Tag Archives: Raising Attainment

Do grades really matter?⤴

from

This week marked the start of the a level results being issued whilst over a week ago the Scottish higher results were issued. And if as predicted, it leads to a greater focus on the number and type of candidates gaining entry to university, is it now time for a rethink?

Interestingly, English students go to school to collect their results, knowing that if things don’t go quite as planned there is support at hand with advice and back up plans able to be put swiftly in place. Conversely, the Scottish system has evolved where most young people receive a text or letter through the post. Any support and advice is generally provided by skills development Scotland rather than school based staff. Although most schools will retain a support offering for students to discuss course choice changes and provide advice.

However, as various announcements are made by political parties about the suitability of the university entries system and suggestions made on how to improve it. Labour propose students receiving an offer based on actual grades once the exam results have been published. Presumably, this would lead to university terms starting later or exams being brought forward into March or April to allow time for results, offers and university places to be accepted.

But isn’t there a better way? Should students who want to go to university simply be allowed to attend, assuming they have provided evidence that they can attain. Maybe not necessarily requiring a grade to join. This would mean universities changing their competitive approach to higher education. However, would quality be reduced? Or would students from disadvantaged backgrounds be more able to gain entry to university?

Would this lead to the suggested devaluing of the National 4 qualification which has a pass/fail approach. I’m not sure it would. I think that have an external, final exam was retained then we would retain the integrity of the qualification.

Would this also ensure that all students continue working hard right up until the end. Reports suggest that some students do not exert the same effort when they receive an unconditional offer. This is despite the fact that the university is making the offer based on the application submitted and the subjects studied being detailed on the application.

Overall, we should consider refocusing the timings of exams, results and university offers so that offers are received towards the end of the academic year. I am not sure the Scottish education system is quite ready yet for a pass/fail approach to higher and subsequent entry into university.

EduBlether

The Magic-Weaving Business⤴

from @ edublether.wordpress.com

Sir John Jones is the most inspirational speaker there is on the educational speaker circuit at the moment. He is funny, passionate and down to earth kind of guy. It was a joy to hear him speak and I would recommend you read his book.

Respect for All anti-bullying guidance launches⤴

from @ Engage for Education

Anti-Bullying Week provides us with the opportunity to send a clear and positive message that bullying of any kind, whether it takes place face to face or online, is totally unacceptable and when it happens, we all have a responsibility to address it.

Today we are launching our refreshed anti-bullying guidance for everyone who works with children and young people – ‘Respect for All: the National Approach to Anti-Bullying for Scotland’s Children and Young People’. It’s every child’s right not to be bullied so we need to intervene early, and deal with bullying quickly, and effectively.

The main purpose of the refreshed guidance is to support all adults working with children and young people to develop environments where bullying cannot thrive. Environments that promote respect, celebrate difference and promote positive relationships and behaviour are less likely to see bullying as acceptable behaviour.

I want all children and young people to be included fully in their learning and to learn tolerance, promote respect and celebrate difference. Bullying of any kind must be challenged whenever and wherever it occurs. It should never be seen as a typical part of growing up.

‘Respect for All’ builds on the positive work which has already taken place in Scotland to address bullying and provides a framework for all adults working with children and young people.

It reflects Getting it Right for Every Child and recognises that bullying impacts on wellbeing and attainment. In order to thrive and achieve their full potential, children and young people need schools to be safe, nurturing, respectful and free from fear, abuse and discrimination.

In the seven years since our first National Approach to Anti-Bullying was published, Scotland has seen huge legislative and policy change, such as the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014, Education (Scotland) Act 2016, and the UK Government Equality Act 2010, that have put greater focus on the health and wellbeing of children and young people.

We now understand more about how an individual’s confidence, resilience, participation and attainment can be affected by bullying. In particular, ‘Respect for All’ is clear about the impact of prejudice-based bullying – including homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying – and includes guidance to help schools, youth and sports organisations respond appropriately.

Support and training

Additional supporting guidance for schools and local authorities on recording and monitoring bullying incidents will be developed and issued in the coming months. This will streamline the process and ensure uniformity in recording and monitoring by schools and local authorities.

