
and understanding of Chinese
language and culture.
We led the first Chinese immersion
course for Scottish teachers, in Tianjin.
Every local authority in Scotland has
signed up to Glow.
We organised and led 13 national
events attended by over 1,000 school
and local authority officers, to support
embedding 16+ Learning Choices and
MCMC in the senior phase,
We have had more than 20 million
logins to Glow and have created over
90,000 Glow groups.
We developed a resource to support a
whole school approach to Developing
Global Citizenship.
We worked with local authorities and
schools to encourage teachers to make
use of the Games Legacy context to
develop learning within Curriculum for
Excellence.
We have created a total of 790,000 accounts,
with over 400,000 actively in use.
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Curriculum and Assessment
As Curriculum for Excellence gains momentum in schools across Scotland, LTS has continued to support its
implementation by working closely with, and listening to the needs of, practitioners, schools, local authorities
and partners. We have led and developed a substantial range of practical tailored support, including online
resources and continuing professional development (CPD) opportunities across all curriculum areas for a great
number of practitioners. In September 2010, within Curriculum for Excellence, LTS launched the National
Assessment Resource, a single online tool to support assessment practice, in partnership with the Scottish
Qualifications Authority (SQA) and the Scottish Government.
SUPPORTING THE CURRICULUM
Working closely with practitioners from
a range of sectors and local authorities,
LTS produced and published online
40 further pieces of curriculum support
for staff, bringing the total published since
the launch of the new curriculum to over
80. These include seminar presentations
from the Scottish Learning Festival and
a strategic tool to support practitioners
in planning around the experiences
and outcomes in specific curriculum
areas. There are also a number of tools
available on the LTS website and “My
experiences and outcomes”, a practical
online tool that can help with planning
and monitoring learning, has been used
by over 10,000 teachers.
We supported practitioners through
a range of well-received CPD
opportunities, and worked in
partnership with HMIE to help provide a
comprehensive programme of additional
support to secondary schools throughout
the autumn term in 2010. We also
provided expert advice to the Scottish
Government’s Excellence groups, which
informed thinking on excellence within
subjects, and in skills development,
across learning.
LTS has forged close partnerships to
engage actively with practitioners
and partners in subjects across the
new curriculum. For example, we
developed a range of online materials
and organised Glow Meets to assist
teachers in implementing the Scottish
Government’s Science and Engineering
8 Transforming learning by supporting education
Action plan. We worked closely with
the Goethe Institute and the Consulate
General of the Federal Republic of
Germany to publish materials that
support the study of German history
and culture. September 2010 saw
the launch of the Creativity Portal,
created in partnership with the Scottish
Government and Creative Scotland in
support of the Education and the Arts,
Culture and Creativity Action Plan.
The Creativity Portal allows teachers
and creative practitioners to share and
discuss practice. At the same time, we
secured funding to extend Creative
Learning Networks, which will promote
artistic growth by providing young
people with easy access to a range of
information, facilities and support.
CURRICULUM PLANNING
In Curriculum Planning, LTS built on
its bank of well-received examples
of curriculum structures by publishing
nine detailed senior phase models
with associated learner journeys. The
models were drawn from a range of
secondary schools across Scotland
and illustrate a variety of possible
delivery models of the senior phase.
LTS supported the development of
these models by working closely with
the schools involved and providing
advice and guidance to stimulate and
nurture their early thoughts on possible
curriculum structures that would reflect
their local contexts. The models were
also adapted to highlight key points
and made available widely to parents
and others through the Parentzone
website. The learner journeys in
particular have been positively received
by professionals and parents in
outlining how young people may move
through their broad general education,
senior phase and positive transitions
beyond school.
In addition, we refreshed the broad
general education area of the website
with 12 curriculum plans which illustrate
the diversity of approaches being
adopted by curriculum planners.
LTS delivered a range of local support
through programmes of events and
workshops for local authorities, each
tailored to suit the needs and progress
of the individual authority, its schools,
centres and partners. We also
participated in curriculum planning
events run by partner organisations
such as Scotland’s Colleges, UCAS
and School Leaders Scotland, and
delivered case studies, CPD events
and Glow Meets to support curriculum
planning for the primary and additional
support needs sectors.
‘Teachers definitely want the NAR. We have always
talked about agreeing standards in pupils’ work
and we are grateful to actually see pupil work, as
this is a good way of having discussions relating to
real pupils.’
(English teacher, West Lothian)
SUPPORTING THE NEW
NATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS
In partnership with SQA, HMIE and
Scotland’s Colleges, LTS took a leading
role in beginning to identify and
scope a range of materials to support
the new qualifications, which will be
published online in 2012. We also
developed new materials, including
filmed exemplification supporting Higher
Product Design, Business Management,
Art and Design and Science, for which
we, also produced an innovative
animated resource.
LTS representatives provided advice
to SQA on preparations for new
National Qualifications, for example
on how qualifications can build on the
experiences and outcomes and broad
general education, through involvement
in SQA Curriculum Area Review Groups
and Qualifications Design teams.
‘A fantastic tool
for helping me to
develop a shared
understanding of
the standards and
how to meet the
needs of my pupils.’
