Tag Archives: creativity

Bramble Brae Primary School- Partnership Approach to DYW⤴

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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.

Parkhill Enterprise Academy⤴

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The Enterprise Academy at Parkhill Secondary School was formally opened to pupils in August 2017.

It is a vibrant initiative that supports young people with Additional Support Needs into positive and sustained destinations.

DYW Case Study

This is part of Parkhill Secondary School but is also available to pupils across Glasgow schools. Courses focus on vocational areas where there are opportunities for young people with Additional Support Needs to gain employment. At Parkhill they focus on the individual needs of every young person. The Enterprise Academy allows them to build on the interest and aspirations of the young people by helping them to develop new skills for work and future career choices.

Several rooms in the school were transformed as part of the development. These are, professional kitchen, café area, hotel bedroom and office training room. A boot room was also added to the already established horticulture area. These areas allow the school to offer realistic work environments where young people can develop skills for learning, life and work.

The Enterprise Academy works in partnership with colleges (Glasgow Kelvin and City of Glasgow) and has business partnerships, it 7 courses at present focusing on 3 key areas of Hospitality; Horticulture and Administration, this is a range of the courses available:

Introduction to Hotel Skills
NPA Professional Cookery Level 3
Culinary Ability (only centre in Scotland delivering this)
National 5 Practical Cookery
SVQ Level 1 Horticulture
NPA Level 4 Horticulture
NPA Administrative Activities.

These courses are delivered by college lecturers and teachers which offer the young people realistic vocational pathways into careers where there are opportunities open to them. The courses have been selected to reflect the interest and needs of young people working at SCQF levels 3 and 4/5.

One of the key successes of the Enterprise Academy is that it offers young people a safe and nurturing environment in which to learn, thus offering a bridge between school and college.

The school has worked closely with business partners Milnbank Housing Association, Hilton Glasgow and Radisson Red to develop a robust programme of exciting and innovative activities aimed at enhancing the employability of all pupils involved with the school and Enterprise Academy. This has included industry visits and supporting young people with activities in the school. They hosted a Business Breakfast in the school to help promote the Enterprise Academy and the pupils presented at this to inform them of future ideas along with showcasing skills that they have developed.

Furthermore the established work placements are incorporated into their timetable and are working very well. These have mainly been in the hotel kitchen and have proven to be very beneficial to the development of their skillset. Work placements are also supported by an ENABLE Employment co-ordinator.

The school undertook a project to examine how the work of the Enterprise Academy and the school’s partnerships reflect the Career Education Standards. The Enterprise Academy has also been a focus for an international ERASMUS + exchange programme which started in May 2017. The programme focuses on the hospitality and hotel skills classes. 6 Young people along with 2 teachers visit Nuremberg in Germany with a reciprocal visit to Glasgow allowing the young people to develop their skills in this area. They have secured funding for another 2 years and are in process of planning the next exchange which is extremely exciting for the school, this has worked very well and they look forward to being part of this international project again.

Parkhill Secondary School is a school for young people with Additional Support Needs and therefore Inclusion is always a key focus of the school. All of the young people who attend the school have some form of barrier to learning, many are on the Autism Spectrum whilst others have global learning difficulties. The Enterprise Academy gives the young people a structured and supportive framework to be able to access vocational opportunities and therefore positive and sustained destinations. One of the central aims of the Enterprise Academy is to ensure that all young people are given the best chance to enter employment and to develop their skills.

A very high number of the young people come from SIMD 1-4 backgrounds and have Free Meal Entitlement and therefore the school and the Enterprise Academy are acutely aware of the need to ensure parents and carers are not asked to supplement their son/daughter’s education and cover all costs through other funding.

Every young person who starts at the Enterprise Academy is given an induction where the expected behaviour in the school building is explained to them. This helps to address issues such diversity and equality, especially as many of the young people in the school can be very vulnerable.

The Monitoring Impact group is monitoring the impact both on leavers destinations which has been reviewed and is now looking at individual targets for each pupil. They provide data regarding destinations of leavers and it has been recorded through Career Interviews that more young people are identifying potential career paths in line with the key areas. Furthermore, in S1-3 young people have shown much greater interest in the 3 key areas of Academy.

The Enterprise Academy has helped raise the profile of the school through features on websites, media and is active on social media. This in turn has had a huge effect on the confidence of the young people.

The school have been encouraging parents to get involved in many ways and they have shown a keen interest throughout the establishment its development including being on a Steering group and have been invited to take part in a number of events. Parents have also attended visits to Hilton and Radisson Red to help raise their understanding of the kinds of vocational opportunities their young people may be able to access in the future, they also have a pilot programme with Hi (Hub International) which will deliver workshops to parents.

