Inspire! Competition

There is a competition for Home Economics teachers with prizes including a tutorial day in London with celebrity baker Paul Hollywood and £500 to re-equip the teacher’s school kitchen.

The Inspire! competition is looking to reward excellent teachers for delivering inspiring lessons which stimulate learning around one of the following areas:
-exploring a variety of different flour and grains;
-incorporating local ingredients;
-making the most of seasonal foods;
-celebrating bread making and/or cake making skills;
-baking for celebration events.
For more information about the competition, teachers can visit: http://www.grainchain.com/competitions

CPDConsolarium: GBL and Technologies loan service for Scottish schools

Cross post from the Consolarium Blog.

Over the past few years the Consolarium team has invested in a variety of technical/digital equipment that it wanted to explore in relation to how its effective and innovative use could impact favourably and positively on teaching and learning contexts in settings from 3-18 years.

We have been thinking how best we can utilise this ‘cupboard of super stuff’ and how it can be out in schools helping teachers teach and children learn rather than not doing that! After some thought we came up with the idea of establishing a loan service that Scottish teachers could access via Glow – this is what we are now calling CPDConsolarium. Based on the excellent leading work of Con Morris and the CPDCentral team we have designed a community of practice that aims to act as the focal point for teachers to share their experiences, successes and challenges in using GBL, game design and other technologies in their practice.

We have an inventory of over 220 assets that can be loaned by any teacher that joins CPDConsolarium. Before they do this they must first of all join the community by filling in the online membership form. Once this is done they can then browse the searchable catalogue and see what resources are available and when they can loan them. If a resource is free then a bid is submitted. This is an important part because we are asking teachers to begin to reflect on how they plan to use the resource, what impact they anticipate on learning as well as what it means for their own professional development in relation to how the Standard for Full Registration is being addressed by their work in this area. Once submitted it goes through an approval process which can involve e-mails, phone calls to the school or Twitter DMs by myself to the bidder in order to iron out any problems and to get the resource out to schools.

However, any bid that is accepted comes with a blank wiki page dedicated to that teacher and the resource that they have loaned and an expectation that the developing narrative of their experience will be documented and shared with everyone else. Without agreement to this no kit is sent out.

Some of the kit that is available includes:

  • Sets of Nintendo DS, PSP and a wide variety of games
  • 25 Nintendo Wiis and a wide selection of games
  • 20 Sony PS3s with a wide selection of games
  • 15 Microsoft XBoxes with a range of games
  • 10 Macbooks with I Can Animate & I Can Present installed
  • 10 Graphics Tablets
  • 3D mice
  • Class set of iPod Touches
  • A number of sets of 20 PC Xbox360 controllers for Kodu
  • 2 sets of licences for RPG Maker VX
  • Arduino kits
  • Lego Wedo kits
  • Set of GPS devices
  • and much, much more!

Already the community is growing and we have already approved quite a number of sets of kit.

This resource is here for any Scottish teacher who can access CPDConsolarium with their Glow account. It is our resource, for us to use and to help inform each other of our developing practice. Come and join and empty my cupboard of superb stuff!

Over the past few years the Consolarium team has invested in a variety of technical/digital equipment that it wanted to explore in relation to how its effective and innovative use could impact favourably and positively on teaching and learning contexts in settings from 3-18 years.

We have been thinking how best we can utilise this ‘cupboard of super stuff’ and how it can be out in schools helping teachers teach and children learn rather than not doing that! After some thought we came up with the idea of establishing a loan service that Scottish teachers could access via Glow – this is what we are now calling CPDConsolarium. Based on the excellent leading work of Con Morris and the CPDCentral team we have designed a community of practice that aims to act as the focal point for teachers to share their experiences, successes and challenges in using GBL, game design and other technologies in their practice.

We have an inventory of over 220 assets that can be loaned by any teacher that joins CPDConsolarium. Before they do this they must first of all join the community by filling in the online membership form. Once this is done they can then browse the searchable catalogue and see what resources are available and when they can loan them. If a resource is free then a bid is submitted. This is an important part because we are asking teachers to begin to reflect on how they plan to use the resource, what impact they anticipate on learning as well as what it means for their own professional development in relation to how the Standard for Full Registration is being addressed by their work in this area. Once submitted it goes through an approval process which can involve e-mails, phone calls to the school or Twitter DMs by myself to the bidder in order to iron out any problems and to get the resource out to schools.

