Category Archives: CfE Subjects & Themes

Dance, Opportunities

Get Scotland Dancing!

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Get Scotland Dancing encourages more people to get active and get involved in dance.

For the most up to date news, opportunities and information on dance in Scotland, visit the Get Scotland Dancing website, and if you’d like regular updates, you can subscribe to a monthly newsletter.

Get Scotland Dancing

The 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and 2014 Commonwealth Games, provide an unparalleled opportunity to raise the profile of dance as a creative, participative and physical artform. In support of this Scottish Government policy, Creative Scotland will invest £1.5 million across a four year period, creating an inclusive celebration of dance across Scotland, linking into the wider UK and marking Scotland’s place in the world.

Working with Scotland’s key dance organisations, Get Scotland Dancing will bring together professional and amateur dancers of all ages to dance in public spaces in our towns, villages and cities – bringing dance to the people and people to dance. We want to strengthen opportunities to participate in dance and create a lasting legacy for communities throughout Scotland.

To get involved and help Get Scotland Dancing please contact James Allenby, Project Manager james@getscotlanddancing.org

Music, Teachers

Nominations now open for the Music Teacher Awards for Excellence 2014

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Taking place on the evening of 7 February 2014 in the Barbican’s newly refurbished Garden Room & Conservatory, the Music Teacher Awards for Excellence 2014 will celebrate the work of those in the music education industry.

Held in conjunction with Music Education Expo 2013, the inaugural event presented 9 awards to very deserving individuals
and organisations. Presented by Classic FM’s Margherita Taylor, the evening was a wonderful tribute to the hard work and achievements of those in the music education industry.

Categories

There are 11 award categories this year as follows:

  • Best Musical Initiative
  • Best Print Resource, sponsored by Rhinegold Publishing
  • Best Digital/Technological Resource
  • Best School Music Department
  • Hub Innovation Award, sponsored by the Musicians’ Union
  • Lifetime Achievement Award, sponsored by Black Cat Music and MusicPracticeRooms.com
  • Music Teacher Magazine Editor’s Award
  • Most Innovative Retailer
  • Best SEN Resource (special educational needs)
  • Excellence in Primary/Early Years Music
  • Best Classical Music Education Initiative, sponsored by Classic FM

To find out more about the criteria for each category, please visit www.musiceducationexpo.co.uk/award-categories

The winner of the Best Classical Music Education Initiative (sponsored by Classic FM), will be decided by a public vote on classicfm.com from mid-November.

Nominations

Nominations for the other 10 award categories must come from you, and we need all of you to participate! You all know somebody, or an organisation, or indeed product, worthy of winning one of these prestigious awards, so please, get involved and support music education’s best and most deserving recipients. It’s free, simple, and you’ve got to enter to have a chance of winning.

Nominations close on 7 November 2013, and the finalists will be announced on 18 November 2013 via the Expo social network sites and in the December issue of Music Teacher magazine.

To make a nomination, please visit www.musiceducationexpo.co.uk/nominate, download an application form and send the completed form to music.teacher@rhinegold.co.uk. Anyone is eligible to make a nomination; you can even nominate yourself!

Creative Practitioners, Literacy, Older People, Parents, Teachers, Young People

Inspired? Get Writing! Creative Writing Competition 2013/2014

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http://www.nationalgalleries.org/education/competitions-3740/inspired-get-writing-creative-writing-competition-20132014

Enjoy writing but need that little bit of inspiration and a goal to get started?

Why not enter this year’s National Galleries Inspired? Get writing! competition? You can write in prose or poetry about anything that has inspired you from our permanent collection: drawings; paintings; prints; sculpture; photography; installation. There are five categories for school pupils and adults. Four volumes of Inspired? Get writing! have been published, featuring winners from previous years, so you can check out the standard. For full details download the rules. There is also a resource pack which you might find helpful.

There are 5 categories:

•           Under 12 years

•           12 – 14 years

•           15-18 years

•           Adults prose

•           Adults poetry

Entries should be submitted by Friday 17 January 2014.  Results of the competition will be announced by Thursday 17 April 2014.

Art and Design, CfE, CPD, Expressive Arts, Glow

Glow meet with artist David Batchelor: Turning the ordinary into something beautiful

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Glow Exclusive! Tuesday 24 September at 2pm

David Batchelor is an artist, born in Dundee and now living in London who is best known for his brightly coloured sculptures using industrial materials including light boxes from neon street signs, industrial dollies used to move heavy objects and items from everyday life such as brightly coloured plastic sunglasses and kitchen utensils.

As part of the Education Scotland Learning Experiences Catalogue, David will join us live on Glow from his studio in London on Tuesday 24 September at 2pm to talk about his artwork and answer your questions. To sign up for the event, simply visit Glow TV.

For a full schedule of forthcoming learning experiences and to find out more,  visit the LearnCat today.

Careers and Pathways, CLN News, Dumfries and Galloway, Expressive Arts, Partnerships, Uncategorized

Mentoring performance makers…

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I wanted to share with you a piece of work that Electric Theatre in D&G (who developed the Big Burns Supper Festival) are currently taking forward in our region. Its called ‘Make’ and its an incubator project that seeks to develop and promote the work of emerging performance makers from the region (most of which are young emerging artists).

Make is a residential laboratory for six performance makers who are about to start a year long journey to make six new pieces of original work in Dumfries & Galloway. Guest specialists will help to inspire and cultivate the performance making process by providing mentoring to each performance project through an intensive period of creative development. Each performance maker has created an idea for a new piece of work – and that work will begin it’s journey somewhere in Dumfries & Galloway.