The school staff members have had CPD opportunities to be up-skilled in Horticulture and attended “Buddy Days” in the Hilton Hotel. These have been invaluable as they now have knowledge and skills which enable them to support and assist in the delivery of lessons. Also, by ensuring that the business partners have been involved in the process of the establishment and continuous development of the Academy, this has fostered a real feeling of ownership for the project and an understanding of the aims. This has also given a great sense of achievement to all involved.

DYW Annual Reports⤴

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Scottish Governments’ Programme Board for DYW publishes DYW reports to highlight the progress made across the  5 Change Themes.  The following reports have been published so far:

  1. Annual Report 2014-15
  2. Annual Report 2015-16
  3. Annual Report 2016-17
  4. Annual Report 2017-18
  5. Annual Report 2018-19

Developing the Young Workforce – Early Learning & Childcare and Primary Focus⤴

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In order to support the implementation of DYW at early learning & childcare and primary school level we aim to bring together teachers, practitioners and DYW leads with experience and interest in this area to enter into a professional dialogue and collaboration.

The aim of the focus groups are to:
• share current practice and experiences;
• scope requirements to enhance DYW implementation in this area;
• develop support for teachers and practitioners.

We have set aside the following dates for workshops early in 2020:

23 January 2020 Glasgow
26 February 2020 Edinburgh
24 March 2020 Stirling

The meetings will be one day events and held in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Stirling. You are only required to attend one of the workshops. We would be grateful if you could forward this information to relevant people from your authority/organisation, they can register their interest by sending a confirmation email to EDSDES@educationscotland.gov.scot stating their school, local authority and availability, by Thursday 19 December.

For more information please contact Peter.Murray@educationscotland,gov.scot (07780 225304)

Portlethen Academy: Raising the profile of skills in learning and teaching.⤴

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Every classroom has a poster for Skills for Learning, Skills for Life and Skills for Work. Pupil-friendly definitions of these skills were produced by a working group of staff. Teachers are asked to make reference to these skills in their learning intentions and success criteria and in the content of the lesson itself. The impact of DYW is discussed in the videos:

All S1 pupils are recording the development of these skills in a Skills Passport booklet during DCT. The main purpose of the booklet is to help the pupils document the skills they are developing, the subjects in which they use these skills and the evidence they have to support their judgements on how well they are progressing with particular skills in learning, life and work. The booklet also includes sections on profiling, SMART targets, reflection, mental health, recognising wider achievement, subject reports and self-evaluation.

The school has used several key methods to ensure that the strategy has the desired impact to the learners:

  • Researched examples of skills frameworks and received valuable input from Larbert High School after seeing their materials on the National Improvement Hub
  • Decided to develop their version of a skills framework and to link it to their tutor time programme for tracking purposes
  • Established a staff team to develop the framework and materials
  • Introduced the focus on skills to staff at collegiate session.
  • Introduced the focus on skills to pupils at year group assemblies.
  • Produced a set of posters for every classroom
  • Obtained feedback on reference to skills for learning, life and work through pupil focus groups where 5 pupils are selected from various year groups once a week.

The school believes that the changes have impacted on their learners, the key indicators:

  • Promoted skills development in learning and teaching
  • Ensure staff are consistently embedding skills development in their classroom practice
  • Ensure pupils know what skills they possess
  • Helping pupils develop the ability to confidently articulate the skills they are developing
  • Ensure pupils can utilise these skills across different subject areas
  • Ensure pupils realise the value and importance of skills they develop in school and how these relate to the world of work

This is a journey for staff and young people, the key points are:

  • Staff are referencing skills development in their lesson planning
  • Pupils are noticing the increased focus on skills and realising the value as they progress through the school
  • Pupils are becoming more aware of how often they are using different skills
  • Pupils are realising the value of transferrable skills
  • Pupils are realising the importance of skills for their future careers

It has allowed them to monitor it through their focus groups, and they can reference it more easily due to the visual nature of their posters. When they have speakers or reference areas of employment in their career of the week they ensure skills are highlighted.

Portlethen are working hard on partnership and engagement with industry. Curricular experiences through DYW include:

Breadth of careers
Mock interviews
Rural skills
Air traffic control
NHS
Enterprise day (S2)
Micro Tyco
MWOW ambassadors
Hospitality (chef of the week, Royal navy chefs)

Porthlethen see DYW as integral and underpin out their work with young people by making the links between skills and the workplace. They refer to the school as just another workplace, which reinforces the link between education and skills for work. The skills framework has helped by providing a clear focus.