(NAR P6 teacher, South Lanarkshire)
RECOGNISING ACHIEVEMENT,
REPORTING AND PROFILING
LTS ran three key national events
across the country on recognising
achievement, reporting and profiling
within Curriculum for Excellence. Over
300 practitioners attended, gaining
insights into emerging practices that
reflected new national policy and
identifying how they could develop their
practices locally. These events, which
included contributions from HMIE and
local authorities, received extremely
positive reviews with large numbers of
local authority colleagues seeking LTS
support for similar inputs at assessment
focused events at local level. LTS
development officers delivered a series
of workshops, and the related materials
were subsequently shared more widely
through the National Assessment Glow
Group. There has been a very positive
online response to the provision of these
resources. The events will provide a
platform for further exemplification in
these areas, for the National Assessment
Resource.
THE NATIONAL ASSESSMENT
RESOURCE
The Cabinet Secretary for Education
and Lifelong Learning launched the
National Assessment Resource (NAR)
in September 2010, developed in
partnership by LTS, SQA and the
Scottish Government. LTS worked with
schools and centres across Scotland
to provide NAR at launch with over
100 exemplars illustrating assessment
approaches in literacy, numeracy
and aspects of health and wellbeing.
Subsequently, we have worked closely
with a range of practitioners across
all authorities in more than 70 schools
to add exemplars which cover all
curriculum areas. An important feature
of this work is the action research
approach, in which LTS officers
help practitioners to develop an
understanding of successful assessment
approaches. Practitioners were
encouraged to engage in a reflective
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CURRICULUM AND ASSESSMENT
process focusing on ways that they
could improve learning and teaching, in
general, and their assessment practice,
in particular. Practitioners discussed
and reviewed the work of other
colleagues involved in the development
of NAR materials. This development
of “community of practice” as part of
the NAR development has been highly
rated by participants as a valuable
means of sharing practice, addressing
common issues and solving problems.
We have worked intensively to ensure
that all materials published on NAR
have undergone a rigorous quality
assurance process. We established
a National Quality Assurance Group
(NQAG). This group comprised
representation from classrooms and
pre-school centres, local authorities,
universities colleges, HMIE and SQA.
The professional discussions throughout
the national quality assurance meetings
ensured highly effective moderation of
materials for the NAR. Those involved
noted their substantially improved
understanding of effective planning,
learning, teaching and assessment
practices within Curriculum for
Excellence and have shared their skills
widely with practitioners across the
country to help build local capacity.
10 Transforming learning by supporting education
LTS has led significant activity to
highlight the value of NAR as a tool
for helping practitioners develop a
shared understanding of standards
and expectations, and fostering sound
judgements in relation to learners’
achievement and progress. Practitioners
tell us they find the site invaluable.
The NQAG process itself has been
adopted by a number of authorities as
an approach for promoting moderation
activity in schools and centres, acting
as the basis for developing content and
sharing practice through their online
local assessment resources.
The success of NAR is best measured in
relation to the consistently high number
of visitors to the site. Since launch in
September there have been 50,911
unique visitors with the number of visits
peaking significantly following the
launch of new resources. The high level
of engagement with the site is a strong
indicator of the value that practitioners
place on NAR as a tool to support their
assessment practice.
THE SCOTTISH SURVEY OF LITERACY AND NUMERACY
LTS played a leading role, working in partnership with other key stakeholders, in
the development of the Scottish Survey of Literacy and Numeracy contributing to
decision-making processes and chairing reference groups which guided the work.
We contributed to the development of the assessments for SSLN that reflect Curriculum
for Excellence. LTS played an important role in developing the learning and teaching
materials and is involved in helping to ensure that the information from the survey will
support improvements in learning and teaching.
Targeted Support
Targeted Support comprises a range of teams, who work together to improve outcomes for children
by developing their skills for learning, life and work, and improving their life chances through raising
achievement. We support learners and practitioners in a number of ways, including through the provision of
a very wide range of resources and a considerable number of Continuous Professional Development (CPD)
opportunities. These activities have had a considerable impact on educational practice over the past year.
EARLY YEARS
The Early Years team work very much in
collaboration with partners and stakeholders
as they support Early Years practitioners.
One key success this year was the result
of a multi-agency collaboration, where
LTS developed and published revised
national guidance, Pre-Birth To Three:
Positive Outcomes for Scotland’s Children
and Young People, for students and staff
working with and on behalf of Scotland’s
youngest children. The resource is being
used extensively across Scotland, by a
range of Children’s Services, including
education and health professionals.
‘Speakers made
meaningful links
between research and
practice and the World
Café was fantastic.’
(Delegate, Early Years Pre-Birth
to Three conference).
Another significant accomplishment was the
LTS International Early Years Glow Summit,
which was also planned and delivered
in collaboration with key partners. This
ground-breaking event provided Early Years
practitioners and policymakers across six
countries with the opportunity to share
and compare practice around the ways in
which their curricula promote listening to
children. The summit was launched by the
Minister for Children and Early Years and
supported by Scotland’s Commissioner for
Children and Young People.
‘Thoroughly enjoyed all presentations...
so interesting, beneficial and worthwhile.
Could have listened to Dr Suzanne Zeedyk all day.’
(Delegate, Early Years Further Education conference)
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TARGETED SUPPORT
‘The literacy team at LTS are terrific - everything you
have done has impact and relevance. You have really
moved things on and I know you won’t always see
the impact of that in classrooms, but it’s there.’
