Category Archives: Skills & Attitudes

Global Citizenship

Global citizenship brings together education for citizenship, international education and sustainable development education and recognises the common outcomes and principles of these three areas. All curriculum areas can contribute to developing the skills, attributes and knowledge that will create active global citizens.

Visit the Education Scotland pages on:

View the Global Citizenship blog

Learning for Sustainability

A One Planet Schools working group, chaired by Professor Peter Higgins from the University of Edinburgh, was established to provide strategic advice and direction to support the implementation of the manifesto commitment which states that:

“We welcome proposals for the creation of One Planet schools, and will look at ways of developing this concept. This will include action to continue the development of professional standards around sustainability education and leadership within our schools on environmental issues”.

Learning for Sustainability – the report of the One Planet Schools Working Group, was published on 17 December 2012. Learning for Sustainability has been defined by the Group 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”.

Scotland has a distinguished history and international reputation recognised by UNESCO and others for sustainable development education, global citizenship and outdoor learning, which are firmly embedded within Curriculum for Excellence. Learning for sustainability encompasses all of these themes and approaches and sets out recommendations to build on successful practice in Scotland. The approach being recommended complements the General Teaching Council Scotland’s new Professional Standards which affirm the importance of values and learning for sustainability.

Visit the SG One Planet Schools page.

Read the full Learning for Sustainability Report.

Read the Scottish Government Response to the LfS Report.

Do The Right Thing

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child provides the principles and values to which we all should aspire. In 2009 we published ‘Do the Right Thing’ – our response to the 2008 concluding observations of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.
This was a clear commitment by the Scottish Government to account for actions to further promote children’s rights. This document reports on the significant progress we have made since then and we will continue to demonstrate the importance we place on rights through future similar reports.

UNCRC: The foundation of Getting It Right For Every Child

Scottish Ministers are committed to promoting the GIRFEC approach and way of working. Legislation is proposed for introduction to parliament this year to ensure that the key elements of the approach have a statutory foundation. The attached paper has been produced with the aim of helping to understand better the relationship with UNCRC and how the application of GIRFEC will progress respect for the rights of each individual child and young person across Scotland.
We want children and young people to experience public services that place them at the centre of what they do. Scotland has a proud track record in promoting
the welfare of children and young people. The establishment and development of the children’s hearings system is a clear testimony to that. Extending the new way of working across all services and for all children and young people with a focus on improving wellbeing takes that commitment– and challenges – to a new level. Achieving such change will take time but we have taken some of the first big steps on the journey.

Human Rights Belong to All of Us

This paper gives a bit of history, considers the legal context and importantly for us focuses on how we might create a culture in our public and private services – as
well as in our communities and in families – which are consistent with the intuitive idea of human dignity.

Children’s Parliament

Children’s Parliament gives children the opportunity to voice their ideas, thoughts and feelings so that their concerns and opinions can be listened to and included in our social and political landscape.

Children’s Parliament gives ideas a voice.
The Children’s Parliament works with children from birth to 14 years old. This also means engaging with their families, schools and communities.
We use the creative arts and have developed a thematic and holistic approach. We develop open and honest relationships with children; valuing their worth
and their views.
We create opportunities for children to feel safe, challenged and trusted.
By offering children the tools with which to develop and communicate their own opinions we also provide adults with a unique, valuable insight into the concerns and hopes of today’s children.
Their passions and concerns are important. Children are experts in their own lives and we can use the information they share with us to help make Scotland a great country to grow up in.

Visit the Children’s Parliament website.

View Children’s Parliament’s ‘Seen+Heard’ brochure.

Email: info@childrensparliament.org.uk | Tel: 0131 558 9030

Participation Workers’ Network for Wales

The PWNW (Participation Workers’ Network for Wales) is a free service for supporting practitioners and organisations to promote participation through their work with children and young people.

 The Network has the following core services:

  • A public information area which includes essential information on participation and its development in Wales. The area is also updated with policy news and updates from strategic bodies in Wales.
  • A private members’ area. The member’s area is free to join and holds contact details for all PWNW members. By joining members can share and search for examples of good practice from other members. Find out more in the PWNW area.

The Network has recently been redesigned and redeveloped to be easier to search and easier for members to add good practice. Find out more about the changes here.

The Children and Young People’s Participation Consortium for Wales, the Participation Unit and the Welsh Assembly Government’s Participation Project are working together to promote the participation of children and young people (0-25) in decision-making in Wales. We have developed a set of National Standards for participation that are relevant for all organisations who work with or have an impact on children and young people. Together we can ensure that all children and young people have a positive and meaningful experience of participation across Wales.

Children in Wales is a joint sponsor in the Reach the Heights project, supporting young people to gain skills for learning and employment through work experience and community based opportunities.

Visit the PWNW website.

PWNW – Measuring Children and Young People’s Participation

The National Children and Young People’s Participation Standards for Wales have been developed to improve the process of children and young people’s participation in decision-making. The Participation Standards measure the ‘quality’ of the process of children and young people’s participation against key agreed indicators.

In addition to measuring the process, it is important to assess the outcomes and the changes that have occurred as a result of children or young people’s participation.

Visit the PWNW Standards website.

Continue reading PWNW – Measuring Children and Young People’s Participation

Golden Rules of Participation

The Golden Rules for Participation are a set of principles designed to help anyone working with, and for, children and young people. Their purpose is to remind adults of what participation means from the point of view of children and young people, and to encourage children and young people to think about what they need from adults to support them to participate.

Go to the 7 Golden Rules of Participation