THE JOURNEY TO EXCELLENCE – LEARNING TOGETHER RESOURCE
Learning Together: Valuing and
Empowering Staff and Young People
Achieving success for all learners
Journey to Excellence
Professional development pack topics have been chosen to help you plan a
journey through popular staff development themes. They provide “guided tours”
through some of the resources on The Journey to Excellence website as a
window onto excellent practice. Engaging with the associated activities will help
you to reflect on and develop your practice purposefully.
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This resource will be updated to reflect new and innovative
approaches as Curriculum for Excellence is developed. Please
email or comment in the box below any feedback on the
resource or suggestions for improvement to help keep the
resource up to date.
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“I am who I am because of everyone”
Orange TV advert (2008)
Purpose of this activity
This pack will assist you to consider and improve the ways in which all the people in
your school are valued and engaged. Above all, the pack illustrates the ways in which
learners and staff can work together to focus on learning and to assume greater levels
of responsibility for shaping the future direction of the school. The activities will help
you to reflect on the ways in which you contribute to the planning and implementation
of your school’s journey to excellence.
This pack is particularly relevant to what we do to help our pupils meet the purposes
and aims of the curriculum 3-18:
Learning outcomes
After completing this professional development pack you will be able to:
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identify some of the ways in which the capabilities of individuals and groups,
including learners, teachers and parents, can be increased;
increase your awareness of how valuing and empowering learners, teachers and
others can assist a school on its journey to excellence;
discover the kinds of things which schools across Scotland are doing to develop
relationships and attitudes that contribute to more creative learning and to better
personal development;
participate in professional reflection and debate on the key aspects broad area of
learning; and
plan and implement a strategy to build on and improve your school’s approaches to
valuing and empowering all staff and young people.
Who is this for?
This pack is for all those who work with learners in all sectors. It has particular
relevance for those who design and deliver learning experiences in the classroom, both
teachers and support staff. It will be of interest to a wide range of partners and
professionals working in other sectors and who contribute to children’s learning.
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What will I/we need to work through this programme?
You will need access to the online resource that supports The Journey to Excellence.
Is this an individual activity or do I need to work with others?
The core activities enable you to work individually at a time and place of your choice.
However, you may prefer to work with colleagues and to discuss and reflect on how
empowering staff and young people can bring about improvement. You may wish to
discuss how this may be taken forward at classroom, stage, departmental and whole
school levels. The pack may easily be adapted to enable larger groups of staff to work
through it collaboratively.
How long will it take?
The programme is designed to be open-ended to enable you to pursue your own
particular interests and to reflect on how, individually and collectively, your school
values and empowers all those within it. It concludes with an open-ended integrative
task. However, the core activities should take around four hours to work through.
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Introduction
Introductory movie: Empowerment
This initial movie summarises the key characteristics of an excellent
school that values and empowers its
staff and pupils.
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Having their capabilities extended.
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Being empowered to influence the future development and
direction of the school.
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Giving pupils a voice and enabling them to take responsibility.
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Being encouraged through a vibrant and progressive school
culture and climate.
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Extending the capabilities of learners
“When the strong help the weak, it makes us all stronger”
Gordon Brown (2007)
Having their capabilities extended
This movie summarises the key points in the improvement guide:
Key points
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Developing pupils' skills and capabilities as learners: understanding the ways
in which they, and others, learn
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High quality and focused induction and professional development for staff
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Having professional and personal concerns considered and addressed
The following movies illustrate how some schools develop pupils’ capabilities as
learners and provide them with better insights into how they and others learn. You can
use the summaries to select the movies which you think are most relevant to you and
your school.
Remember, many of the important aspects are generic and have relevance for teachers
irrespective of the sector in which they are working. As you watch the movies note
down the aspects that you:
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recognise in your own school
think could assist your school on its journey to excellence.
Notre Dame High School – “Empowerment: a community of innovation” This movie
emphasises the importance of what happens in the classroom, the promotion of
innovative approaches and more independent learning.
