Tag Archives: Building Your Curriculum

Abercromby Primary- Skills Approach⤴

from @ Education Scotland's Learning Blog

The school supports Clackmannanshire’s aim of increasing the number of pupils reaching positive destinations. The aim of the ‘Skills Academy’ at Abercromby Primary is to develop skills for learning, life and work from Early to Second Level, across a broad range of curricular areas. The school believe that building confidence to achieve goals should begin as early as possible for all our pupils, alongside equipping them with the skills to achieve this.

Abercromby staff recognise the involvement of our whole school community as being key to driving forward the aims of our Skills Academy. This includes parental involvement and partnerships with the wider community, local business and Forth Valley College. Parents have been involved in planning, leading learning through sharing their knowledge and expertise by giving talks and setting up practical activities and challenges for our learners, as well as volunteering their time to support groups of children on visits.

One afternoon per week is dedicated to skills development for all learners. Activities are planned around ‘I can statements’ from the Careers Education Scotland Standard 3-18 with strong links to Literacy, Numeracy and HWB.

Year 1:
P6 and P7 pupils were allocated to groups based on their future ambitions and interests and worked on a 10 week project. All pupils visited Forth Valley College – Alloa Campus to learn about courses on offer and the facilities. Pupils returned with positive impressions of further education.

There were 5 work streams consisting of:

Food Technology – pupils participated in cookery lessons and focused on skills, hygiene, safety and using equipment. They had a visit from a chef, cake decorator and local butcher who talked about their career paths, qualifications and skills required for their job as well as leading experiences. Pupils also visited the Hospitality Department at Forth Valley College Stirling and the Home Economics department at the local high school.

Design and Manufacture – The pupils visited the Engine Shed in Stirling twice, to learn about the design of buildings, materials, resources and architecture around the world. A local Graphic Designer delivered a session, looking at various companies’ logos and design. Pupils also visited FVC Design and Media Department. Focus on STEM.

Money Sense and Enterprise – Pupils set up their own business, created a name, logo, market research and set up their business, Slime Time.

Community – Pupils worked with a volunteer in the school and community garden, making bird feeders, planting flowers and vegetables. They were also involved in the renovation of Cambus Woods, planting trees and continuing to monitor their progress.

Creativity – Pupils are working towards creating a documentary about our new school. They began by looking at films and discussed the format of a documentary and narrative. They have begun to write storylines for their own film.

Year 2 –
This Session is built on existing practice and extended across the school.  There was an initial discussion/lesson and timeline designed by each learner. Each week the children move round in a carousel format to the different planned activities.

Diageo, a local employer are supporting sessions with senior pupils, including 5 week blocks with 2 engineers and 2 scientists. FVC and Robertsons are also supporting 5 week blocks. Their IDL Skills Academy Poster was showcased at a recent conference at the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Statistics show that pupils in Clackmannanshire are more likely to be unemployed and less likely to go on to positive destinations on leaving school, than the average pupils in Scotland. Additionally unemployment is closely linked to deprivation deciles. Just under 40% of pupils reside in deciles 1 and 2, which means statistically those pupils are less likely to find employment in future.

The Skills Academy is providing a structure to ensure positive outcomes for our learners. This programme has been designed, taking account of evaluations and feedback . It is tailored to meet the needs of all learners and will continue to develop depending on interests and skills development required to support future goals. This starts in the nursery where children are developing skills through daily activities and increasingly taking on more roles of responsibility.

Abercromby are  making the most of all the opportunities afforded by their unique position of having a campus.  Partnership with Robertson Construction ensures that pupils from all stages are exposed to experiences related to ‘jobs’ on the site. This involves visiting the site and recording progress in mixed age groups and Robertson staff working with pupils in the school and nursery on numerous activities, with a strong focus on STEM and team building challenges.

All pupils have the opportunity to participate in all activities within their year group, ensuring a well-rounded experience. All are included and participation in this programme which impacts positively on their health and wellbeing, ensuring that they are equipped with the essential skills, knowledge and attributes for further education, the world of work and beyond.

