On Tuesday 4th December 2012 practitioners, learners and representatives from local authority and partner organisations will come together at Inveralmond Community High School and on Glow to explore and share ideas and examples of how communities, education authorities, schools and community learning and development services are transforming their work by using new approaches to change.
Presentations given over the course of the day will include:
Learning to work in partnership…
Milton School, Glasgow, has been working in partnership with the International Education Office, Glasgow City Council and British Council Scotland to effect their transformative innovation ‘Implemento’ through eTwinning, an EU online collaboration programme to support the delivery of curricular outcomes and experiences through international school partnerships. eTwinning was chosen by staff to effect the 3 horizons of change identified by the PIPTC approach. This decision followed a staff PIPTC training session with HMI, Education Scotland.
The workshop outlines the journey so far with Milton school and identifies the various stages of change and the construction of the ‘Implemento’, as the young people with complex special needs and staff in the school begin to learn together in an innovative way, using the ICT tools and online collaboration available through eTwinning.
The session demonstrates how change begins with Horizon 1, how it continues during Horizon 2 -preserving what works and having the courage to explore new ways of working- and demonstrates how the challenges and opportunities of change are negotiated and developed strategically to offer a clearer picture of the ‘ emerging future’ to offer a whole school approach for the way forward. The session sets out the starting point for the school, the gradual emergence of the ‘ seeds’ of change and how working in partnership with others has supported the school to grow in ways that have had a profound impact for learners with complex needs and for the ethos of the whole school.
Lesley Atkins, Development Officer: International Education, Glasgow City Council
In partnership with Balfron High School, our S6 leadership team have been trained in the use of Implemento to identify priorities for our school, create action plans and lead school improvement and learner improvement teams.
In September 2012, a group of S6 students joined St John’s Academy’s S6 team and trained them in the use of Implemento.
Val Corrie, Headteacher of Balfron introduced the session giving some background information about the work of the International Futures Forum and specifically about Implemento.
Audrey May, Headteacher of St John’s explained that the Senior Leadership Team and a group of Principal Teachers from St John’s have also been trained in the use of 3 Horizons and Implemento and we are using these tools to enhance our planning for improvement.
For the remainder of the morning, the S6 students from Balfron led and coached the St John’s students in the use of the Implemento toolkit.
The session led to our students clearly identifying areas for improvement in St John’s. They developed action plans as the result of the session with Balfron, and are now skilled and confident to lead teams from S1 to S6 to implement their plans.
It was a very successful morning and in just over a month our S6 leaders have developed their thinking and are sharing their learning with younger students to move our school forward.
The key areas identified and now being led by our students are:
The development of a whole school approach to peer coaching/mentoring; A programme of Volunteering for all S5/6 students; The development of ‘House’/ Inter-House and sporting activities; Our Charities fundraising and associated activities; The further development of our Tutor Group programme.
*This text is taken from the Education Scotland’s Promoting Innovative Practice and Transformative Change Document
First Horizon OR ‘how good are we now?’
The first horizon is the dominant system, as it currently exists. This horizon is:
As a result, the system becomes out of date and less successful. People begin to lose faith in what they are doing and wonder whether there is a better way. This is often the trigger for a conversation about the future.
Second Horizon OR ‘how do we get to where we want to be?’
This is the transformational system. In the second horizon, innovation has started in the light of the apparent shortcomings of the existing system. This horizon is:
Third Horizon OR ’how good can we be?’
This is the future system. This horizon is about ideas and proposals for a future system that will require the transformative change of the second horizon. The first stirrings of a third horizon are those innovations already happening but that today look way off beam. This horizon is:
The ideas or proposals of the third horizon have the potential to become increasingly relevant and appropriate in the future because they represent a more effective and informed response to the changes that are already occurring in the external environment. All three horizons are always present.
Read The Three Horizons part 1
Acknowledgememts
Education Scotland has licensed the Transition Leadership tools and the Three Horizons toolkit for the specific and sole purpose of improving Scottish Education and the partner services that support it. We are delighted to have partnered the following people and organisations in this venture: Executive Arts Inc.; James R. Ewing, ForthRoad Ltd.; International Futures Forum and Graham Leicester.