St. Thomas of Aquin’s – “Empowerment: making a difference” In this movie senior
pupils describe how they work alongside teachers, particularly in the PE department.
Queensferry Primary School – “The potential of ICT” The movie demonstrates how the
incorporation of ICT into learning and teaching has contributed to a more confident and
critical approach to learning amongst pupils.
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How do you
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develop your learners’ skills and learning capabilities?
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enable your pupils to think about the ways they learn?
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create opportunities for your pupils to assist others with their learning?
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provide your pupils with opportunities to plan their own learning?
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ensure that the learning needs of all pupils are met – including those with
additional support needs?
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create opportunities to work with your pupils as joint learners?
One way of exploring the possibilities is to plan and deliver a number of
lessons/learning experiences that will enable your pupils to think about their
learning and to understand more clearly how they and others learn. You can
use your notes and responses to the previous exercise to help you.
You might want to share the learning outcomes and approaches you are using
with your learners and ask them to evaluate your success.
Extending the capabilities of staff
“Some previously borderline teachers became the leaders of the school, and
people who would not traditionally have come to me began to deal with me more
directly than complain in the lounge. There’s a lot more trust and feeling of
ownership.”
(American elementary school principal quoted in Fiske, 1992, p43)
The next set of four movies illustrates the ways in which some schools have extended
the confidence and capabilities of staff. When you watch the movies you might want to
note down the ways in which the schools have done this. Record these in two columns
Key ideas
e.g. sharing information
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How they achieve this
school intranet
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Whitletts Primary School – Empowerment: recognising potential The focus of this
movie is empowerment, where a primary school support staff member has been
given the opportunity to lead various projects. This movie highlights why it is
important to recognise potential in all staff for the benefit of the whole school.
Campsie View School – Empowerment: an inclusive environment In this movie
staff and parents reflect on the inclusive nature of the school and the role of CPD in
developing staff confidence and skills.
Craigmount High School – Empowerment: creating a challenging environment This
movie reflects on the value of effective induction for staff and of high quality
professional development.
Return to your list and add in the ways that your school extends the confidence and
capability of staff. Are there any from the original list that you would like to develop
in your establishment? Highlight them in blue
How could you further develop some of these ideas within your school?
Creativity of groups
In this movie, David Weinberger makes a case for fostering creativity within groups
and explains how online learning can facilitate this.
Having watched the clip, you could highlight the main messages of the movie on the
transcript below.
Creativity of groups – David Weinberger
The part of creativity that interests me most is.... needs encouragement... it's not so
much the creativity of the individual student holding a crayon that’s important but I
believe schools do quite well with that sort of creativity. It’s the creativity of groups that
worries me more.
We have this infrastructure now available to us thorough the digital world where it's not,
simply, that individuals go on with a crayon and do whatever they want – do their own
drawings... of course they can do that but that’s not the fundamentally important
transformative aspect of this infrastructure… it's that we can connect with other people,
that we can create works together... that we can try out ideas in public and have the
refined conversation that any idea that we have, no matter how good, will almost
immediately be taken up in ways that will thrill us and disputed in ways that will, initially,
aggravate us and then we will see that the idea gets better because of its ‘publicness’.
The notion that there is a single right and wrong, that there is a single way of doing
things will not stand in a world that’s been connected. So the creativity of individuals
that are artistic, their impulse will never be squashed and we need to continue it further,
but the part that is at issue, I believe, is the creativity of groups – the ability of a set of
people to, through conversation and discussion, through an open curiosity and a critical
acceptance of one another... all of which are conditions for creativity, the ability of
groups to talk together and create their views in public, needs to be encouraged.”
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To what extent do staff in your establishment generate ideas together and share
them publicly?
Professional dialogue
Informally discuss with your line manager the types of continuing professional
development (CPD) that you might access to extend your capabilities in the ways
illustrated in this key aspect.