Relationships across our whole school community are stronger, which impacts on  learner’s health and wellbeing and future prospects. This partnership has supported the driving of the programme forward. Everyone’s contributions are valued and there is real sense of ‘team’.

Staff have improved their understanding and practice of DYW. A Baseline was completed using the Careers Education Scotland Standard Self-Evaluation Tool.  Informed planning with members of staff taking responsibility for planning work streams and activities. Resources to support DYW were purchased through PEF. Staff have enjoyed working with mixed groups of children who are not in their class. Pupils have also benefited from working in different teams.

Pupil have been involved in consultation and evaluations. Pupil are engaged in Skills Academy Learning. They have had careers related experiences they would not have otherwise had. Pupils are thinking more about careers and engaging more in focused discussions about future employment. They are more aware of job opportunities and different roles and skills required for jobs they weren’t aware of before. They have increased their knowledge of local employers. They have been fully engaged and motivated when they have been working with parents and other partners. They have developed new employability skills and have contributed to improving their local environment.

Bramble Brae Primary School- Partnership Approach to DYW⤴

from @ Education Scotland's Learning Blog

Bramble Brae School worked with all stakeholders to redesign a bespoke curriculum for the school. Creativity and employability skills are being developed within the curriculum as they engage with local employers to create an enriching and inspiring learning environment: making connections across different areas of learning and using whole school themes to encourage involvement and deepen understanding.

Through this, the school is developing materials and opportunities for learning in a wide variety of contexts and settings: from the local supermarket; to a nearby building site and visits from local musicians to share stories about local history and traditions throughout the school. Displays, open mornings, assemblies and local radio interviews are some of the ways in which the children share their skills and the value of their experiences with others.

The school motto: Belonging, Believing Achieving encapsulates the vision, values and aims that Bramble Brae aspire to. To support this the school embarked on a unique approach by employing a Business and Community Ambassador, more commonly known as the ‘Good Fairy’ by staff and pupils; a first for Aberdeen City. Through working collaboratively with teachers and pupils, she initiates and develops relevant links with businesses, employers and third sector partners across the city, country and even the world! This has resulted in the ‘World of Work’ being embedded across the curriculum and throughout the school, with links from Nursery through to P7. This role also provides flexibility to meet with potential partners and provides valuable and meaningful communication between all partners to share information about the particular and specific needs and aspirations of children and allows freedom to develop learning materials which can be built upon for successive year groups. The partnerships benefit pupils within school and in after school activities. The school runs entrepreneurial activities throughout all classes and has an annual showcase, celebratory event that all are invited to.

In P6 employability skills are developed with partners to provide a real insight into the skills pupils are developing: their strengths and preferences in how they make choices in different situations which leads to them analysing and then ultimately becoming mini-apprentices in real life roles within the school. This work augments the world of work ‘Animal Me’ exercises by involving a local psychologist from a business consultancy introducing personality tests to build confidence then looks at what each individual child brings to the world. The school have then built links with the University Business School and lecturers help them to understand how skills they are developing are sought for specific roles in the world of work.

Mock interviewing is a brilliant way of building resilience and communication skills and each applicant works within their chosen role either within the school, or within the local community library or secondary school if they choose to apply for a librarian position. The School’s programme has been recognised by Skills Development Scotland who shared this as good practice with other schools after meeting the children involved. They have information for a case study which they are hoping to share online in the future. By looking at familiar jobs within the school the children developed an understanding of how people help them and have become more responsible in their behaviour and approach to others. It’s also helped them identify skills they have or can acquire for the work of work and widened their horizons. They enjoyed sharing this learning with other classes and parents/carers in the showcase celebration event too. It’s encouraged them to challenge perceptions of themselves and others as well as enhancing their learning across all areas of the curriculum.

