Tag Archives: Responsibility of All

New NHSScotland Careers Resource pack now available!⤴

from @ Education Scotland's Learning Blog

NHS Education for Scotland has developed an NHSScotland Careers Resource pack which is fresh out of the box and ‘ready to go’! The pack contains a ready-made set of lessons with everything you need for a one-off lesson or a full Unit of five lessons.

The pack contains:   A comprehensive booklet called ‘A Career for You in Health’ which is a guide to every job family in NHSScotland. This booklet contains everything pupils need to know about entry requirements, skills, values and much more for each job role.

An NHSScotland Careers teaching unit with resources for use in one-to-one career guidance, group sessions, drop-in clinics and events like parents’ evenings. These include:

  • ready-made slide packs e.g. ‘Introduction to NHSScotland’
  • a ‘word bank’ with vocabulary for use in CVs or to support understanding of NHSscotland job advertisements
  • job profiles for a variety of job roles in NHSScotland, from gardener to doctor, from midwife to IT engineer!
  • engaging pupil resources including quizzes and creative activities

To ensure that the learning is relevant for use in schools, the resource pack aligns with

  1. The Career Education Standard 3-18
  2. Curriculum for Excellence: Health and Wellbeing Experiences and Outcomes
  3. SDS Career Management Skills framework

A job family leaflet showing all NHSScotland job families ‘at a glance’ which could be used with individuals, small groups, classes or at events such as parents’ evenings.

Look no further for a source of information and materials about NHSScotland careers!

Download the pack today at:  http://bit.ly/2zYdLYL

Everything in moderation⤴

from @ Education Scotland's Learning Blog

A blog by Jamie Farquhar
Deputy Head Teacher of Dumfries Academy

Jamie Farquhar
Deputy Head Teacher of Dumfries Academy

I am a QAMSO.

Increasingly – in the second year of there being QAMSOs – colleagues know what that is. Good; it saves me unpacking the acronym to its full glory of Quality Assurance and Moderation Support Officer and it suggests we* are having an impact.

My role is to support colleagues in their understanding and application of Moderation in its widest sense through the lens of a particular Numeracy or Literacy level. In my case, this is Third Level Writing.

I am not an English Teacher. However, I am a passionate advocate for the Teaching Profession and of the Responsibilities of All as key priorities for our learners. I believe the Broad General Education (BGE) provides the platform for teachers to co-create a curriculum that meets the needs of individual learners, in individual schools.

To achieve this we need the confidence to spurn the false panacea of centrally distributed WAGOLLs (What a Good One Looks Like) and resist ‘mimetic isomorphism’. In other words; it’s not about teachers doing the same thing, in the same way, either through decree or by the copycatting of perceived eminence. Rather, we should aim for the contextualised consistency of quality; as a QAMSO I advocate achieving this through planning, professional dialogue, reflection, sharing, experimentation and evaluation i.e. through Moderation.

Moderation is about skilled professionals working together to plan, evaluate, feedback and feed forward learning to all learning partners. Moderation is groups of teachers subjecting the entire learning process to rigorous professional scrutiny and so trusting and being trusted in their judgements. Through collaboration we empower a move beyond consistency of practice to an increased confidence in individual judgements, planning and interventions.

The Moderation Cycle provides a framework through which to embark on this process. In my own school, we accessed the cycle through the Evaluation stage by leading engagement with the Literacy Benchmarks and developing professional confidence in making judgements of CfE-levels. This starting point was chosen due to a familiarity, within a secondary context, of judging work against set standards in the Senior Phase. The challenge is to move thinking and practice from summative evaluation of output to include moderated planning of input; to ensure we are teaching and supporting what we later assess.

We have begun. Our Literacy Strategy produced Evidence which, as well as debate over CfE-levels, led to dialogue about the evidence’s relevance and validity. This demanded we reflect on our Assessment tools; which asked questions about the effectiveness of our Learning and Teaching and learners’ understanding of what they were learning and how well they had learned it (Learning Intentions and Success Criteria).

Colleagues then began to revisit their planning (Es and Os) to reflect learning and the Learner more holistically. This provided a range of on-going and holistic Evidence which demonstrated strengths, successes and nextsteps which informed Feedback, Reporting and planning of the next learning experience and so on. The principles of the Moderation Cycle as applied to Literacy have started to impact on practice in other curriculum areas and beyond the BGE.