You might find it helpful to bring together all the ideas generated during this activity and
make an action plan to take forward some of your ideas for improvement.
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Being empowered to influence the future development and
direction of the school
The movie: Being empowered to influence the future development and
direction of the school summarises the following key points.
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Contributing to monitoring, reviewing and revising the
vision for the school.
Being involved in planning sustainable change and
improvement.
Contributing to decision making at appropriate times and
levels.
Questioning constructively how things are done in school.
Read the accompanying improvement guide. Note down on ‘post its’ or something
similar the opportunities that exist in your school for staff and pupils to be empowered
to influence the future development and direction of the school
Use the following summaries to identify and select the movies that appear most
relevant to your school’s current position and how you would like to see your school
develop.
Note down anything you see in the movies that could help improve your school. You
might find it helpful to use colour for these notes to distinguish them from those you
made earlier.
Empowerment: involving young people
This movie demonstrates how the school involves pupils in reviewing and contributing
to the preparation of the school improvement plan.
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Empowerment: making a difference
This movie describes how all staff are involved in quality teams with specific
responsibilities for aspects of development and improvement.
Empowerment: making a difference in secondary .
This movie illustrates how staff have become involved in grassroots development and
have become more open and mutually supportive in promoting effective learning.
You will now have two sets of colour-coded notes.
Set 1: Current opportunities to influence the future development and direction of the
school
Set 2: Ideas for improvement
Select a few ideas from the second set and discuss with colleagues.
Which ones if implemented would result in staff and pupils “being further empowered
to influence the future development and direction of the school”?
How would this improve learning?
Select a class or group of learners that you teach or for whom you have responsibility
and carry out a similar exercise with them.
Implement and evaluate one or two of their suggestions.
Share the outcomes with learners. Perhaps the pupil council could be involved.
What about parents and other partners? Think of new and creative ways to involve
them in decision making within your school.
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Giving pupils a voice and enabling them to take responsibility
“Somehow educators have forgotten the important connection between teachers
and students. We listen to outside experts to inform us and consequently overlook
the treasure in our very own backyard, the students.”
SooHoo (1993) quoted in MacBeath (2004)
Key points
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Pupils’ involvement in genuine decision making that is relevant to them.
Supporting other pupils.
Ensuring that the views of all pupils are taken into account through
effective consultation.
Giving pupils a voice and enabling them to take responsibility
This movie summarises the key points in the relevant improvement guide. As you
watch the movie you might like to reflect on the following issues.
How do you:
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involve your pupils in decisions about their learning and the
future direction of the school?
provide all learners with a genuine sense of responsibility and ownership for
appropriate aspects of school development?
prepare and support learners for assuming positions and roles of responsibility?
involve pupils in the life of the local, national and international communities?
monitor and evaluate the contributions of learners to the school and the wider
community?
Giving pupils a voice and enabling them to take responsibility
The next movie illustrates how a school involved learners in making decisions
about the future work of their school and took into account the ‘pupil voice’. The
learners themselves describe how their efforts have improved the learning
environment.
As you watch the movie note down the ways in which the school has indicated to
the learners that their views are important and taken seriously.
How has the school provided them with appropriate levels of responsibility?
What are the pupils’ perceptions of the extent to which they have been provided
with a voice?
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Empowerment: independent women
The movie demonstrates how the school has promoted pupil responsibility,
leadership and decision-making. The role of the school newspaper, “Independent
Women”, is a particular feature.
Using the improvement guide below:
You could construct a questionnaire for learners and staff and ask a representative
group of learners and staff to complete it independently.
e.g.
Q1 My/Young people’s views are regularly sought, discussed with them
and taken account of?
Strongly agree: agree: disagree: strongly disagree: don’t know:
Compare and contrast the results. You may find some interesting features, for
example were the staff more positive about some questions than pupils?
Younger pupils or those for whom reading and writing is difficult may need support
to complete questionnaires. What kind of support is available in your establishment
to enable ALL learners to give their view?