Throughout the school all pupils develop employability and creativity skills with whole school contexts for learning across the year.

– A new theme starts with all pupils identifying their BIG questions
– These are shared with the ‘Good Fairy’ looks at possible links, resources or visits
– All work collaboratively to facilitate these.
– Through this approach, there is a focus on personalisation and choice.

Promoting equity, equality, diversity and inclusion through their partnerships to develop employability and creativity. This innovative approach enables access to world of work for the children. Many of whom do not have access to family and friends to ask about this. These experiences are particularly valuable for many of our children who live within an area designated as a ‘regeneration area’ and who have many different experiences through school which increase their social capital. Some examples include:

A female engineer visiting to talk about renewable energy. They embraced the chance to ask her about what she did in the oil and gas industry. Through this link, the children were then able to explore diversity and equality further through an expansive Flat Stanley activity by writing letters to her work colleagues across the globe asking about where they lived and what it was like there.

Event where they invited 4 local schools to take part in an event to tackle gender stereotyping and perceptions about the world of work. A huge benefit in reducing gender stereotypes and inspiring pupils was reported after this highly interactive event.

Looking at the local environment and visiting new housing close to the school that pupils were interested in. They arranged a whole class visit to the building site. Being with builders, architects and site managers provided an insight into skills for future jobs.

Impacts on the learners include an increase in self-determination, self-esteem, self-belief and enthusiasm plus suggestions of whom we might engage with to enrich their learning experiences. By having and building upon partner relationships the children and teachers, feel comfortable in asking questions and there are reciprocal benefits in terms of understanding for employers about current education practice, the value of their input in making a positive difference and, often, a renewed interest in their own role within an organisation having explained what they do and what they enjoy about their job to a class of inquisitive pupils. Also, with a move towards diversity, equality and inclusion within our business partners’ corporate social responsibility values, their involvement with our school and community supports these values. The school celebrates success together and within the community.

During the summer term, each class puts together activities and materials to celebrate and share how they’ve engaged with organisations to develop their employability and creativity skills. This whole school showcase is open to all parents/carers; partners and the community and, last year, was a lively and interactive session designed and led by the children to demonstrate how they’d developed and what they’d enjoyed learning throughout the school year.

Staff find that being able to introduce a topic with a practical example, finding someone who has expertise and resources to share with the pupils brings an extra dimension into the classroom and can support and develop interdisciplinary learning.

DYW, helping to reshape the curriculum?⤴

from @ Education Scotland's Learning Blog

Does Developing the Young Workforce (DYW) provide schools with a mechanism to offer a wider range of subject choices in the Senior Phase?

This key question has been discussed in TES articles over the last few months. Here are  some of the key messages, with the emphasis on DYW and it’s potential impact on the curriculum and subject choice:

Subject Choice

“Local authority education bosses have hit back at suggestions that pupils in secondary schools are seeing their options narrow. In recent months there has been a high-profile debate about the number of subjects pupils are able to study in S4, but MSPs were told today that it can be misleading to look at this issue in isolation.”

 “Mark Ratter, who heads up quality improvement and performance at East Renfrewshire Council’s education services, said that, thanks to partnerships with colleges, universities and employers, as well as the Developing the Young Workforce national policy, there was actually now “a far greater choice” in what pupils could study. In one East Renfrewshire secondary school, for example, S5-6 pupils “have a choice of over 130 different courses”.”

“Tony McDaid, South Lanarkshire Council’s executive director of education resources, said you could understand parents comparing how many subjects different schools were offering at S4 and their “natural anxiety” around that. However, they reacted well when they heard that “this is not just about your fourth year, you can do another subject when you move into fifth year”, and that there was a focus on the career a pupil was ultimately heading towards and the qualifications they would gain “across the whole senior phase” from S4-6.”

 Work-based learning

“Angus Council schools and learning director Pauline Stephen said there was “an ongoing challenge” to communicate to pupils’ families the “shifting and different” education system that pupils experience in 2019. Dr Stephen cited new types of qualifications such as Foundation Apprenticeships, which were little known outside education circles and sometimes wrongly viewed as inferior to other qualifications.