However, any bid that is accepted comes with a blank wiki page dedicated to that teacher and the resource that they have loaned and an expectation that the developing narrative of their experience will be documented and shared with everyone else. Without agreement to this no kit is sent out.

Some of the kit that is available includes:

  • Sets of Nintendo DS, PSP and a wide variety of games
  • 25 Nintendo Wiis and a wide selection of games
  • 20 Sony PS3s with a wide selection of games
  • 15 Microsoft XBoxes with a range of games
  • 10 Macbooks with I Can Animate & I Can Present installed
  • 10 Graphics Tablets
  • 3D mice
  • Class set of iPod Touches
  • A number of sets of 20 PC Xbox360 controllers for Kodu
  • 2 sets of licences for RPG Maker VX
  • Arduino kits
  • Lego Wedo kits
  • Set of GPS devices
  • and much, much more!

Already the community is growing and we have already approved quite a number of sets of kit.

This resource is here for any Scottish teacher who can access CPDConsolarium with their Glow account. It is our resource, for us to use and to help inform each other of our developing practice. Come and join and empty my cupboard of superb stuff!

Half-day Baking Conference

There is a free mini-conference for Home Economics teachers to attend on 3rd March in Glasgow 2012. The half-day training event includes a practical lesson with a Master Baker, updates on market research and intelligence trends, nutrition updates and teaching resource highlights.

For more information or to register teachers can visit the website: http://www.grainchain.com/events

The online CPD keeps a-coming!

Happy New Year by Ekhinoz on Flickr ccHappy New Year to all our CPD community readers!

This is just a brief post to let you know that the online CPD offerings from the CPD communities and Glow TV get started again next week.

Monday 16th Jan at 4pm. CPDMeet43 – Maths and interdisciplinary learning.

This one is brought to you from the Numeracy Team on behalf of the CPDStepin community. More details at http://bit.ly/cpdmeet43

More online CPD including challenges, thought-pieces, Journey to Excellence resources and recorded CPDMeets at http://bit.ly/onlinecpd

By the way, CPDMeet43 comes ‘made-to-measure’ from a suggestion by a member of the CPDStepin community through our CPDRequest service. Any member of a Glow CPD community can order their own, free online CPD!

See http://bit.ly/cpdrequest service for more details

New Case Studies Published on NAR

Education Scotland has worked with a range of establishments to publish new case studies on the National Assessment Resource (NAR). These case studies focus on the process of recognising achievement, profiling and reporting.

All of Scotland’s local authorities were involved in developing these materials, which reflect the local flexibility that schools and local authorities have in developing their processes, in line with the guidance provided by Building the Curriculum 5. The materials cover the early years, primary, secondary and ASN sectors and all have been through a national quality assurance and moderation process.

Support materials are available to help practitioners find their way around NAR and include videos of teachers and headteachers talking about their experiences of NAR, step-by-step video guides on how to get the most from using NAR, and a downloadable User manual and poster.

On NAR, and on the Education Scotland website, you will find information on assessment, quality assurance and moderation, all of which are integral to planning learning and teaching.

You can access these new case studies by focus by selecting ‘Aspects of Assessment’ under ‘Browse’ within NAR. You will need to login to NAR with your Glow login or through SQA Connect.

Consultation “Speak Out for LGB people in school”

A survey is being carried out by researchers in the Centre for Family Research at the University of Cambridge for Stonewall UK. This survey is for young people in England, Scotland and Wales who are aged 11 to 19 and who are lesbian, gay or bisexual (or think they might be). The survey is about their experiences in school or college: Five years ago Stonewall carried out the first big study about LGB young people’s experiences at school: this survey is intended to discover if things have changed, and what action still needs to done to make things better.

Award in Volunteering Skills

The Award in Volunteering Skills at SCQF Levels 3, 4 and 5 provides formal recognition of volunteering activity. Through participation in volunteering activities, candidates will develop a range of skills and personal development experiences which will help to prepare them for responsibility, further education and employment.

Candidates learn about the context of volunteering; plan a volunteering placement; review and reflect on their own skills and volunteering experience; and complete an investigative project.

More information is available here.