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Giving pupils a voice and enabling them to take responsibility –
improvement guide
A school is good to the extent
that…
A school is excellent to the extent that…
Specific pupils are given responsibilities
for particular activities and aspects of
school life. Pupils have opportunities to
make their opinions known and their
views are listened to when decisions
are being made.
Young people are involved in making decisions about
the future work of the school. Their views are
regularly sought, discussed with them and taken into
account. They receive feedback, and when their
suggestions are not taken on board they are given
explanations. Pupils are given responsibility, for
example, for the management of a project budget.
Pupils’ concerns and complaints are recorded and
taken seriously. Feedback is provided to pupils who
make complaints. Pupils have confidence in the
actions taken by the school to address their concerns.
Staff ensure that the views of all pupils are
considered.
Young people are encouraged to
become involved in activities with the
wider community, including youth work
opportunities, organised competitions
and participation in the arts and sport.
Young people willingly assume positions of
responsibility and become involved as active and
responsible members of the community. They are
given support and training in developing the
necessary skills. They take part in activities such as
action against bullying, and peer support and
mentoring schemes. They take active roles in
charitable work, building strong local partnerships
and developing and sustaining international links.
Young people suggest improvements to
the school environment and wider
community through mechanisms such
as pupil councils.
Many young people, staff, parents and members of
the wider community plan, consult and work
collaboratively to improve the school environment
and the experiences the school provides for its pupils.
The pupil council, or equivalent, has taken on
challenging issues and has been successful in having
a positive impact on important aspects of school life
and on the wider community.
“Everyone gets a turn, it's not always the same people giving suggestions and
making decisions.”
P7 pupil
Now you might like to plan and carry out a learning activity within your own
classroom or area of work that will provide your learners with opportunities to
participate in genuine decision-making and to assume appropriate levels of
responsibility.
You could involve them in evaluating the success of that activity.
Being encouraged through a vibrant and progressive
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school culture and climate
Key points
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Recognising and praising excellent work done by all members of the school
community.
Promoting professional trust and confidence.
Encouraging creativity, problem solving and innovation.
Being encouraged through a vibrant and progressive school culture and climate
This movie summarises the key points in the improvement guide in The Journey to
Excellence, p99. As you watch the movie reflect on the following issues.
How do you
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model high expectations and professional standards?
recognise and celebrate the achievements of your learners and any staff for
whom you have responsibility?
gather and act on feedback on your own performance?
work in creative and innovative ways and encourage others, including learners
and staff, to work in a similar ways?
Being encouraged through a vibrant and progressive school culture and climate
These two movies are further examples of what the featured schools have done to
create a culture and climate that is ambitious for everyone, contributes to positive
relationships and encourages affiliation with the school.
As you watch the movies you could note down ways in which the featured schools
resemble your own. Are there things that you think your school does better than those
in the movie? Do you think there are aspects of your school’s climate and culture that
could be improved? If so, how could you do this? You may wish to refer back to your
notes from the previous sections.
Empowerment: whole school commitment
This movie illustrates the school’s commitment to the whole child and the
recognition that every member of the school community has something to
contribute.
Empowerment: promoting pupil voice
This movie illustrates the ways the school uses its community to build pupils’
confidence and a sense of mutual respect.
If you wanted to evaluate the culture and climate of your classroom and/or school to
judge the extent to which it is “vibrant and progressive”, what questions would you
ask? Who would you ask? What types of evidence would you gather?
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One possibility could be to construct and administer a small-scale 360 degree
evaluation with some of the stakeholders who would be familiar with your work. The
diagram below shows three key sources of evidence.
From “How good is our school?” page 12
You might find it helpful to construct and complete a table like the one below or devise
your own. You may not have something to write in each box. Why do you think that is?
Would it make a difference to the climate and culture in your class if there was?