(Staff Tutor CfE Literacy, Dundee)
LITERACY, NUMERACY,
HEALTH AND WELLBEING
LTS supported the development of
learners’ essential skills, now the
responsibility of all practitioners, in
a variety of ways. These included
providing a considerable number of
highly successful CPD opportunities for a
range of practitioners across Scotland.
‘Critical Literacy for Second Level’,
which explored aspects of higher order
thinking skills and information literacy,
was attended by over 1,000 delegates
across 29 authorities. In health and
wellbeing, a series of events aimed at
strategic managers was attended by
600 delegates, while CPD on substance
misuse reached 28 authorities.
LTS published a number of resources
to support practitioners in numeracy,
including the innovative and practical
‘Maths at the Centre’. This resource
supports parents and practitioners in
helping children’s numeracy in daily
settings, such as shopping.
To promote the skills agenda, we
commissioned a package of six films
which exemplify the skills for life,
learning and work outlined in ‘Building
the Curriculum 4’. These are designed
‘Very, very, useful. Practical, collaborative and not
a moment wasted. The best CPD I’ve had. Thanks!’
(Delegate, Literacy CPD)
to support a range of practitioners, as
well as young people, their parents and
employers, and to develop and assess
skills development.
These essential curriculum areas were
further supported through a number
of highly successful conferences. In
partnership with Glasgow City Council,
LTS hosted the first SEAL (Stages in
Early Arithmetical Learning) conference,
attended by 200 delegates. This
conference explored many aspects of
lifelong literacy, including dyslexia and
the importance of fathers to children’s
literacy development.
2010 also saw the launch of an
innovative Saturday conference
exploring aspects of health and
wellbeing, which attracted 200
delegates, run alongside a number of
national events on specific Curriculum
for Excellence organisers.
‘Great CPD! Wonderful, have renewed
motivation to continue the HWB Journey.’
(Delegate, HWB Saturday conference)
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SUPPORT FOR CHILDREN
AND YOUNG PEOPLE
LTS published a range of resources
to support the learning of Scotland’s
children and young people. Our CPD
resource, ‘Principles of supporting
children’s learning’, assists practitioners
in the implementation of the Additional
Support for Learning legislation and
revised code of practice. Furthermore,
we generated more than 1,000 items
for the ‘Books for All’ website, which
helps children and young people with
print disabilities.
Over 1,000 local authority officers
and practitioners from schools and
wider partnerships attended the very
well received series of events we ran
to help embed the principles of More
Choices, More Chances and 16+
Learning Choices within the senior phase
of Curriculum for Excellence. Here, the
focus was on supporting improvements in
practice around the planning for delivery
of a coherent, inclusive senior phase,
with positive and sustained destinations
for all young people. In recognition of
the importance of parents as partners
in learning, we provided advice and
support to the National Parent Forum
Scotland and published a CPD resource
to help practitioners develop strategies for
engaging all parents and carers.
GAELIC
LTS continued to emphasise the importance
of our heritage languages by maintaining
close links with Bord na G`aidhlig and
Storlann. We published a number of
online resources, including a DVD to
support Gaelic at early level, a range
of financial education materials and
Na h-Albannaich agus Astràilia. We
upgraded our Gaelic resource to
support the study of Geography and
produced Gaelic versions of popular
LTS websites, including ‘Scotland’s
Songs and Stories’ and Scotland’s
History. In addition, an event we
organised in Inverness as a follow up
to a SCIPD visit to Catalonia and the
Basque country explored the ways in
which bilingualism and multilingualism
can be used to raise educational
standards in Scotland.
ENTERPRISE IN EDUCATION
A key aspect of LTS’s support for
Enterprise in Education was the creation
of a wide range of short films titled
‘World of Work’. We organised
and led a number of very successful
conferences and other events, including
three meetings of the enterprising
practitioners’ network. The discussion
topics for these meetings, which were
also supported by enterprise partners,
included partnership working and skills
development.
FINANCIAL EDUCATION
During the course of the past year the
Scottish Centre for Financial Education
was fully integrated within LTS. We
published a number of resources
to support Financial Education and
develop skills within the context of
‘Building the Curriculum 4’. These
included ‘Talk Money Talk Maths’ and
‘Money Week’. Our new resource,
‘Cheers for Credit Unions’ will be
shared with practitioners and partners
over the next few months.
‘The blend of practical outdoor tasks and indoor
information sharing was really good. Best course
I’ve been on for a long time.’
OUTDOOR LEARNING
The guidance document ‘Curriculum for
Excellence through Outdoor Learning’
and a supporting online resources
were launched by the Minister for Skills
allowed local authorities and their
regional partners to explore the
guidance and participate in discussions
and workshops around some of
the key issues. These sessions were
complemented by 51 CPD events
across Scotland which provided support
and training for 820 practitioners, and
made the most of opportunities to use
Glow as a support mechanism.
In addition, we have developed
further practical guidance and a
number of case studies, as well as
extending our interactive map facility
on the LTS outdoor learning website. In
September, a National Implementation
Group was convened for the first time,
bringing together key partners including
(Delegate, Outdoor Learning event)
and Lifelong Learning in April 2010.
Subsequently, we have focused on
raising awareness of the guidance and
building capacity through the provision
of CPD opportunities and by building
networks and partnerships.
LTS, HMIE, ADES, GTCS and the
Scottish Government. Subsequently, a
national network for outdoor learning
was established, and is successfully
engaging with local authority education
staff and wider partners.