The Moderation Hub provides an incredible resource to support this work. I will use it extensively in my QAMSO role to support Professional Learning in schools. The Hub provides off-the-shelf material for Professional Learning Workshops and e-learning. I recommend it to all Literacy / Numeracy Leads and Professional Learning Coordinators. I also commend the Moderation Cycle and Hub to all school leaders as a means to lead and evidence genuine Quality Assurance of Learning and Teaching.

The workshops take a little time as they work through each stage of the cycle, asking colleagues to reflect on examples and craft improvements collaboratively. A commitment to mutual engagement and knowledge creation through the Moderation Cycle should lead to a sustained shift of culture and improvement in outcomes for learners that simply being ‘given the answers’ cannot hope to achieve.

The Moderation Cycle provides the framework to be autonomous, contextually-aware, professional leaders of learning.
This QAMSO’s advice: Follow the Cycle – Co-Create – Trust your Judgements.

*There are lots of us: Each Local Authority has a QAMSO for each CfE Level from Early to Fourth in Numeracy, Writing and Reading.

Whole School Approach -reducing the cost of a school day⤴

from @ Education Scotland's Learning Blog

Child Poverty Action Group has some good practice examples of working with partners in the community including local organisations to help towards reducing the cost of a school day see link below

 http://www.cpag.org.uk/content/it-takes-all-us-whole-school-approach-reducing-costs-school-day

 

Food for Thought Education Fund⤴

from @ Education Scotland's Learning Blog

Food for Thought Education Fund

Food for Thought Phase 5 application

The Food for Thought Education Fund gives financial support to develop Food and Health as a context for learning. The fund aims to improve practitioner confidence in providing progressive, high quality learning experiences which help to embed food education into the ethos of the establishment. It also provides an opportunity to plan and implement learning experiences which build sustainability and capacity for future development.

Now in its fifth year, the Fund allows Local Authority Schools and Early Learning and Childcare settings to apply for grants of up to £3000 to develop projects that support the aims of the Fund. (Note – ASN establishments in the independent sector are also eligible to apply). Establishments may apply individually or as part of a cluster of schools from their education authority.

It is essential that food based projects include a business or community link . Business in the Community Scotland is a partner in the Food for Thought Fund and can help establishments to find a business/community link if help is required.

What Are We Looking for This Year?

Scottish Government’s aspiration that Scotland is a Good Food Nation, means a country where people from every walk of life take pride and pleasure in, and benefit from, the food they buy, serve, and eat day by day. It also means that :

  • It is the norm for Scots to take a keen interest in their food, knowing what constitutes good food, valuing  it and seeking it out whenever they can.
  • People who serve and sell food (including schools) are committed to serving and selling good food.
  • Everyone in Scotland has ready access to the healthy, nutritious food they need.
  • Dietary-related diseases are in decline, as is the environmental impact of our food consumption.
  • Scottish producers ensure that what they produce is increasingly healthy and environmentally sound
  • Food companies are a thriving feature of the economy and places where people want to work.
  • Other countries look to Scotland to learn how to become a Good Food Nation.’

This year, we are particularly interested in bids which will to contribute to this vision by:

  • ensuring learners have gained understanding about food education and can apply that knowledge and understanding, including a knowledge of the wide range of careers that are available in the Food and Drinks industry;
  • improving outcomes for learners in ways which seek to eliminate the inequity that currently exists amongst learners from different backgrounds and from particular vulnerable groups;
  • demonstrate an impact on learners, with learners being able to reflect on their knowledge of food and associated issues;

In this phase, we also ask that projects incorporate some or all of the following themes:

  • Developing the Young Workforce
  • STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths)
  • Inequity / Attainment Gap
  • Digital Learning
  • Progressive Interdisciplinary Learning
  • Learning for Sustainability
  • Outdoor Learning
  • Working with Parents/Community

Projects may also relate to national events and/or Government initiatives including :

Fund PartnersEducation Scotland is building on its strong partnership with Scottish Government with a continued commitment to high quality learning in health and wellbeing, including food education, across educational establishments in Scotland.

Business in the Community Scotland (BiTCS) brings together businesses and partner organisations across sectors to more effectively play their role in a stronger, fairer, wealthier, healthier, and greener Scotland.