I have attached information that tells you more about the project, but the incubation period also allows the makers to be mentored to understand and develop funding routes for their own projects.

I will let you know when performances finally hit the theatres!

One of the six makers is a former Transform Dumfries participant, and great to see that learning coming full circle! (he is second year student at the Royal Conservatoire – Directing). Electric Theatre is a key CLN partner in D&G and some of the other makers have worked directly on educational projects with us through CREATE and recent CLN activity.

We have other exciting work with Electric Theatre that I hope to share with you soon.

Lesley

Make Performance D&G

Art and Design, Young People

Pupils challenged to design a building for cancer charity

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http://www.dailywhat.org.uk/2013/06/pupils-challenged-to-design-a-building-for-cancer-charity.aspx

A leading charity is challenging school pupils to design a building to help treat people with cancer.  Maggie’s is known for its visually striking centres where people with cancer, and their families, can receive support.  The charity has now launched a nationwide architecture competition to inspire a new generation of architects.

Expressive Arts, Fife, Music

Fife Council Youth Music Initiative – The Big Strum!

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http://www.fifedirect.org.uk/news/index.cfm?fuseaction=news.display&objectid=5CD68CF3-04CB-513C-DC70103CE7DA5154

An innovative music project culminated this week with 1400 Fife primary children coming together for the first ever Big Strum in the Rothes Halls, Glenrothes.
The event celebrated the many achievements of children and their primary teachers from over 30 schools who together have been learning singing and musicianship skills through the humble ukulele – and having a lot of fun in the process!

Led by primary music specialist, Ann Rae, and supported with Scottish Government Youth Music Initiative funding, plans are already in place to include
up to 60 primary schools in Fife next session.

An independent evaluation of the project, focusing on the quality of the CPD offered to teachers and the impact on children and their learning, has been commissioned from the University of Dundee and will be published later this summer.

Photos of the event are available to view at https://www.facebook.com/fifecouncil

For more information on this approach and other Fife Youth Music Initiative related activities, please contact Sandra Taylor, Music Co-ordinator, Fife Council
sandra.taylor@fife.gov.uk

Assessment, College CLNs, CPD, Education News, Technologies

Festival of Dangerous Ideas – free events

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Tuesday  18th June
Wild Ideas – Celebrating Failure and Success (1000-1500)
West Highland College UHI, Carmichael Way, Fort William

In the first part of the day, the West Highland Way Walkers who will just have completed their 5 day walk, led by young people from West Highland College  will exhibit the dangerous ideas that grew during their journey in the  wild. In the second half of the day, Outward Bound will lead a session that will explore how they have used the research on Mindsets to develop their work with young people

View Programme and Book Online

Wednesday 19th am and pm

Modern Assessment Tools to Match Modern Literacy Practices in These Dangerous Times

College Development Network, Argyll Court, Stirling (1030-1230)

In order for pedagogy to stay aligned with this seismic shift in communication, how could the ubiquitous practice of digital photography be used as an assessment tool?

View Programme and Book Online

Dangerous Assessment Conference (1300-1600)
College Development Network, Argyll Court, Stirling
Alastair Pollitt from UCLES will put forward the argument that we stop marking exam papers.

View Programme and Book Online

Thursday 20 June 2013
Learning Through Gaming (1000-1600)
Dundee College, Gardyne Campus

As part of the Festival of Dangerous Ideas, participants at the event are encouraged be as ‘dangerous’ as possible in considering how gaming can influence pedagogy and encourage greater engagement with learning.

Speakers include Chris van der Kuyl of brightsolid, Derek Robertson of Education Scotland and David Renton of Reid Kerr College.

View Programme and Book Online

CfE, CfE Subjects & Themes, Expressive Arts, Health and Wellbeing, Literacy, Maths, Modern Languages, RME, Science, Technologies

Game on Scotland – official education programme of 2014 launched

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Game on Scotland is the official education programme of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games and its legacy. It aims to provide inspiration and learning and teaching opportunities related to Glasgow 2014 and other momentous events happening throughout Scotland in the coming years.

The Programme uses the Games as a context for learning, allowing for the delivery of many experiences and outcomes within CfE and providing opportunities for the development of skills for learning, life and work.

Game On Scotland aims to support teachers, school leaders and education managers in creating stimulating learning experiences for young people from 3-18 using the Commonwealth Games as a context for learning.

The Game On Scotland website hosts a wealth of learning and teaching resources, interactive media and background information on the Games; it aims to help practitioners:

  • create stimulating learning experiences
  • develop learners’ skills and knowledge across the curriculum
  • find and share learning and teaching ideas across a global network
  • get involved in a variety of Games-based education projects
  • explore opportunities to connect with learners, practitioners and schools across the globe.

To find out more and to get involved visit:

http://www.gameonscotland.org/about/index.asp

Literacy

Book Week Scotland – The Sequel

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Scotland will host a second national celebration of reading in 2013, Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop has announced.

Building on the success of last year’s inaugural Book Week Scotland, Scottish Book Trust will deliver a week-long nationwide focus on books, reading and writing from November 25 to December 1, 2013.

Ms Hyslop was at the Scottish Storytelling Centre in Edinburgh, where she joined Scottish authors Denise Mina, Mairi Hedderwick and Richard Holloway to launch ‘Treasures’ – Scottish Book Trust’s national writing project encouraging people to submit stories or poems about their own treasured possessions. Entries will be posted online and a selection will be included in a free book to be distributed across the country during Book Week Scotland 2013.

Read more here: Book Week Scotland