We provided six regional events
across Scotland which were attended
by over 300 delegates. These events
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Developing Global Citizens
Global Citizenship is a key learning context in Curriculum for Excellence, ensuring our young people play an
active part in society and understand Scotland’s role within the wider world. The Global Citizenship team
works in close partnership with practitioners and key stakeholders in Scottish education to bring together
education for citizenship, international education and sustainable development education in an integrated
way. In 2010-2011, the LTS Developing Global Citizens (DGC) team adopted a strategic approach which
focused on four key areas: embedding DGC within Curriculum for Excellence in schools; offering a range of
continuous professional development (CPD) activities; working closely with partners and stakeholders; and
gathering, analysing and communicating information and ideas.
DEVELOPING GLOBAL CITIZENS
WITHIN CURRICULUM FOR
EXCELLENCE
LTS has supported the embedding of
DGC within Curriculum for Excellence
in a range of ways. We created
‘Developing Global Citizens within
Curriculum for Excellence’, a print
and online resource which provides
practitioners with a guidance
framework, ideas and inspiration to
take DGC forward within their context.
We made a number of online resources
and case study experiences available
through Glow and LTS Online, with new
web material for weather and climate
change, sustainable development
education, and games legacy
education. We also refreshed content in
all other areas.
Glow has proved an important tool in
embedding DGC. We created a number
of national Glow Groups for practitioners
and school leaders and developed a
series of Glow Meets for practitioners,
covering themes such as rights respecting
schools, world of work in the energy
sector, and oceans and biodiversity.
LTS has also recognised the importance
of pupil voice, and in partnership
with Shetland Islands Council, we
established a Young People’s Advisory
Group, which provided pupil input
to national DGC events and strategic
thinking on embedding Global
Citizenship within Curriculum for
Excellence.
DELIVERING CPD
OPPORTUNITIES
We supported practitioners through a
wide range of CPD activities, including
the Scottish Continuing International
Professional Development (SCIPD)
programme. We led 10 SCIPD group
study visits to European countries,
focusing on themes including sustainable
development education, outdoor
learning, science teaching (physics and
biology), the Holocaust and human rights
education, and CPD. Practitioners were
able to gain first-hand experience in
priority areas of Curriculum for Excellence,
and their experiences were shared
through dissemination national events.
WORKING WITH PARTNERS
AND STAKEHOLDERS
We strengthened our partnership
work with local authorities to initiate
development, support local CPD and
improve professional networking. For
example, we teamed up with six local
authorities on the ‘DGC through Visual
Arts’ project. The high-quality artwork
created through this collaboration was
on display at several CPD events,
culminating with a display in the Scottish
Parliament.
The CPD sessions ‘Using Film for Global
Citizenship’ are a recent innovation
to support pedagogy. Partnership
funding enabled some authorities to
establish new activities such as pupilled DGC conferences. In addition,
we organised meetings with local
authority coordinators, reference groups
and advisory groups, and liaised
and collaborated with partners and
stakeholders.
‘Thank you for arranging such an inspiring
study visit to CERN. We really benefited from the
experience of seeing the activities in CERN as well
as having opportunities to speak to scientists.’
(SCIPD Geneva visit)
14 Transforming learning by supporting education
‘This was an excellent opportunity to learn what
other agencies are doing and thinking, and to
realise we are not alone with a lot of our ideas,
concerns and issues.’
(DGC Stakeholder event)
With LTS having a lead role in games
legacy education work for Scotland,
we worked with local authorities and
other agencies to encourage teachers
to develop international links and make
use of the games legacy context for
developing learning within Curriculum
for Excellence.
DEVELOPING KNOWLEDGE AND
UNDERSTANDING OF CHINESE
LANGUAGE AND CULTURE
This year, LTS has further supported
the development of Chinese language
and culture in schools across Scotland.
A key highlight of our activities in
Chinese language and culture was
our high-profile Confucius Classroom
Hubs, which help young people to
develop skills for life and work in today’s
multicultural society.
Confucius Classroom Hubs also support
practitioners, providing a network
through which teachers can share ideas
and practice. In September 2010,
we launched the ‘National Network
for Teachers of Chinese in Scotland’.
The launch event in the Glasgow
hub provided helpful and supportive
workshops for 80 practitioners, and this
was followed by a subsequent meeting
to support the professional development
of local teachers of Chinese.
One of the most effective ways of
developing understanding of Chinese
culture in Scottish education is through
visits, and in 2010-11 LTS led
50 headteachers to China and also
organised the first Scottish teachers’
Chinese immersion course in Tianjin.
Our partnership with Tianjin was
further strengthened by a series of CPD
opportunities for Tianjin teachers coming
to Scotland. We were delighted to
welcome the first group of teachers
from our partner schools in Tianjin to
each of the Confucius Classroom Hubs.
We ran a series of Chinese health
and wellbeing ‘road show’ events in
primary and secondary schools around
Scotland, featuring performances
and workshops, making a significant
contribution to schools’ work in health
and wellbeing within Curriculum for
Excellence.
We have developed a number of
resources to support learning and
teaching in Chinese, and our Glow
Groups continue to provide a valuable
network to help practitioners to learn
the language and share ideas and
resources.