  • Having a visual display of the skills you are focusing on
  • Reference skills in all aspects of the lesson where appropriate
  • Help pupils realise the range of skills they possess
  • Ensure pupils know which skills they are developing
  • Help pupils transfer these skills to different contexts and subject areas

Next Steps
They have started formally recording and documenting skills development and progression in S1. They are looking at creative ways to record and document skills development as the cohort become more mature and progress through the school. They will formalise the inclusion of skills development in lesson planning, learning intentions and success criteria to ensure a consistent approach by all staff.

“I like the framework because I can click on it and see what it means” S1 pupil

“Having the framework on your website helped me link my presentation to the skills required to work in the catering industry in a way that pupils could understand”  DYW presenter.

“The framework diagrams give me a key point of reference in planning lessons and for reference in class.” Teacher

Episode 16 – An EduBlether with David Cameron⤴

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In this wide ranging interview, David Cameron shares his thoughts, experiences and wisdom. An exhilarating interview.

Listen to Episode 16 – An EduBlether with David Cameron.

DYW, helping to reshape the curriculum?⤴

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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

 

TEDx Glasgow 2019: Ideas worth doing⤴

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Here is your opportunity to host a TEDxGlasgow livestream! The livestream will take place on the 14th of June between 9:15am and 3pm and will be hosted on YouTube. We have developed this toolkit as a handy guide with all the information you need to help with your livestream event including information on the tech specs required to host a livestream event; the rules around hosting; your role; the programme for the event and some FAQs.

TEDxGlasgow 2019 Livestream Toolkit

This year our theme is: Connection Whether it’s making them, breaking them, discovering them or searching for them, connections have shaped, and continue to shape, the world we live in. With the rapid advancements in technology, our world is more connected than it has ever been – physically, emotionally, digitally, scientifically and even metaphorically. Or is it?

The team at TEDxGlasgow focus on the TED ethos of sharing ideas, spreading knowledge, and supporting our community to translate this into bold, brave actions. Everything we do is attuned to generating a positive impact.

Gurjit Singh Lalli, shares his perspectives:

“What makes Glasgow unique are the people and their can-do spirit which is intoxicating.  Scotland has growth in both businesses and entrepreneurs who are focused, not only on profit, but making a positive social impact, which aligns to a passion of my own. I aspire for a future where companies compete on the amount of good they do through positive change and social initiatives; the TEDxGlasgow event is a platform that will strive to continue inspiring an atmosphere, both locally and nationally, where this can happen”

Creating a legacy through Ideas Worth Doing

Being involved with TEDxGlasgow offers partners, delegates, speakers and volunteers a unique opportunity to contribute to powerful conversations.  Either at our events or online, our talks have been seen by millions of people, and we’re passionate about supporting actions on ideas that matter.  We asked Pauline Houston, our Head of events shares her thoughts:

“Partnering with the right individuals and businesses can have an incredible impact on your organisation, and we’ve been fortunate to have great people behind our mission and events. I am proud of the fantastic reputation that Scotland has globally from passionate companies, ready to speak up and challenge ideas as they do with us at TEDxGlasgow, and look forward to driving more positive impact from continued collaboration in new ways” 

Researching the Impact of ideas

Our events provide a medium that combines a diverse range of people –  thinkers, doers and innovators coming together, ready to be challenged.  Designing a framework to measure outcomes from an event as unique as TEDxGlasgow has been an exciting experience, as well as an opportunity to hear directly from a wide range of individuals and organisations with amazing stories to share.  Zebunisa Ahmed, our Impact Lead offers her insights:

“Both as a volunteer and through a career in data visualisation, I’m driven by seeing how good ideas can make a difference if given a chance  – be that on an individual basis, organisationally or throughout society. As a team we want to inspire meaningful change, and I believe that good ideas can be vector for positive impact, spreading far beyond the event; it all starts with a conversation.”

The impact team get creative when measuring outcomes from the event and are keen to capture examples of the TEDx Glasgow community taking action, as seen in our impact report. We will continue monitoring how our ideas shared translate into actions with positive outcomes, and invite you to share your examples – the more personal or creative, the more we love hearing from you.

 

Scottish Traditional Building Forum Workshops⤴

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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

 

National Digital Learning Week 2019⤴

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National Digital Learning Week is back! This year the event will take place Monday 13 until Friday 17 May.

For this year’s even all Early Learning and Childcare Centres and Schools across Scotland are invited to take part in 5 Curriculum focused challenges in: STEM, Social Studies, Expressive Arts, Numeracy and Literacy.

Here’ a 2 minute video that tells you everything you need to know about the event.

Visit the Glow Blog today and get started. https://bit.ly/2PfR0Go