To support the roll out of this guidance, joint training events will be held across Scotland in the New Year led by the Scottish Government, Education Scotland and respectme,our national anti-bullying service in the delivery of anti-bullying work across Scotland.

We will continue to listen to the views of our teachers, support workers, parents, carers, children and young people to ensure that the approach in ‘Respect for All’ is working and is making a difference to the lives of children and young people in Scotland.

Director of respectme Katie Rafferty said:

“We are delighted to support the launch and implementation of Respect for All and we look forward to working with partners across Scotland to help deliver a consistent and cohesive approach to anti-bullying.

“We welcomed the opportunity to work collaboratively with the Scottish Government and others to develop this national guidance – reflecting our learning from ten years of anti-bullying work and the experiences of children and young people and the adults who play a role in their lives.

“respectme will continue to offer free training, policy support and resources that are designed to enable adults to prevent and respond to bullying effectively, and help children and young people realise their right to live free from bullying and harassment.”

You can download Respect for All: The National Approach to Anti-Bullying for Scotland’s Children and Young People here: http://www.gov.scot/RespectforAll

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What makes great teaching?⤴

from

Matthew

I have always been very impressed by the Sutton Trust. They are an educational think-tank or “do-tank” as they call themselves, focused on closing the attainment gap through good research. They are well known to teachers in England where schools recieve additional funding in the form of a “pupil premium” which follows learners from areas of deprivation. (Dreadful term in my view). Schools want to spend this pupil premium money wisely, and therefore the Sutton Trust’s list of different intervention programmes in schools, graded by effectiveness in raising attainment and correlated against good research, is invaluable and consequently very fully used by schools there.

They have identified a real problem; good research exists about learning in schools, but making sense of it for our own settings and circumstances is like panning for gold. It shouldn’t be like this; bodies like the Sutton Trust realise this and they commission their own research and meta-research to help sift through the swirling sands to hand us the raw nuggets. This meta-research is particularly helpful, since individual studies are often not statistically significant, or they are located so narrowly in the setting of the study that we can’t generalise the findings. A meta-study takes a larger sample of lots of the studies, and pulls out statistically significant wider trends that we can be more sure of, and therefore act-on with more confidence. One recent example of this was Professor John Hattie’s meta-study (Visible Learning study) of the effectiveness of schooling interventions such as AfL and reducing class sizes. This has been hugely influential in Scottish policy making and practice since 2009 when it was published.

http://visible-learning.org/hattie-ranking-influences-effect-sizes-learning-achievement/

Well, all of this leads to me making a learning suggestion. The Sutton Trust have produced a really excellent meta-study in the form of “What makes great teaching?” by Coe, Aloisi, Higgins and Major. This work from October last year explores what works in learning and teaching, and what doesn’t. There are comforting messages in here for us, as much of what we do is endorsed, and of course, there are challenges for us too, as some of our frequently observed practices simply do not have a backing in meta-research. If we are serious about continuous improvement, then reports like this should be essential reading. Thankfully authoritative ones like this don’t come by all that often, so we don’t need to feel too overwhelmed. To be frank, school improvement must be underpinned by really strong shared understanding about what is most likely to work; all teachers and Quality Improvement Professionals working in schools should grab a nice hot drink and take an hour or so to enjoy this.

On a more playful note, I feel that someone should do a meta-study of “readability of useful reports”. Much useful academic research is strangled-at-birth because it is utterly unreadable and therefore lost. This one is “fairly readable” while the content is invaluable. When I get commissioned to produce the Boyle readability/usefulness scale, (please?), this will score highly but with a “mildly hard thinking but worth it” warning stamped on the cover!

Get it here for free:

http://www.suttontrust.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/What-makes-great-teaching-FINAL-4.11.14.pdf

Matthew

 

Us Together: Supporting Scotland’s Children and their Fathers⤴

from

Us Together: Supporting Scotland’s Children and their Fathers officially launched in March 2014 with a clear aim of improving the outcomes of children of lone parent fathers. The project is funded through the Third Sector Early Intervention Fund to deliver the service in Dundee, Edinburgh, Falkirk and North Lanarkshire. Us Together is part of the national third sector organisation, One Parent Families Scotland (OPFS), providing one to one support, parenting programmes, peer mentoring and family activities.