Working in partnership with the Hanban
we organised a 3 week immersion
course for 54 pupils and 10 teachers in
Beijing.
‘The impact of the
study visit has
been beyond my
expectations. It’s
changed me personally
- inspiring me to
apply for my first
headteacher role. It
also inspired changes
within the school
and led to topics of
discussion nationally.’
(SCIPD Ontario Visit)
www.LTScotland.org.uk
15
Community Learning
and Development
The Communities team was
established in April 2010
following the transfer of the
former Learning Connections
team from the Scottish
Government to LTS.
This has brought an exciting
new dimension to the work
of LTS broadening into the
wide range of community
learning and development
activities. This has enabled
further development into family
learning; community-based
adult learning, upskilling the
workforce and community
capacity building.
The team has the key function
for CLD, Adult Literacies and
English for Speakers of Other
Languages (ESOL) policy
implementation and practice
development nationally and
during the course of the year
has achieved a significant
number of positive outcomes.
BUILDING CAPACITY THROUGH
CONFERENCES AND TRAINING
Over the past year LTS has delivered
15 conferences and seminars to 1,100
managers and practitioners covering
topics as diverse as adult literacies,
English for speakers of other languages
(ESOL), and offender learning. In one
particularly well-received conference,
‘Making the Difference’, participants
working with young people had
an opportunity to share practice
and explore their role in delivering
Curriculum for Excellence.
In partnership with Scotland’s Colleges,
LTS raised awareness of specific
learning difficulties through a series
of workshops which were delivered
in community settings and in colleges
throughout Scotland. We also ran
‘Bridging the Gap’, a youth work
and schools’ programme. Bridging
the Gap invited practitioners from
schools, community and voluntary
sectors to attend a programme of
events specifically designed to improve
partnership working between schools
and youth workers.
In addition, we facilitated six national
practitioner network meetings for
practitioners working in a variety of
disciplines, including offender learning,
adult numeracy, adult literacies,
workplace learning, English for speakers
of other languages and specific learning
difficulties.
16 Transforming learning by supporting education
BUILDING CAPACITY THROUGH
RESOURCES
The LTS Communities team not only
dedicated considerable time to revising
and updating current resources, but
also produced a range of high quality
new materials. These included the ‘Big
Book of Literacies Training’, produced
in partnership with YouthLink Scotland
to support tutors working in the area of
youth literacies.
Ahead of the March Census, LTS
worked with the Scottish Government
and the General Register Office for
Scotland on the publication of the 2011
Census Learning Pack. The pack used
the Census as the theme for resources
aimed at improving adult learners’
literacy and language skills, as well as
helping learners to complete the Census
questionnaire itself.
With literacy and numeracy a key
issue for the Communities team, it was
tasked with producing the Annual Report
on Adult Literacy and Numeracy in
Scotland. LTS launched the report at an
adult literacies conference in September,
which we ran in conjunction with
UNESCO and the Centre for Research
for Adult and Lifelong Learning, to
coincide with International Literacy Day.
LTS has also developed 10 filmed
case studies, which will be published
later this year. These case studies,
which reflect the principles of equality
and diversity, illustrate the three
national priorities for CLD: to improve
achievement through learning for adults,
for young people, and by building
community capacity. The films highlight
the contribution that CLD makes to
national and local outcomes and the
role it plays in Curriculum for Excellence.
All this is brought to life by highlighting
and celebrating effective practice within
our local communities.
BUILDING CAPACITY THROUGH
PRACTICE DEVELOPMENT
The LTS Communities team has
supported practice development
nationally through a series of
programmes, both in partnership
with national agencies, and locally
through our area development role.
For example, we worked with CLD
managers in Scotland to better
understand the impact of CLD and
deliver greater recognition of this vital
area of work. This was achieved by
researching our current methods of
collecting evidence, running local
projects to improve evidence collection
and improving the way in which we
present our findings. We delivered four
multi-agency seminars on self-evaluation
in partnership with YouthLink Scotland.
We also established a working group
on the role of CLD within education
for sustainable development, which
was tasked with developing support
materials and reporting back to the
Cabinet Secretary.
Partnership programmes with key
organisations have focused on areas
including leadership, self-evaluation,
schools and youth work partnerships,
raising awareness of specific learning
difficulties, financial capability, youth
literacies and demonstrating the impact
of CLD.
We teamed up with Linked Work
Training Trust to create a support
programme for learners making the
transition from community-based learning
STANDARDS COUNCIL
Since arriving at LTS in April 2010,
the Standards Council has made
significant progress in all three core
areas, the approval of CLD learning
programmes, the development of
a strategy and framework for CPD,
and the development of a registration
system for practitioners. In Approvals,
four new national courses have been
approved; refreshed Guidelines for the
Approval of CLD Learning Programmes
and new Mid Term Review Guidelines
have been published, and initial
research has been completed into a
Learning and Development Pathway for
CLD practitioners. In CPD, the national
strategy has been published and the
Framework is now in the final stages
to college-based learning, while
Learning Link Scotland collaborated on
support for practitioners in embedding
the adult literacy and numeracy
curriculum framework within adult
literacies practice.
Furthermore, we led in the development
and roll-out of qualifications for
practitioners, including PGDE (Adult
Literacies), HN Unit Adult Numeracy,
HN Unit Adult Literacy, Dyslexia PDA
and Workplace PDA.
of development. In Registration, there
has been a national consultation on the
proposed voluntary model and further
development work to support the use of
the Code of Ethics for CLD.