Balfron High is used 3 Horizons and Implemento to empower young people to lead and inspire each other and staff. Young people openly describe the very positive impact and skills for life this have developed. Watch the young people demonstrate clearly how the tools can be used and the difference it can make.
Our Journey To Excellence site has a numbetr of videos where you can see and hear for yourself just how the tools have been used at Balfron HS and the impact that they have had.
North Ayrshire Community Learning and Development used 3-Horizons and Implemento to involve young people and the community more effectively in making a difference. Views and opinions were gathered and a strategic plan created to take forward improvments. Watch this video to see the approach in action. Listen to young people talk about the difference these tools made to their involvement in the process. Clip : Making Shift Happen
Approaches to change have empowered the children at Tough Primary 4 to be leaders of their own learning. They are now very active in the life and work of the school, in their own learning and in their local community. Watch the clips they scripted and produced to show the impact they are making to the whole school. ‘Young Leaders – Empowering learners’, ‘Young Leaders – Helping others’, ‘Young Leaders – Partnerships’, ‘Young Leaders’ – ‘Sharing learning’
Kersland school manages change very well. They are a centre of excellence aiming for long term independence for young people. Change approaches have brought about high quality learning experiences with a focus on skills for learning, life and work. Learning relates fully to real life contexts. Technology is used as an excellent support to communication and learning for young people with complex additional support needs. The school can demonstrate how their approaches to change has led to raised attainment and achievement for young people. Watch the following case studies to see effective practice in action. Skills Building, Making Learning Relevant Technology Continuous Improvement.
Our Journey To Excellence site has a number of videos that shows how the tools were used and what their impact has been.
Inveravon’s created an ethos across the school of empowering learners to plan, assess and report on their learning. Annual reporting formats are created by children enabling them to really understand their strengths and next steps in learning. Watch these clips and see children engage very effectively in reflection about their learning. Reflection and Achievement My School Report, Engaging with local Community.
Enrol people in the shortest possible time, clarify and address barriers, and deliver messages in a way that tests understanding and commitment.
Schemes, dreams, plans, goals, changes and everything else we do requires other people to lead, follow or get out of the way. Each of us runs into the puzzle of how best to communicate a tough message to someone important in our lives. How to bring about the most understanding in the shortest time.
How to create allies instead of skeptics and enemies. How to best gain other’s best thinking about the challenge at hand. How to ensure sustainable support. How to be in charge of the communication, however charged. How to test for the other’s understanding. When to go faster or slower.
Impacto is our offering to aid with these challenges. It is a process map with five domains: Purpose, Urgency, Destination, Success Path and Commitment. Each domain is a necessary part of a communication which lets others know what we are up to and why, and how we want them involved or not involved.
Impacto is both a framework for thinking and a design and delivery process for communications which enrols people in our cause. It gives us a way to develop understanding in the other person, layer by layer. It gives us frequent, natural opportunities to stop and assess whether common understanding and agreement is developing. To go no faster or further than the other person is prepared to go. It gives us a plan for orderly retreat, if we have overstepped the other person’s ability to hear us. It puts us in charge of the process. It builds allies It is strategic enough to communicate upward. In fact, it is essential preparation for anyone seeking support from higher organisational levels.
Rarely does anyone begin Impacto at the beginning and go to the end, filling in the blanks. Each domain is deeply interlinked with the others. An addition or modification in one will ripple through the others. The design process may well be jazzy, meandering,
helter skelter, a free for all. Eventually, a story will reveal itself on the map Larger threads appear. The domains align themselves. This can take an hour or a day or two, depending on the complexity of the issue and the clarity of your purposes.
To get started, find the domains where you feel you have some material, some interest, and some energy to state the case. Put down whatever you have. Emptied of this, take a stab at a domain which remains thin or empty. At the invention stage, do not concern yourself with how well the story hangs together. More important now to get everything you believe you know and want on the map.
Acknowledgememts
Education Scotland has licensed the Transition Leadership tools and the Three Horizons toolkit for the specific and sole purpose of improving Scottish Education and the partner services that support it. We are delighted to have partnered the following people and organisations in this venture: Executive Arts Inc.; James R. Ewing, ForthRoad Ltd.; International Futures Forum and Graham Leicester.