In order to enhance skills for learning, life and work it is essential that you work in partnership with a business for this funding. BiTCS’s role in the Food for Thought Fund will be to help schools to link to a business or community organisation that can fulfil this role for the fund. These partners are not required to be a food based business/community organisation. Schools can also work with existing partners or create their own new partnerships. Securing a financial contribution from this partner is not mandatory; however it may be beneficial to your project if you were able to find additional income or ‘in kind’ funding to develop your project.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring all schools in Scotland embed food education through the implementation of Curriculum for Excellence, and the Schools (Health Promotion and Nutrition) (Scotland) Act 2007. The Government supports good quality learning and teaching around food through funding a number of stakeholders to engage and work with schools.

Application Details

Food for Thought Phase 5 application

 To apply for Food for Thought Phase 5 funding, please complete the attached application form to arrive by 14.00 on Wednesday 31st May 2017.   Examples of completed application forms from earlier phases are housed in the ‘Resources’ section of the Food for Thought Glow Newsfeed . (Glow log-in required)

Practitioners from previous phases have also shared photographs, stories and information about their projects through the newsfeed conversation.

A Glow Meet has been organised for Tuesday 25th April at 3.45pm and this will be an opportunity to ask questions about the application process or the project you are planning. If you would like to join me, Sign up here.

Please send completed application forms to :

Foodforthought@educationscotland.gsi.gov.uk

Scot Pot – School Meal Product Development Competition⤴

from @ Education Scotland's Learning Blog

Test your creativity and innovation skills!

The competition is open to all primary 5,6, and 7 pupils from schools across Scotland. Individual prizes will be given to the best entries, but all the pupils in the winning class will win an all-expenses paid trip to the Royal Highland Show 22nd – 25th June 2017. The winning product will be showcased at the ASSIST FM National Conference on 24th & 25th August 2017 in Glasgow.

The winning product will feature in schools across Scotland during Scottish School Meals week, 31st October 2017.

We are asking pupils to conduct their own market research to develop a new Scots Origin One Pot Dish that could be sold as a stand-alone product or be part of school meal that can be used in schools across Scotland.

The challenge is based on a similar format to the television programme ‘Dragons Den’. We would like pupils to put their creative and entrepreneurial skills to the test and design an innovative new ‘one pot’ product that:

  • They would like to eat and that could form part or all of a school meal for example; meal soup, meal pot, layered dish or something creative and innovative.
  • Has to contain AT LEAST ONE Scottish ingredient.
  • Would encourage more pupils to take school meals if it was sold in the dining area.
  • Could be promoted with an innovative advertising campaign that would include a name and a catch phrase to promote the product and fit with the Scots Origin branding.
  • Can be sold as a stand alone product.
  • Meets the nutritional guidance for a theme day in school.

To enter, please complete the attached entry forms and send to schools@sfdf.og.uk by 5th May 2017

Scot Pot Entry Form 2017

 

 

Financial Education Conference 2017 Workshops⤴

from @ Education Scotland's Learning Blog

Finance Fairtrade Fortnight – St Catherine’s Primary School, Glasgow City Council

Jennifer Anderson PT and Claire Conlon PT will describe how the school’s themed finance fortnight addressed the priorities in the School Improvement Plan (SIP), such as improving learning in literacy, numeracy and social studies, embedding outdoor learning in the curriculum, making connections to global citizenship and developing a shared understanding around learning for sustainability. They will demonstrate how the ‘real life’ money activities they and their colleagues offered the children using support from the local community provided an increased focus on lifelong learning, made the young people aware of the links between economic wellbeing and health, improved staff understanding and knowledge of financial education within the curriculum areas of health and wellbeing (HWB), numeracy and social studies (SS), met the children’s needs via ‘going out to learn’/outdoor learning and supported the children regarding the ‘world of work’.   Jennifer and Claire will discuss the usefulness of ‘Money Mates’ in assessing the children’s learning over the fortnight and next steps.