Through the Executive Committee, the
Standards Council has also developed
a number of initiatives to raise and
challenge standards of practice. These
include the production of resource
packs to support the refreshed CLD
Competences, the foundation of an
Ideas Academy to promote new and
challenging practice and approaches,
a national conversation asking how CLD
can contribute to Scotland as a learning
society, and a new website to coordinate
and communicate all of our work.
www.LTScotland.org.uk
17
Technologies for Learning
In 21st century Scotland, Glow is increasingly essential to the successful implementation of Curriculum for
Excellence. 2010 saw the final local authorities sign up to make use of Glow, and begin to roll out accounts
to staff, pupils and parents. The use of Glow has risen considerably. 2010 also saw the completion of Glow
Refresh, and LTS has led in the delivery of partnership opportunities for learning through Glow technology.
We continued our innovative work in the field of game based learning, and provided advice and guidance to
practitioners on adopting new practices in the classroom relating to emerging technology and internet safety.
We completed a major redevelopment of the LTS Online Service to improve usability and to ensure that the
website was fully aligned to Curriculum for Excellence.
EMBEDDING GLOW
This year, LTS has had considerable
success in raising and maintaining
awareness of Glow and its benefits. We
completed our annual survey of over
1,000 users, gathering their thoughts
and opinions on the use of Glow. We
have worked hard to encourage the
uptake and usage of Glow among the
learning and teaching community, and
have achieved the milestone of having
every defined user group signing the
customer agreement to make use of
Glow services. We have created a
total of 790,000 accounts, with over
400,000 accounts actively in use. We
have 70,000 weekly returners to Glow,
and importantly, have moved beyond
those traditionally seen as technically
proficient, and have seen many other
staff and pupils make use of Glow in
their learning and teaching.
‘Very relevant to
curriculum development
for S1-S3 course for
Curriculum for Excellence.
‘Seminars were of a high
quality and relevant to
my teaching practice.’
‘Feel really inspired!’
(Delegates, GAME2LEARN conference)
18 Transforming learning by supporting education
Glow now has more than 20 million
logins and with 90,000 Glow groups,
the top 500 of which attract more than
1 million hits per month. This suggests
that Glow is not just being logged
into, but rather is being embedded
in practice in a great number of
classrooms across the country. 10,000
blogs have been created, many of
which are used as portfolios and
records of achievement.
This year, we have focused on inspiring
sharing and professional collaboration
through Glow. Over 140 national
collaborative events have been held,
involving partners such as the National
Science Museum, Scottish Book Trust,
Creative Scotland, the BBC and
NASA. We have published more than
200 ‘Cookbooks’ – examples of how
people are using Glow in real life. The
eight Building Glow Community events
we held have supported communities
of practice in the areas of ASN,
Technologies, CPD, probationer support,
Science and Curriculum for Excellence
coordinators. We have also encouraged
local sharing of opportunities – such
as the e-Twinning Project offered
to everyone nationally by Kemnay
Academy – and of resources, for
example through Fife Council’s shared
interactive whiteboard resources and
Inverclyde’s ‘Tall Ships’ Glow group.
TECHNOLOGIES FOR GLOW
LTS has continued to lead the field in
exploring game based learning and
its impact on learning and teaching.
The research we published on the
Dr Kawashima Brain Training project
attracted considerable national
interest. With the help of enthusiastic
practitioners, we have conducted
several pilot projects in schools,
including investigating the potential of
some commonly available packages
to enhance learning. We helped to
develop virtual environments such as
CANVAS (Children’s Art in the National
Virtual Arena of Scotland) displaying
pupils’ art work from all 32 local
authorities in a 3D virtual world,
and a recreation of Linlithgow Palace.
‘(The LTS website) really is now A++. Fresh,
crisp and eye catching and easy to navigate
through. Congrats to all the team involved.’
(Head of Policy, Performance and Communication, from a local authority)
We ran a number of very successful
national conferences, including our
‘Internet Safety and Responsible Use’
conference, which was attended by
more than 150 delegates from around
the country, and ‘Game2Learn:Take
Two’, which attracted 240 delegates
to share ideas and practice on ways of
using game based learning in schools.
We have investigated the potential
of Interconnect 2.0 to create a Public
Sector Network, improving digital
connectivity for local authorities and
exploiting shared services in the public
sector. We have also explored new
ways in which Glow could inter-operate
with other technologies, in line with
trends in uptake and usage.
With an eye to the future, we have
conducted a national consultation on
Glow with all our stakeholders. The
recently-completed Glow Refresh added
a range of tools for learning including
blogs, wikis, discussion forums and new
Glow Meet tools. On a very practical
level, we have also investigated ways
of linking cashless catering with Glow
accounts. We even created an ‘app’
for mobile phones.
LTS ONLINE
This year saw the launch of the new,
integrated LTS Online Service, which
robustly supports the education community
and is fully aligned to Curriculum for
Excellence. This major re-development
project improved the overall efficiency
and effectiveness of the service by
providing a modern, integrated,
streamlined and user-focused offering.
The new website brings together
information and resources from a
range of former LTS websites including
Curriculum for Excellence, Glow
Scotland, Enterprise in Education,
‘Thanks for an enjoyable two days! I hope these
[new groups] will be useful for our whole school
and within our school cluster.’