Creating a vibrant and progressive culture and climate in my class/stage/
department or establishment
Stakeholder
You
Learners
Colleagues
Parents
Partners
Quantitative data
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People’s view
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Direct observation
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Creativity
What do you understand by the term “creativity”?
You could brainstorm some ideas with a colleague or with a group. As is usual in this
kind of exercise, accept all ideas at this stage.
Movies on Creativity
These movies feature the perspectives of a number of leading national and
international educationists on the importance of developing creativity in its broadest
sense among our learners, and our teachers.
As you watch the movies it might help to begin to refine your list of ideas. You may
wish to discard, reword or elaborate some. You may also wish to add others to your
list.
Creative thinking Carol McGuinness
This movie suggests that we need to value thinking and ideas more highly and, at
times, to suspend critical and evaluative thinking to allow ideas to “flow”.
Creativity Dylan Wiliam
Wiliam suggests that the emphasis in schools should be redressed to focus on thinking
rather than remembering. As teachers we need to be more creative in our approaches
and to encourage more creativity amongst our learners.
Permission to be creative Brian Boyd
In this movie Boyd considers the emerging importance of collaborative learning and the
relevance of lateral thinking.
Fostering creativity Ian Smith
This movie stresses that creativity is relevant to all subject areas. It also considers why
approaches to learning may be less creative in secondary schools.
Creativity and stickability Brian Boyd
Boyd explores the idea that intelligence can be grown. He also considers the
connection between creativity and how learners react to difficulty and short-term failure.
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You could now edit your list down to three or four key statements about “creativity” that
best sum up what you/the group believe/s to be the essential elements that you would
like to promote and develop in your setting.
You can post these up around your class or school in a way which captures people’s
attention, for example a continuous loop PowerPoint in the entrance hall, or a well
designed poster. You could involve your learners in the making of this.
Optional:
You might want to ask various stakeholders for their reactions and views about the
statements you have collected.
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Integrated Task
This task is designed to be done over a longer period of time than the others in this
pack. You may wish to discuss it with your line manager if it is to contribute to your
future professional development or to the improvement plan for your school.
You might want to adopt a whole school approach to the task or tailor it to fit the
context of your classroom, area of work or department.
The outcome of a recent evaluation using QI 2.1 Learners’ experiences and QI 3.1
The engagement of staff in the life and work of the school has given rise to
concern. The school has decided to work on the theme, Values and empowers
its staff and young people.
Your role is to prepare an action plan to bring about improvement in that area.
(You may wish to focus on all of the key features of the dimension or those that
you consider most relevant to your school at present.)
Your plan should be sufficiently detailed to include:
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Actions to be taken, by whom and by when
Success criteria ensuring that the outcomes for learners are specified
Resource requirements
Arrangements for monitoring and evaluation.
You will need feedback on your action plan before you implement it, and also
during the project itself and at the conclusion. You could ask an appropriate
person such as a colleague, a mentor or your line manager to do this for you.
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And finally
Research abstracts
The online resource that supports The Journey to Excellence also provides abstracts of
research relevant to each broad area of excellence. The following abstracts are
available for ‘People’. Research abstracts for key area of excellence: People
Fraser, BJ (1999) “Using Learning Environment Assessments to Improve Classroom
and School Climates”, in Frieberg, HJ (Ed) School Climate; Measuring, Improving and
Sustaining Healthy Learning Environments, Falmer Press
Kolbe, K and Weede S (2001) “Teaching Pro-Social Skills to Young Children to
Increase Emotionally Intelligent Behaviour”, paper presented at the annual general
meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans
Margo, J and Dixon, M (2006) Freedom’s Orphans: Raising Youth in a Challenging
World, Institute of Public Policy Research
OECD (2000) PISA “School factors related to Quality and Equity”
Ruddock, J and Flutter, J (2003) How to Improve Your School, Continuum
“The beauty of empowering others is that your own power is not diminished in the
process”
Barbara Colorose
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