Financial education and additional support needs – Cardinal Winning Secondary School, Glasgow City Council

Marie Inglis PT and Paula Elliot CT will demonstrate how ‘Money Week’, besides addressing financial education, provided a platform for the development of interdisciplinary learning (IDL) and the delivery of an exciting and challenging curriculum while developing the necessary skills for learning, life and work. Besides IDL, the other main themes developed were supporting the young people with everyday money management skills and self-evaluation. Marie and Paula will describe how the school’s aims of Money Week were met – developing IDL, promoting a sound savings ethos, raised awareness of ‘needs versus wants’, developing independence, a wider awareness of employment opportunities and links to managing money, awareness-raising of using money in a digital age and understanding ‘risks and rewards’. They will discuss how the themed event supported the development of employability and entrepreneurial skills.

Credit Unions, Money Week and more – Prestonfield Primary School, City of Edinburgh Council

Fiona Murray, Head teacher at Prestonfield PS, has organised and run several Money Weeks in recent years and following the Money Week in February 2016 she proposed the setting up of a school savings bank in partnership with Capital Credit Union. In this workshop she will share examples of interesting practice and the lessons learned from these themed inter-disciplinary weeks. She will explain how this has impacted the development of a high quality Financial Education programme in the school context and offer advice for delivering similar provision in other establishments. She will be assisted in this workshop by Kenny Ferguson who is the volunteer in school in charge of the CU Savings Bank.

Financial education and numeracy across learning – Knox Academy, East Lothian Council

Calum Blair who is a curriculum leader in Knox Academy will describe how as part of the school improvement plan they implemented and evaluated their money week. This focused on ‘numeracy across learning’, interdisciplinary learning (IDL) and the delivery of high quality learning and teaching opportunities with a focus on raising attainment. ‘Money Week’, besides raising an awareness of the issues underpinning financial education, provided an opportunity to make connections to support from the financial services sector and the wider community. Calum will talk about how the school are taking forward the lessons learned over the course of the week and through subsequent discussions with colleagues and members of the school management team.

Going out to Learn: real life financial education – Westercraigs Nursery School, Glasgow City Council

Lesley Morrison HT with a group of staff and young children will demonstrate the variety of fun, challenging and highly rewarding experiences the whole establishment enjoys while interacting with services out with the playroom – all on an almost daily basis. During this workshop the children will operate their real life fruit and veg shop and show how “pupil voice” informs how the profits they make from their business activities are researched, agreed and spent. The concept of fairness within a Curriculum for Excellence is included in a First Level outcome. Westercraigs children will offer their take on fairness and Fair Trade and demonstrate their ability and eagerness to meaningfully engage, with fairness in mind, in the life and work of their community at Early Level.

Financial Education: meeting challenges now and in the future – Money Advice Service

We know that the money experiences and learning children and young people have in their school years is important for managing money well later on.  Financial education is on the curriculum, yet there’s still too little evidence and research about how to deliver it effectively, and some children are still missing out.

This workshop will explore what MAS has found from extensive research into children’s and young people’s needs, why financial education matters so much, and what you can do to help improve it. It will provide insights into activities happening to understand more about ‘what works’, and an opportunity to consider the barriers to doing more of it – and solutions to overcoming them, including the chance to learn about a range of MAS tools and projects to support more evidence-based, effective financial education.

Progression in financial education, numeracy benchmarks – Education Scotland

Education Scotland published draft benchmarks for numeracy and mathematics in August 2016. There is currently an online consultation seeking practitioners’ views on these. Education Scotland is keen to consult with as many practitioners and partners as possible. Final Benchmarks will be published in June 2017. This workshop provides an opportunity for you to find out more about how the Benchmarks will be used to support professional judgement of achievement of a level in numeracy and mathematics. There will be an opportunity for professional discussion and for you to provide feedback on the Benchmarks related to Money and Number and number processes.

 

Credit Unions in Schools – Pioneer Credit Union

Beth Welsh, Business Development Manager and Amanda Gilmour, Project Co-ordinator for Pioneer Mutual Credit Union will talk about how they are engaging with schools across East Renfrewshire as part of the Scottish Government’s Junior Savers Scheme Fund. The project aims to encourage positive financial habits from a young age, and Pioneer Mutual are working with both primary schools and secondary schools.  In order to achieve this we have developed a series of financial education workshops, covering topics including credit scores and real life budgeting. The workshops focus on ensuring that participants gain an understanding of money and budgeting the digital world. We are working with Wildhearts to enable all the schools involved in our partnership project participate in their Micro-Tyco challenge; as we believe that the savings and ethical finance practices the Credit Union promotes works hand in hand with the entrepreneurial skills learnt through the challenge.