Dr Stephen said that Brechin High, for example, had worked with a local roofing business to open a construction centre at the school, which “allows us to offer qualifications alongside an employer in partnership – it’s been really successful”.”

Developing the Young Workforce

“DYW is a ‘game-changer’ – and it has Curriculum for Education to thank for that”

“It’s a potentially misleading debate, however. The supposed narrowing of the curriculum is concerned with subject choices in the senior phase. Setting aside arguments about the extent to which this is happening, there’s a basic flaw in the reasoning: by looking only at subject choices – largely at National 5 and Higher – it misses what appears to be a widening of the curriculum in other ways.

 “This fixation with exams and academic subjects – plus ça change – ignores the fact that, in many schools, there is now a much richer range of opportunities. Last week, for example, I visited a secondary with a spaghetti junction of pathways for its senior pupils – where apprenticeships and college courses truly do have “parity of esteem” with university, to use the jargon – and a determination to bend the curriculum to individual aspirations. If that means pupils going to another school for a certain Advanced Higher or spending some of the week in college, or teachers setting up a work placement with an employer they’ve not dealt with before, then the school’s attitude is, so be it.”

 “Developing the Young Workforce may be an equally uninspiring, chosen-by-committee title. But whereas CfE is typically viewed as falling short, the reaction to DYW – a far newer kid on the block – feels very different. Visiting schools, I’ve been struck by how often it’s cited as a positive influence, a driver of cultural change that has gone beyond its initial promise to boost vocational education. For example, one special school depute head said that, while she wasn’t sure those behind DYW were really thinking of her sector, it was a “game-changer”, helping to create work and training opportunities for school-leavers with complex needs.”

Head teachers and the curriculum

“We are free to shape the curriculum,’ say Scottish heads”

“An investigation into whether Scottish headteachers have the freedom to tailor their school’s curriculum to the needs of their pupils has found that “almost all” heads believe they have that power.”

 “It adds that heads were, in most cases, “well supported” by their local authorities and “empowered to work with staff, pupils, parents and wider partners to design learner pathways which best suit the needs of their local community”.

 “It adds: “Most are taking account of Developing the Young Workforce (DYW) to deliver a curriculum which includes an understanding of the world of work and vocational pathways. However, there continues to be a need to increase progress in delivering DYW priorities and ensure that pupils and parents are aware of the range of vocational options and pathways available.”

I have added links to the full articles but free registration  is required for full access:

Pupils’ study choices expanding, not narrowing, say education bosses

Developing the Young Workforce will define Scottish education

We are free to shape the curriculum,’ say Scottish heads

 

Scottish Traditional Building Forum Workshops⤴

from @ Education Scotland's Learning Blog

Secondary pupils from schools in Glasgow, Stirling, Perth and Edinburgh take part in traditional building skills event held at  various locations. The hands-on practical workshops provided 13 to 15 year olds with the chance to discover more about traditional skills apprenticeships, and allowed them to have a go for themselves. They tried their hand at stonemasonry roof slating, joinery and painting and decorating, expertly assisted by current Modern Apprentices in these trades. The event was hugely valuable in raising the profile of the vital skills needed to maintain our unique built heritage.

13 & 14 May

Traditional Building Skills Demonstration outside Edinburgh City Chambers

17 & 18 May

Traditional Building Skills Demonstration at STEM at The Helix

18 & 29 May

Traditional Building Skills Demonstration outside the Scottish Parliament

3 & 4 June

Traditional Building Skills Demonstration outside Glasgow Cathedral Square

20 to 23 June

Traditional Building Skills Demonstration at the Royal Highland Show, Ingliston

19 to 22 August

Edinburgh Traditional Building Festival (part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe)

23 & 24 September

Traditional Building Skills Demonstration at Perth City Centre

The events are organised by the Scottish Traditional Building Forum as part of Construction Scotland’s, Inspiring Construction programme. It is supported by a range of partners including CITB, City of Glasgow College, West College Scotland, Dundee and Angus College, Edinburgh College and Developing the Young Workforce.