Around 8% of Scotland’s 165,500 single parents are fathers. This means approximately 13,240 families in Scotland are headed by a single dad. Single Fathers can often find it difficult to find the information that’s relevant to them. Some feel that they are viewed differently or that sometimes it’s not easy to find the right support tailored to a father’s needs. Fathers have told us all of this can make the job of bringing up children on their own feel very isolating. There are times when single dads need support that’s more tailored to their situation, and that when they are dealing with a problem they may find it more helpful to hear how other dads have coped.  This links with The National Parenting Strategy which recognises that parents are the strongest influence on their child’s life and deserve quality, expert support to be available and easily accessible when they need it. One father described becoming a single dad “When we separated it was a shock to be left with the kids. It was the amount you need to deal with as well as the emotional turmoil. It’s having to learn so much so quickly! In the evenings at home you are alone. After the kids are in bed that’s when you worry – money, hanging on to your job, feeling no-one is there to turn to…juggling work and the kids. Will I be able to keep my job- that’s what goes through your head”

One of the Family Activity Days – Mini Commonwealth Games at Beecraigs Country Park

Us Together aims to support fathers to give their children the best start in life. Neil McIntosh of OPFS said “We believe that in order to get it right for every child we need to get it right for their family. We do this by looking at the whole family and what needs to change to enable the child to reach their full potential. We recognise that working in partnership with schools and other support services is key to this. We work with the father to build his skills and confidence in continuing the child’s learning into their home and community.

Us Together impacts on children in many ways but we are increasingly noting influences on educational attainment. One father commented “[The Children and Fathers’] Project has brought us together. It’s just brilliant, especially for the kids. My son’s nursery teacher has even told me that he is now sharing with the other kids and is more co-operative.”Teachers are telling us of improvements in attendance and reductions in late comings, more children having a bedtime story, improvements in literacy and numeracy and in grades. In this video https://vimeo.com/106269504 Lorna Stewart, Head Teacher at Craigroyston Primary in Edinburgh talks about the improvements in father/child relationship and improved relationship with the school.

Stephen Beath, Depute Head Teacher at Graeme High School in Falkirk also recognised how the project helps to improve outcomes of children and young people. “The impact and importance of this work could not be higher.  In our setting it was initially about advocacy.  We had not realised we were dealing with a parent who was virtually non-literate. Rather than our ongoing communications about their child being helpful they were a source of considerable anxiety and stress that helped make the situation worse.  When the Children & Fathers Worker was able to share this with us we were able to stop the unhelpful actions and start to build the positive.  The Workers role changed at this point from simple advocacy to mediation.  He was able to work with both father and child to help them understand what the school wanted and how best to support this.  In this situation there has been a huge turnaround in attitude, behaviour and attainment”.

For more information about Us Together please visit www.opfs.org.uk or follow on twitter @OPFSUSTOGETHER

Us Together’s work shows the vital role families can have in children and young people’s education. To support further family engagement and partnership working the Scottish Government commissioned a new web resource to support parents, schools and communities access the very latest Scottish, UK and international research evidence to support effective family engagement strategies. It has a particular focus on engaging with vulnerable families and those living in our more deprived communities, as well as engaging with fathers and looked after children. http://engagingwithfamilies.co.uk/

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Scottish College for Educational Leadership⤴

from

I’m writing this at the start of my fourth week in post as the first Chief Executive of the newly established Scottish College for Educational Leadership (SCEL). The College is an exciting and innovative development for education in Scotland, and I feel really privileged to have the opportunity to work with the team at SCEL and to lead the organisation as it goes forward.

Teaching Scotland’s Future recommended that a virtual college of school leadership should be developed, recognising that there was a need to improve leadership capacity at all levels in Scottish education. Following an extensive scoping exercise, this ‘virtual’ organisation has now become a reality, with our own office space in Glasgow and a clear plan to drive forward leadership development in Scotland in new and innovative ways.