‘Thanks for making Glow a bit less scary than
before! I have now set up an improved Glow group
for my class and a group for the school football
team with photos and league table etc.’
‘I’ve managed to create a blog for our authority’s
Early Years Group where they can share their
wider achievements and successes.’
(Building Glow Communities)
Global Citizenship, Inclusion and
Equality to make it easier for users to
find what they are looking for and make
links across all areas of learning.
The project included a new visual design,
new website structure, improvements
to search and a thorough content
review. Throughout the project extensive
user testing of the new website was
carried out with a number of education
practitioners, managers, local authority
officers, youth workers, social workers
and parents to ensure it met user needs.
Carefully selected, quality assured
content that is fully aligned to Curriculum
for Excellence, sits at the heart of the
new website alongside a wealth of
other, high-quality support materials.
Since the launch, we have continued to
publish a wide range of exciting online
resources including Glow Science,
Daily What news service, Weather
and Climate Change, Scotland’s Songs
and Scotland’s Stories and a case study
of Classical Languages. On the death
of Jimmy Reid, we also dedicated an
area to him on our Scotland’s History
website, to celebrate his life.
In 2010/11 we have had just under
4 million visitors to the LTS website.
We also launched the National
Assessment Resource, which supports
assessment approaches for Curriculum
for Excellence and where users can
access assessment materials developed
by LTS, SQA and practitioners.
www.LTScotland.org.uk
19
Area Advisers
Area Advisers worked closely
with partners across the
learning landscape in local
authorities to support them
in improving the quality of
education. By promoting
consistent cross-policy
messages they played a key
role in developing a shared
understanding of national
guidance and awareness
of support available for
staff. Through establishing,
supporting and promoting
key networks across local
authorities and partners,
Area Advisers built local
and national expertise and
capacity in ways that promote
the increasingly collaborative
culture of professional
discussion and sharing.
Partnerships are at the core of the Area
Advisers’ work. By drawing on the
combined expertise across their team,
all LTS directorates, local authority
colleagues and partner agencies, Area
Advisers provided and coordinated
customised support tailored to local
and national priorities and delivered
in ways that reflect local contexts.
Intelligence-led insights and knowledge
sharing from Area Advisers have directly
informed future work within LTS, and
have contributed to the work of Scottish
Government Learning Directorate and
national bodies such as HMIE and SQA.
20 Transforming learning by supporting education
Area Advisers have influenced practice
in Scotland and beyond in a number of
ways which include:
››
creating and sharing
good practice across
local authorities
››
promoting
coherence and
contributing to many local
authority Curriculum for
Excellence strategy groups
››
internationally showcasing
Scottish learning and
teaching approaches and
promoting the reputation
of the Scottish Learning
Festival as a highly
valuable CPD forum
››
developing
the innovative
Chalkface Glow blog in
response to practitioner
requests for a way to
collaborate with peers,
share practice, seek
solutions to their emerging
challenges and be directed
to a range of related
support for staff available.
Numbers of practitioners
contributing to the blog
have steadily and quickly
increased and it is
enthusiastically promoted
by strategic EA personnel
and a range of other
national partners.
Area Advisers’ contributions to continued
education improvement across Scotland
has frequently been praised and
positive impact noted. In particular,
strategic leaders have commented on
the added value of having a named key
LTS contact through the Area Adviser
who maintains a close supportive
relationship with their authority, who has
up-to-date knowledge of policy, access
to emerging practice and expertise
nationally and internationally, and who
can tailor support within a timescale
which meets their needs.
Corporate Services
The LTS Corporate Services team brings together expertise in corporate and programme communications;
finance, procurement and business performance; HR; distribution and customer services, and office services.
Our key objective in 2010/11 was to develop an efficient and effective public service and we have continued
to make progress in this area, within the staffing and financial pressures felt across the public sector and
beyond. One significant achievement of the past year was efficiency savings totalling £750k – comprising
£500k from ongoing efficiency measures in previous years and a further £250k of further savings.
COMMUNICATIONS
We planned and delivered detailed
communication and stakeholder
engagement strategies to support the
five LTS programmes. A key campaign
was to support the launch and
ongoing development of the National
Assessment Resource. The main aim of
this campaign was to raise awareness
and understanding of the resource and
to promote its benefits as a key tool
to help meet moderation requirements
within ‘Building the Curriculum 5’. A
second major campaign, Support for
Staff, was developed to highlight and
promote the range of support resources
available to practitioners to help embed
the experiences and outcomes of the
curriculum in their work. These resources
and the supporting campaign were
developed in response to practitioner
feedback and were designed to
provide stimulus for practical ideas and
professional thinking.
Glow was also a key focus for the year.
Following extensive user feedback,
the Glow team embarked on a refresh
of the service, and we devised a
supporting campaign to inform users
of new developments and the benefits
delivered.
Throughout all of our external
communication and stakeholder
campaigns, we made use of the diverse
range of communication channels
available. We placed considerable
emphasis on e-communications, which
proved an efficient and effective means
of reaching our stakeholders. Social
media also developed into an integral
element of our campaigns, reflecting its
growing popularity in the wider world.
Our internal communications
strategy was developed through staff
consultation, resulting in a framework
which delivers relevant and timely
information and facilitates cross
programme engagement.
