Tag: Scottish Government

Community Resilience as part of Learning for Sustainability

@EdScotCommRes and #Resilience-Ed are useful Twitter sources of current ideas and thinking for building emergency planning/community resilience into Curriculum for Excellence. Eilidh Soussi, Community Resilience Development officer, Education Scotland, hosted an event on 4th December where a range of delegates explored how to build effective progression of pupils’ resilience into our education system nationally and locally.

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There was a particular emphasis on using the local context to enable young people to develop resilience, confidence and to feel connected and useful in their own community – and even in their own home. Yvonne McBlain represented Falkirk Council Children’s Services and will continue to support good practice, with Jane Jackson, Outdoor Learning Development Officer, and Fiona McLuckie, Emergency Planning Officer, Development Services. Interested practitioners can help with this by signing up for LfS 29 Emergency Planning – How does it fit with CfE? on 18th February 2016.

Click here to see Eilidh’s resource guide with useful links. Click here to view teaching resources in the Ready for Emergencies website – you may be interested in using the preparing for winter resources to help you build a strong and relevant interdisciplinary unit for your establishment. These resources help practitioners to develop the everyday resilience of young people, but also to progress their capacity to cope with unusual and unexpected emergencies they may encounter throughout their lives. Click here http://glo.li/1NbcKMs to see a video example showing how a geography lesson enabled a young girl to save the lives of her own family and other people on the beach during a tsunami!

 

Useful HGIOS 4 summary relating to LfS/Outdoor Learning

HGIOS 4 front coverWillie White – a colleague from East Ayrshire has collated     the statements from HGIOS 4 which are linked to LfS and Outdoor Learning. You can access the document here.

Establishments will increasingly be expected to be able to demonstrate progress being made towards a whole school approach to LfS with  outdoor learning and global citizenship being key features.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is Learning for Sustainability?

Wordle Education Scotland defines Learning for sustainability (LfS)  as: “an approach to learning, life and work. It enables learners, educators, schools and their wider communities to build a socially-just, sustainable and equitable society. An effective whole school and community approach to LfS weaves together global citizenship, sustainable development education, outdoor learning and children’s rights to create coherent, rewarding and transformative learning experiences.”

All of the recommendations of the December 2012 Learning for Sustainability Report (click to view) were accepted by the Scottish Government in March 2013. (click to link to doc) The Government response says:

The approach recommended supports a whole-school approach, encompassing the curriculum, campus, culture and community of the school and is intended to complement and strengthen wider changes in education.

Language around learning for sustainability is consistent with the new GTCS professional standards and highlights the value of a holistic approach to sustainable development, global citizenship and outdoor learning. The Group has defined Learning for Sustainability as:

A whole school approach that enables the school and its wider community to build the values, attitudes, knowledge, skills and confidence needed to develop practices and take decisions which are compatible with a sustainable and equitable society.

The report contains 31 recommendations, including the 5 overarching recommendations below:

  1. All learners should have an entitlement to learning for sustainability
  2. In line with the new GTCS Professional Standards, every practitioner, school and education leader should demonstrate learning for sustainability in their practice
  3. Every school should have a whole school approach to learning for sustainability that is robust, demonstrable, evaluated and supported by leadership at all levels
  4. School buildings, grounds and policies should support learning for sustainability
  5. A strategic national approach tosupporting learning for sustainability should be established

The wordle image above communicates all of the elements of learning and teaching which could be involved in Learning for Sustainability.