SCEL will support and drive forward leadership development for teachers at all stages of their careers – focusing on high-quality, sustained professional learning; recognising teachers, early years practitioners and school leaders as increasingly expert practitioners, with their professional practice rooted in strong values, taking responsibility for their own professional learning and development.SCEL Gillian Hamilton

We will be taking forward a series of important, national initiatives including: Teacher Leadership, Middle Leadership, revised routes to Headship qualifications, a HeadStart programme for new Head Teachers, a Fellowship programme for serving Head Teachers and a range of national leadership conferences and events. We also plan to establish a register of experts / specialists – who provide high-quality, sustained professional learning in the area of leadership.

A pilot Fellowship Programme is already underway, led by Isabelle Boyd, Head of Education, Standards and Inclusion at North Lanarkshire Council, and John Daffurn, SCEL’s National Co-ordinator. Eleven high-performing Head Teachers with a proven record of strategic leadership are participating, and their feedback will help us shape the future development of this national programme.  The Fellowship programme provides advanced leadership development opportunities for the participants, including access to coaching support, academic support and contributions from national policy makers. Successful participants will be awarded the Fellowship of SCEL and with their considerable experience, they will continue to contribute to SCEL and to national leadership development.

In Scotland, there is already a national focus on high-quality professional learning. The College will make explicit connections across national policy:  The Framework for Educational Leadership, The Scottish Masters Framework and GTC Scotland’s Professional Standards, where leadership is a permeating theme, and we will work closely with other national organisations and employers  to maintain and enhance teacher professional learning in leadership as an integrated part of educational change.

It’s clear that there’s a lot of work to be done, and I started by describing the establishment of SCEL as exciting and innovative. To succeed, it’s really important that, as an organisation, SCEL works for and with teachers, early years practitioners and school leaders. This will be the first of regular Chief Executive blogs, updating you about our progress, providing you with information about developing programmes and seeking your views on a range of issues. Look out too for our planned regional and national events – we’ll publish details of these on our website, at http://www.scelscotland.org.uk/ You can also tweet us at @teamSCEL.  We’ll look forward to hearing from you!

Gillian Hamilton

Chief Executive

Scottish College for Educational Leadership  

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Vacancy: Improvement Advisors, Scottish Government⤴

from

Early Years Collaborative.Raising Attainment for All

This is an exciting opportunity for individuals with improvement experience to contribute to our ambition to make Scotland the best place to grow up. Seven Improvement Adviser posts are available on either a secondment basis or on a fixed term appointment basis – three posts to support the Early Years Collaborative (2 years) and four to support the Raising Attainment for All Collaborative (1 year).

 

 

The Scottish Government’s Improvement Framework for Scotland’s Public Services provides a structure for reliable implementation of change. You will be responsible for creating the conditions for application of this methodology by helping people make improvements at the point of service delivery.

You will work closely with practitioners in Community Planning Partnerships. You will also be expected to support the development of local capacity and capability for improvement while directly advising on the application of improvement tools in practice.

You should have a sound working knowledge and experience of improvement science methodologies and evidence of formal training in a recognised approach for change implementation. Applications should be in the form of a CV and a supporting statement covering the competencies and experience required and the essential and desirable criteria. Applicants must supply the name and contact details of their line manager and HR contact on their application. In addition, applicants will need to meet Civil Service nationality rules. (If you require further details on this issue contact us using the details below.)

Remuneration and conditions of secondment/ fixed term appointment

For the purposes of a secondment (maximum length 24 months), the successful candidate will continue to be paid by their employer and will remain an employee of their organisation during the period of secondment. The employer (donor) organisation will be expected to invoice the Scottish Government Directorate representative on a quarterly basis to recover salary and on costs during the secondment period.

Starting salary will be in the pay range £44174 – £53121. If the successful applicant’s current salary is within the pay range then they will continue to be paid their current salary. However, if their salary is currently lower than the minimum of this pay range, then the starting salary will be £44174.