FINANCE, PROCUREMENT AND
BUSINESS PERFORMANCE
We have created a more user-friendly
interface with staff and increased
functionality by upgrading our finance
and management information systems.
For suppliers, we have improved our
speed of payment. We have also
successfully delivered improvements
in our management and programme
reporting by simplifying the procedure
in conjunction with other areas of the
organisation and our external users.
By adopting the Scottish Government
collaborative contracts, we have
realised cash savings of £68k and
non-cash savings of £8k, resulting in a
total saving of £76k (13%) on a spend
of £579k. The continued monitoring of
programme expenditure has enabled us
to identify cost pressures and assist the
front-line programmes in re-allocating
resource and re-prioritising their
educational outputs.
In 2010/11 a number of prestigious awards recognised LTS’s position as a
communications leader. We were proud to receive the following accolades:
CIPR Pride Awards 2010 – Gold winner in Best
Magazine category for Connected magazine
CIPR Pride Awards 2010 – Finalist in Best Event
category for Scottish Learning Festival
Scottish Event Awards – 2010 – Commendation in
Best Educational Event for Scottish Learning Festival
www.LTScotland.org.uk
21
CORPORATE SERVICES
93.4%
71.8%
63.8%
of delegates said
that attendance at
SLF is beneficial to
their professional
development.
of delegates attend
to take part in
the conference
programme.
of delegates attend
to keep up to date on
educational initiatives.
SCOTTISH LEARNING
FESTIVAL 2010
The Scottish Learning Festival 2010 was
the biggest and best to date offering
educationalists the opportunity to attend
the largest CPD event of the year.
SLF 2010 combined internationally
renowned speakers with a wide-ranging
seminar programme, demonstration
areas and practitioner-led activities
covering all areas of education, all
complemented by the exhibition which
brought together commercial suppliers
and leading thinkers into Scotland’s
largest educational exhibition.
Over 6,500 delegates attended SLF
2010 with every local authority in
Scotland represented. Almost half of the
delegates were first time visitors to SLF.
SLF 2010 also welcomed international
delegates from countries including
Australia, New Zealand, India,
Paraguay, Germany, Holland, Iceland,
Norway, Estonia, France, Portugal, and
Spain.
For the first time pupils from two local
schools and the LTS Pupil Advisory
group were involved in chairing
seminars, assisting with press and
media, as directional support and
meeting and greeting delegates. Over
325 pupils took part in seminars and
demonstrations over the two days.
The theme of SLF 2010 was ‘Curriculum
for Excellence: Enhancing Experiences,
Raising Standards’. SLF 2010
showcased successful, innovative
approaches to learning and teaching,
and brought together examples of
educational practice, leadership and
management strategies from across
Scotland and beyond.
22 Transforming learning by supporting education
The Cabinet Secretary attended SLF
on the Wednesday and took part in a
range of activities including a Keynote
presentation, a walk-through in the
exhibition area and a press briefing.
Feedback from Cabinet Secretary was
very positive.
In addition to the two-day event that
took place at the SECC, a range of
activities were also available on Glow
through the SLF Extra Glow Group.
Online activities took place before,
during and after SLF 2010 ensuring that
the reach of SLF 2010 was extended
beyond the physical event in Glasgow.
The Cabinet Secretary attended SLF on the
Wednesday and took part in a range of
activities including a Keynote presentation,
a walk-through in the exhibition area and
a press briefing. Feedback from Cabinet
Secretary was very positive.
HUMAN RESOURCES
Work continued throughout the year
to ensure that staffing models and
resources supported the delivery of LTS
objectives. For example, we conducted
a major skills analysis exercise to
determine the skills and knowledge
available within the organisation and to
inform the future development of all staff.
Continuing professional development
remained a priority, and we
implemented a new e-learning resource
to support CPD for all staff, in addition
to the provision of internal and external
learning and development opportunities.
Managers also received training to
ensure the effective management of
performance across the organisation.
DISTRIBUTION AND CUSTOMER
SERVICES
In 2010/11 we dispatched a
massive 210,000 items of educational
material for Scottish schools and other
key partners, as well as supporting
275 CPD and dissemination events
throughout Scotland for our education
practitioners.
We sold a total of £675k of software
to Scottish educational establishments,
resulting in savings of around £225k to
Scottish schools. We completed more
work for external organisations, totalling
around 44% of our overall workload. This
enabled us to share the benefits of our
efficient operations (less than 0.12% mail
return rate) with other public sector bodies.
OFFICE SERVICES
In Dundee, we reconfigured our Distribution Centre to accommodate additional staff,
and we prepared to move our other staff in Dundee to a new Scottish Government
shared service location in the city centre.
Considerable work was completed
to ensure that LTS’s people policies
maintained pace with changes in
legislation and supported the needs
of the organisation and staff. Equality
and diversity was a key focus for the
organisation, and we successfully
achieved the 2Ticks Disability
accreditation with the support of the
NDPB Equalities Forum and our links
with external organisations.
www.LTScotland.org.uk
23
Learning and Teaching Scotland
The Optima, 58 Robertson Street,
Glasgow G2 8DU
Learning and Teaching Scotland is a registered
Scottish charity, charity number SC030217.
24 Transforming learning by supporting education
Customer Services: 0141 282 5000
enquiries@LTScotland.org.uk
www.LTScotland.org.uk