The construction industry currently employs 233,600 people, but it’s estimated that 28% of that workforce will need replacing by 2027, creating at least 21,000 vacancies. Attracting more potential employees to our industry to address this imminent skills gap is one of Construction Scotland’s top priorities.

“What better way to encourage young people to consider a career in the traditional skills side of construction than to invite them to give it a go for themselves. With the Scottish Parliament as the backdrop to this event, I hope the school children feel truly inspired to think of construction as a varied and exciting career choice. “Ian Hughes, Partnerships Director at CITB Scotland

“These Traditional Building Skills events are part of our Inspiring Construction programme, which aims to attract more school leavers to the sector by informing young people and their parents, teachers and career advisors about the huge and diverse range of careers available in construction, and importantly, how to access them. From professions like architecture, engineering and surveying to the more traditional trades like joinery and stonemasonry, this industry has something to suit everyone.” Ken Gillespie, Chair of Construction Scotland

 

Senior Phase Programme, a school-college partnership.⤴

from @ Education Scotland's Learning Blog

Glasgow City Council Employability Support Team have an effective school-college partnership. The programme currently supports over 1000 young people and provides support to ensure that all young people are supported toward a career pathway.

There are two strands:

SCQF Levels 1-3
SCQF Levels 4-7

Links have been developed with the local colleges to provide a wide range of different courses and levels in order to showcase the wide range of career pathways. Open days and information evenings help to involve parents/carers in the decision making process. Extensive recruitment policy has been extended this year to include further meet the expert evenings for young people and their parents/carers. The recruitment is reviewed, evaluated and modified to ensure the information provided allows young people to choose an option that suits their career pathway.

They currently have successful partnerships with:

Glasgow Kelvin College
Glasgow Clyde College
City of Glasgow College
RSBI Blindcraft

All of the courses have support in place to ensure that every young person has the opportunity to have a successful outcome. There is an online application process that is supported by the school and helps to match young people to a course that suits their career pathway.

Some key points:

Linked programme with East Dunbartonshire and East Renfrewshire.

College has a rigorous attendance management procedures to ensure that young people are able to achieve a successful outcome on the course. There is a wide range of courses and levels, currently  SCQF 1-7. This provides an inclusive programme and promotes an ethos that every young person has the opportunity to experience college at an early stage. There is an online portal which provides school with a support and tracking mechanism to ensure that young people are progressing during the programme. Schools and college partners have worked together to ensure that the reporting tool is relevant for both school and college. Learner journeys are reported each year to promote the positive links between school and college.

Courses have extensive ASN support and a range of the options are designed to effectively showcase college as a potential career pathway and to aid transition from school to further education. Taster sessions are used to ensure that they have the correct match of young person and course. The opportunity to experience what is involved has helped to improve the course outcomes.

Schools have harmonised their timetabling to ensure that young people have the programme as an option in their subject choice selection. The majority of the courses take place on Tuesday and Thursday afternoon however some courses have extended timetables and this allows for a varied range of options.

Transport is arranged for the young person and most choose public transport which is subsidised by the programme. This encourages independent travel and ensures that cost of travel is not a factor when young people are deciding on their participation.

Some key statistics from the previous cohort:
1080 young people participating in the programme
7 different providers
96% sustained a positive destination

The programme will continue to work with schools and colleges to provide young people with a wide range of senior phase options.