For the purposes of a fixed term appointment (maximum length 23 months), salary will be within the range set out above and will be dependent on previous experience.

Applications should be submitted by 11 July 2014 through the Early Years Collaborative mailbox (eycollaborative@scotland.gsi.gov.uk), ensuring the words ‘Improvement Adviser Application’ appear in the subject line. Please make clear which role you are applying for (Early Years or Raising Attainment) and whether it is a secondment or fixed term appointment. If you wish to apply for both roles, you are welcome to do so. We anticipate that interviews will be held during the week beginning 21 July 2014.

COMPETENCIES AND EXPERIENCE REQUIRED

  • Leading Others – The role requires strong partnership working and the post holders will need to engage quickly with people at all levels. The post holders must be able to build and sustain relationships and work closely with clients to understand their requirements; will need strong communications skills to be able to persuade others to support and pursue recommendations. The post holders will recognise and be able to cope with the fact that change often involves a degree of uncertainty, particularly where an improvement approach requires new and novel ways of thinking and acting.

  • Improving Performance – The post holders will have excellent applied knowledge and experience of system improvement approaches and change theory. The post holders will also have a good understanding of project management principles and will need to be able to work on a number of projects simultaneously and ensure that deadlines are met. As an improvement adviser, the individual will need to ‘hit the ground running’ and be quick to identify and engage with the key stakeholders, internal and external. The post holders will need to be able to spot cross-cutting connections between issues and areas, negotiating opportunities to bring together multi-disciplinary and multi-agency teams where appropriate.

  • Analysis and Use of Evidence – The post holders will be able to use different types of improvement data to diagnose problems and evaluate success. The post holders will have experience of collecting and communicating data linked to the measurement of an improvement process. Delivering measurable improvements within a complex system means the post holders will be able to support change in the midst of ambiguity and conflicting evidence with regards to appropriate ways forward. It is also important that the post holders contribute to the review and evaluation of developments, emergent thinking and evidence base in improvement and change to ensure that the team’s work reflects current thinking.

  • Communications and Engagement – The post holders will frequently and consistently have to secure broad stakeholder agreement to the improvement approach and methodology. This will include working with senior managers and other key opinion formers across agencies to enable full engagement and commitment in the use of improvement techniques within different contexts. This will be facilitated by the presentation of complex information clearly and concisely. The post holders will frequently be called upon to facilitate group activity and discussion in a way that creates opportunities to generate new thinking. This includes designing, running and facilitating meetings/workshops/events to build improvement capacity and support learning.

Essential Criteria

We are looking for people who have

  • an applied knowledge and experience of improvement and change with a strong commitment to continuous professional development. The post holders will need to be able to demonstrate sound policy and/or operation skills, with significant experience in delivery.

  • expertise in improvement science with a clear grasp of concepts and experience of their practical application.

  • evidence of ongoing learning & professional development in change and improvement with a strong, wide network of professional contacts (Eg. Improvement Advisor Professional Development programme)

  • an ability and desire to work as part of a team: listening and learning from others regardless of hierarchies; sharing ideas, engaging in open and honest debate; and adapting plans, direction and focus of projects based on relevant information and knowledge.

And people who are

  • Self-aware and authentic: understand and can articulate own strengths, motivations, needs and limitations. They can engage in open and honest discussions of own performance and can use feedback constructively to drive improvement.
  • Comfortable with a range of data collection, analysis and communication methods and techniques and using evidence to drive improvement, performance and change.

Desirable Criteria

We are looking for people who have

  • experience of working flexibly across a number of priorities and areas of responsibility.
  • experience of working creatively with partners to develop ideas and solutions to deliver change and improvement in a range of areas.
  • knowledge and experience of applying programme and project management principles in different contexts.

And who

  • Regularly work on subjects and issues ‘out of their comfort zone’ and quickly navigate a range of data, analysis and evidence.
  • Hold a formal qualification in an aspect of improvement science (eg, a post-graduate masters in management, systems improvement, Improvement Advisor Professional Development Programme)