Forth Valley College AEV 30 April 2014
Excellent practice
Schools College Opportunities to Succeed (SCOTS) – Raising Aspiration,
Developing Vocational Awareness and Supporting Progression.
The Schools College Opportunities to Succeed (SCOTS) programme targets pupils
in S4 at secondary school who are at risk of not successfully achieving at SCQF
level 4. These young people may not have considered college as a post-school
destination, or have no clear idea of what vocational route they might like to follow.
These are not the most disengaged young people, but are young people who, whilst
still attending school regularly, are at risk of not progressing to a positive, sustained
destination on leaving school.
The programme has been planned and delivered jointly by a team of school and
college staff. They meet regularly as an extended programme team to plan
activities, monitor progress, evaluate and make adjustments. The college provides
structured three-week taster experiences in eight different vocational subjects over
the academic year and all of the participating pupils are expected to undertake all of
the subjects. Teachers in schools work with their SCOTS pupils for a minimum of a
double period each week in school, supporting the pupils to use what they are
learning in college to work towards SQA units, which form part of the SCQF Falkirk
Employability Award. College and school staff and pupils have access to a shared
on-line resource bank of resources on the college’s virtual learning environment.
School and college tutors are in regular communication about attendance and
progress. The college provides a report on each pupil at the end of each three week
block and both school and college staff use these reports to praise, encourage and
to follow up on any issues with the individual learners. Pupils who stay on the course
and have a good attendance and performance record are guaranteed a place on a
Skills for Work course in the college during S5.
Research shows that participation in a school-college partnership course almost
doubles a young person’s likelihood of progressing onto a full-time college course
after leaving school. Discussions with teachers, pastoral advisers and lecturers
confirm that the most successful transitions occur when school staff felt wellinformed about the college courses their pupils were undertaking and where the
college course was viewed as a significant, integral and equal part of the pupil’s
overall curriculum.
One of the aims of the SCOTS course is to improve retention on school-college
partnership programmes and have a positive impact on the young person’s overall
senior phase experience. The college is already seeing clear evidence of positive
impact on the young people. Of the 120 pupils who commenced the course, 100
have been retained. Fifteen of those who dropped out were from one school, in
which the course was not given equal status with the rest of the pupils’ curriculum.
Of the 100, 85 are returning to school in S5 and will attend college on a Skills for
Forth Valley College AEV 30 April 2014
Work course; six are returning to school to focus on Nationals; two have progressed
onto hairdressing training and the remaining seven are being supported to consider
training options within the Council while they seek employment.
Feedback from the schools tells us that being part of the SCOTS course has had a
marked positive impact on many of the young participants back at school. There are
many examples of improvements in school attendance, attitude to school work and
performance. All of the participating schools are confident that all of the pupils
remaining on the SCOTS course will have achieved their three SQA employability
units (Responsibilities of Employment; Preparing for Employment – First Steps;
Building Own Employability Skills) by the end of the academic year.
Those pupils who return to school and undertake a Skills for Work course will, if they
complete this course in S5, achieve any other Nationals required and have a good
lecturer reference, be given a guaranteed place on an appropriate full-time course
when they leave school.