Some comments about the programme:

“I like it because it is “hands on and specialising in various areas of computing”
Senior Phase Student

“Course designed to prepare student for the construction industry. Learning split between the workshop and the classroom”
Lecturer

“I am developing new skills every day”
Senior Phase Student

“I enjoyed this because I was able to learn to cook lots of different dishes that I had not cooked before”
Senior Phase Student

“All Glasgow Colleges are fully committed to delivering Glasgow’s Senior Phase School/College programme. We will create new opportunities for all young people to embed high quality work-related learning in their curriculum with progression to further learning, training or work. Whatever your gender, background or level these programmes offer a learning experience that may inspire you to develop new skills for the changing world of work.”
Eric Brownlie
Assistant Principal Quality and Performance
Glasgow Clyde College

Yokerburn Early Years⤴

from @ Education Scotland's Learning Blog

Extended day centre within Yoker area of north west Glasgow. Nursery caters for children from 0–5 years from a multitude of cultural, social, financial and learning backgrounds.

Click to view slideshow.

Raising awareness of job roles within local community by working with a range of different partners in the community is one of ur key priorities. This inspires the children and provides an early introduction into the world of work.  Our children have been working with a local care home to build up confidence and familiarity of the world of work. The children have experienced several different roles within the care home including: nursing, cooking, hair and beauty and table set-up . This is a fantastic opportunity for the children to gain a real insight into the world of work.

The project has grown and we have now had several engagements with the organisation:

Sustainability
Working with the care home to grow products. This project is in conjunction with another partner Dumbarton Environmental Trust. The project is helping our young people to improve their understanding of science but also introducing a wide range of different career options.

Remembrance Day
We joined the care home residents on Remembrance Day and the young people made their own poppies to commemorate the occasion. This was another opportunity for the residents to discuss their own lives with our children.

We have other experiences available to our children:

Parental Employability Sessions
We have encouraged our parents to become involved in our employability events and we have had several successful parental QA sessions. This allows the children to experience these skills from some familiar faces.

Fruit Stall
This project has allowed our childen to learn employability skills in a real-life context. The children are involved in all aspects of the enterprise activity

Health and hygiene
Money handling
Stock control

They also produce a survey on what products are selling the best and plan their purchases accordingly.

Community Police Visit
The children had a visit from the community police, this was another opportunity to show a positive role model for them. They had a QA session and had the opportunity to ask a wide range of diverse questions.

“The effective incorporation of simple counting, matching, comparison tasks into the conversation encouraged early numeracy skills and the reciprocal question and answers and new vocabulary in context developed early literacy skills for our children in a real and meaningful way. Our childen have been extremely engaged during visits to Quayside with older residents and we have recognised that often adults can underestimate children’s abilities in terms of empathy and awareness. We have had statements from Quayside about increased motivation, interest and engagement by some residents and there really is an observable connection between the regular visitors.Promoting the world of work is allowing our children to access early knowledge of the wide range of different career pathways.” Head Teacher

We are building on our local partners and will continue to actively promote the positive impact of early introduction to the world of work.

Next Steps
Working with local partners
Continuing our links with local community and strengthening joint appreciation of the people and families in our area.

“We have noticed a surge of energy and increase in physical activity for some of our residents when they know the children will be visiting” Anne from Quayside

Bo’ness Academy-Partners and the Community⤴

from @ Education Scotland's Learning Blog

Bo’ness has designed a clear strategy and has well-established approaches to developing in its young people skills for learning, life and work. The strategy involves establishing local, regional and partnerships to provide real- life contexts for learning. Curriculum leaders are using partners to provide a context to the learning and an insight of the working environment. Young people find this to be motivational and are enjoying the skills led curriculum.

Click to view slideshow.

Bo’ness are using their expanding partners to meet the needs of all learners and to prepare young people for the pathways which are likely to exist for them in the future. The curriculum has had a complete overhaul to establish a more wide ranging approach to the skills agenda.

The partnership and community approach at Bo’ness Academy is a key strategy for promoting skills development across all curriculum areas. The school is using a wide range of partners and community based projects to promote the importance of the skills agenda. Bo’ness Academy are using the skills agenda to push attainment and to foster a community approach throughout the school.  Bo’ness Academy are using their expanding partners to provide a curriculum that provides a framework to support all young people.