Prison Education: A Hard Cell! – Scottish Prison Service

The prison population in Scotland is comprised of a disparate mix of prisoners with complex problems and backgrounds. This workshop will provide an overview of how the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) in partnership with their two college education providers help tackle such issues through encouraging participation in learning. The workshop will be led by Jim King Head of Learning & Skills for SPS with support from Fife college and New College Lanarkshire. This will include examples of innovative case studies to demonstrate the complexity of issues facing the prison population and the ways in which our education providers promote the benefits of financial education for prisoners.

 

 

The Big Pedal 20th – 31st March 2017⤴

from @ Education Scotland's Learning Blog

The Big Pedal is our UK wide inter-school scooting and cycling challenge, where schools compete to try to get the largest percentage of pupils, staff and parents travelling to school by two wheels.

the-big-pedal

 

Details:

This year’s challenge will be running from March 20th – 31st. It is open to primary and secondary schools who register and then log their data each day.  Schools with the highest participation win great prizes.

Schools can choose to enter a 1 or 5 day challenge where their best day or best 5 days out of the two weeks count. On the final day of the challenge we encourage schools to run a Superhero Day, where pupils dress themselves and their bikes as superheroes.

This year’s theme is Around the World in 10 Days and schools will track their progress on a wall chart – register using the link below –  learning about the countries and cities they pass through along the way.

Information and registration is at http://bigpedal.org.uk/.

The value:

We see the challenge as a great way to get whole school communities excited about active travel and to impact school traffic issues.

 

International School Meals Day 2017⤴

from @ Education Scotland's Learning Blog

International School Meals Day

ismd-2017

Thursday 9th March 2017

http://www.internationalschoolmealsday.com

ismd-2017-comp-flier

International School Meals Day encourages children and young people around the world to connect and talk to each other about the food they eat and the role that it plays in their lives.

In 2017 the theme is Food, Culture and Heritage

Share your food stories & be part of a global event

The way that food is cultivated, prepared and consumed is an expression of culture and heritage. This year’s theme provides an opportunity for pupils to express themselves through the food and associated traditions that form an important part of their identity.

In the run up to International School Meals Day we want pupils from around the world to share their food stories through whichever medium they wish

pictures / posters / videos / poems / stories / dance /drama

The approach that you take to getting pupils to think about their culture and heritage and its associated food traditions is up to each individual school and classroom. However, here are some quick ideas of how ISMD can be celebrated:

  1. Deliver one-minute talks or videos about favourite meals and national traditions
  2. Have an International Menu Day
  3. Have food tasting sessions or other fun food activities
  4. Fundraising activities for charities to support school feeding programmes in developing countries
  5. Incorporate global citizenship and food culture into classroom learning
  6. Have sessions on the theme of ‘food’, with extracts from favourite poems and stories
  7. Skype – teachers and students can skype with another school around the world to share their experience of food, culture and heritage.

Stories and pictures will be shared on the ISMD website and on Twitter so be sure and follow

@IntSchoolMeals and use the hashtag #ISMD2017.

 

 

Interactive Eatwell Guide⤴

from @ Education Scotland's Learning Blog

Food Standards Scotland is proud to have launched the new Interactive Eatwell Guide today. This teaching resource is designed to show the balance of food groups required for a healthy diet. peers.

eatwell-guidedecember

The Interactive Eatwell Guide

Use our interactive Eatwell Guide tool to teach your class how to get a balance of healthier and more sustainable food.  It will help you teach about the different food groups and the proportions of each one we should all be eating, in a fun and interactive way, and at the same time will deliver Curriculum for Excellence Experiences and Outcomes.  There is more information on the food groups within the resource.

Please note: this resource is designed primarily for use in a classroom environment and will work best on Smart Boards and iPads. It also works on desktops and laptops but please ensure that your screen is set to full screen (go to View and Full Screen).

Supporting information

The Eatwell Guide now replaces the eatwell plate as the main tool showing you a healthy balanced diet. It shows the proportions of the foods that make up a healthy diet. The proportions of food groups have been updated to take into account the new dietary recommendations for more fibre and less sugar.

Contact Lynsey.Gray@fss.scot for further assistance on using this interactive tool or Tanya.Olmeda-Hodge@fss.scot for more information on educational resources.

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