Community Café
This is a project that has been used effectively to support young people who are disengaged. The project is now well established and is supporting the local community. The school has fostered links with local partners to provide the school and the local community with a fully functioning and efficient café. The young people involved are provided with the opportunity to learn new skills relevant to the workplace and qualifications that are recognised in the sector(Health & Hygiene)

YPI
This is targeted at the S4 cohort and has been very successful at engaging the young people at the school. The groups use their own unique skillset to produce a presentation on their agreed research topic. The young people felt that their skills for work, life and learning had improved and in particular they had more confidence in making informed decisions. The groups have used local community as their focus and had fostered links with the local charities such as the Bo’ness Storehouse food bank.

Children’s University
This was another established partnership link that been very successful, the young people believed it had motivated them across the whole school. They spoke of the skills that they had developed during the programme. The school have developed their strategy this year to include the P6 cohort in their local feeder Primary schools. They felt that this approach would further develop their strong links with the local community and give the P6 another opportunity to work with the school. The school use the profiling tool developed by Children’s University but also feed the information into the existing profiling model in the school. The school have used PEF to support the course and target the participants through SIMD. The project has further developed links with INEOS, they have provided Inspiration visits to their workplace and are now working closely with the school on a sustainability project around the plastic journey which will be used as IDL across the school curriculum areas.

STEM@Helix
This was a targeted programme organised through the DYW Forth Valley group which provided the young people with the opportunity to work with others. They worked in teams to develop a model display. The young people felt that it allowed them to have more focus on STEM and to work in a real-life context. The young people also go the opportunity to meet the Queen at the award ceremony which gave them a real sense of achievement.

Forth Ports Discovery Week
This was a targeted programme but was very successful. The young people had the opportunity to visit a local employer and spend a week working with a wide range of departments. The programme was activity focused and the young people had the opportunity to work with some of the technical equipment. They had the opportunity to discuss the workplace with Modern Apprentices which they said helped to provide an overview to the wide range of different career pathways. The young people were surprised by the sheer size of the company and the opportunities that they could provide.

School/College Partnership
The school has long-standing partnerships with the local college. The school has a SCOTS course which offers young people a taster course, this allows the young people to experience a wide range of different areas before they take an extra block in their chosen field. This along with the introduction of the Foundation Apprenticeship programme are providing the young people with an opportunity to experience college. The school will begin to provide the FA programme for Business and Accounts at the school in the new academic year.

Balfour Beatty(STEM)
This a targeted programme to encourage young people to look at STEM as a possible career pathways. The young people were tasked with designing a building that maintained heat. They had a mentor and visited buildings and structures to understand the project context. The culmination of the project was a presentation to explain their design. The young people involved felt that the experience had given them a real insight into the careers available in the STEM sector.

Young people are experiencing a curriculum in which they are developing more career related skills and learning more about growth sectors and the career pathways that may be available to them post-school. The use of career pathways and partners are ensuring that the young people are motivated and have the skills required to make informed career choices which is improving the positive destinations.

Staff are able to use their own expertise to help the young people make these informed decisions.  We have found that by providing young people with more opportunities to work with partners that they have more motivation to look at their long term career pathways. Partners are able to use a real context to show how important the skills that we introduce in school are in progressing a career journey.

Involving partners in the school community has highlighted a range of career pathways that our young people were not aware existed. Having DYW as a focus for staff Career Long Professional Learning has helped to highlight across the whole school community of the importance of introducing young people early to skills for work, life and learning.

Our curriculum review meetings have an important role to play in the development of our young people. The review allows young people to discuss their career pathway with a wide range of different of inputs including parents/carers. This wide ranging approach gives the young person to reflect on their learning, achievements and future career pathways

We focused on local partners as this allowed us to foster a community approach which we believe is the best way forward for the school. We are superbly supported by DYW Forth Valley.
Our next step is to provide more opportunities within the existing school timetable that allows all of the learners the opportunity to undertake a wider range of skills. This will include the FA programmes that our own staff will lead in the new academic year

Quotes
‘The importance of DYW cannot be underestimated as it’s vital that we prepare and equip our young people with the skills for life, learning and work. Within our school all young people have opportunities for appropriate work placements during their time at Bo’ness Academy. This has to be both “real” and appropriate in order for our young people to gain maximum benefit from these opportunities.’ Head Teacher Steve Dougan

‘Moving forward our focus is to continue exploring opportunities for pupils and ensuring we have a curriculum in place that best supports the needs of Bo’ness Academy pupils. We aim to continue forging links with local employers and continuing to strengthen the partnership with DYW Forth Valley. An emphasis will be placed on the consistent delivery across the school of the career education standard and how pupils identify and record the skills they develop across the school.’ DYW Lead Ross Latimer

‘Encourages me to do more outside of school’
Hannah Waugh S2

‘I didn’t know there was so many different jobs’
Jay Brown S5

SDS Event: ‘Ensuring Foundation Apprenticeships are at the heart of the curriculum’ – catch up⤴

from @ Education Scotland's Learning Blog

A thought-provoking event on the further expansion of Foundation Apprenticeships across the country has taken place in August with a number of inspirational presentation s by gues speakers:

• Presentation – Damien Yeates
• Presentation – Tony McDaid
• Presentation – Diane Greenlees
• Presentation – Philip Black
• Fife case study
• South Lanarkshire case study
• East Renfrewshire case study
• Glasgow case study
• Perth and Kinross case study

If you would like a colleague from Skills Development Scotland to get in touch regarding Foundation Apprenticeships, contact SDS at conference@sds.co.uk .

My world of work: What career options are available with a qualification in Gàidhlig, Gaelic (Learners) and Gaelic Medium Education?⤴

from @ Education Scotland's Learning Blog

My World of Work offers career information, advice and resources to help children and young people learning Gaelic and in GME make informed choices about their future.     It enables children and young people to choose school subjects based on labour market information and career pathways. Find out more.

For information on teaching Gaelic, or through the medium of Gaelic, please visit Bòrd na Gàidhlig’s website

 

 

Career Education Standard 3 – 18: Suite of Learning Resources⤴

from @ Education Scotland's Learning Blog

A suite of learning resources are currently being produced to  career standardssupport professional  development related to career education.  These resources  will cover a variety of key themes such as labour market information, career management skills, enterprise and entrepreneurship, My world of Work etc. and relate this to Career Education Standard 3-18.

Learning outcomes

As a result of engaging with this learning you will have:

  • an understanding of the purpose and aim of the Career Education Standard (3 – 18) (CES);
  • an understanding of the part you are expected to play, along with partners, in the implementation of the CES;
  • an understanding of the entitlements for children and young people;
  • developed, through self-evaluation, your understanding of the CES expectations in relation to your current practice;
  • identified areas of the CES expectations for your professional learning; and
  • a plan to take forward manageable changes to your practice.

Who is this learning for?

The resources  contribute to professional learning for practitioners at all levels working with children and young people within early learning and childcare, primary, secondary, special schools, colleges, private training providers, third sector providers, social work, community learning and development and other specialist learning providers including secure and residential settings.

Learning resources

Learning Resource 1:  An Introduction to the Career Education Standard 3-18

This resource introduces you to the standard, its context, purpose and expectations in a logical and manageable format. The materials include a self-evaluation tool and contain references to How good is our school? (4th Edition). Engaging with this professional learning resource will help you build on your existing practice.

Downloads :

The following resources are currently in development:

  • Learning Resources 2:  An Introduction to Labour Market Information
  • Learning Resources 3:  An Introduction to Career Management Skills
  • Learning Resources 4:  An Introduction to my World of Work
  • Learning Resources 2:  An Introduction to Enterprise Education