Climate Change Debate on Glow

Glow meet 1 – Our changing weather and climate

2pm – 3:15pm, Monday 23rd January 2012

Click here to watch the Glow Meet Recording

What’s happening to our weather? Within days of autumn 2011 being declared the second warmest on record, Scotland was put on red alert and subsequently battered by severe flooding and hurricane force winds which forced much of our country to a standstill.

Is this weather just a random blip or is our weather and climate already changing? How can we accept the evidence for global warming when the last two Scottish winters were so cold? What’s the long-term forecast – sunny spells or scattered storms? In this the first in a series of three national Glow meets, learners will have a chance to voice their opinion and put weather and climate questions to Alex Hill, the MET Office’s Chief Advisor to the government in Scotland and Northern Ireland and former Head of the London Weather Centre.

Visit here to register, post your questions in advance and join the Glow meet on the day. This event is for learners in upper primary and secondary schools.

For resources and videos on climate change visit Weather and Climate Change and Exploring Climate Change and Climate Change on Glow.

 Other events in the series include:

Glow meet 2: Climate science – evidence versus controversy (30th Jan ‘12)

Glow meet 3: Adapting to climate change (6th Feb ’12)

STEM Ambassadors in Scotland

If you haven’t tapped into the amazing, free resource that is the STEMNET  network of STEM Ambassadors, why not make a plan to explore using the STEM Ambassador scheme with STEM Central  to support, enhance and enrich teaching and learning in sciences, technologies, engineering and maths?

Tansy Hammarton, Principal Investigator, Wellcome Trust Centre For Molecular Parasitology at the University of Glasgow, is one of over 2500 STEM Ambassadors registered in Scotland. Tansy’s work as a STEM Ambassador was recognised at the House of Lords on 13th December 2011, where she was one of three UK finalists for the award of The Most Dedicated STEM Ambassador.

The Scottish STEMNET Awards will be run in the summer term. This is an opportunity for you to nominate Most Dedicated Teacher, Most Dedicated STEM Ambassador and Most Dedicated Employer in Scotland. For more information, see the 2011 Scottish STEMNET awards.

2012: An exciting year for Creativity in Education

Not only is 2012 Scotland’s Year of Creative Scotland, but it will also be the first year of the United Nations/UNESCO endorsed International Week of Arts Education – the fourth week of May.

Let your colleagues know about the Creativity Newsfeeds from the Creativity Portal to ensure they keep up to date with the news and opportunities that will develop around these two initiatives. You can find full details on them and links to subscribe on the following post here in the Education Scotland Learning Blog.

Happy New Year!

Young Scot Extra

 Young Scot is working in partnership with the Scottish Government to help increase young people’s confidence in being more financially capable by providing them with the information they need to make informed decisions and choices around money-related issues.

As part of this work, Young Scot is delivering four seminars to demonstrate how Young Scot Extra supports the senior phase of the Curriculum for Excellence, and how it can assist those working with young people post-school and involved in 16+ Activity Agreements in delivering financial capability information to young people. The seminars also aim to provide an opportunity for practitioners to get involved in the discussions around young people and financially capability, and to help shape the services and information Young Scot Extra offers.

The events will take place between 10am and 12pm on:

  • 18 January – The Mitchell Library, Glasgow
  • 19 January – The Discovery, Dundee
  • 20 January – Oasis Youth Centre, Dumfries and Galloway
  • 23 January – 6VT Youth Café, Edinburgh

Contact: Rachel Eddington at Young Scot, Tel: 0131 313 2488 [ e-mail | website ]

Promoting Youth Employability and Rights Conference (Glasgow)

 
This free conference takes place on Tuesday 21st February 2012, 09:30-15:30 at the STUC Centre in Glasgow, and is a partnership conference between BEMIS, the Scottish Refugee Council, the Scottish Trades Union Congress / One Workplace Equal Rights (STUC), the Council for Ethnic Minority Voluntary Sector Organisations (CEMVO) Scotland, and the Scottish Inter Faith Council.  The conference has the following aims:

  • Raise awareness of employability opportunities, equality and rights for youth and potential employers
  • Provide a platform to address gaps in support of youth employment
  • Empower and present new opportunities in education, skills and build links with different sectors and industry in employment and help youth to exercise their right in breaking barriers and discrimination in the job market
  • Seek to develop a charter on supporting youth employment as well as engaging potential employers with regards to opportunities and responsibilities

Details of speakers and a full programme will be available in January 2012.

To register interest in attending, please send your details (name, organisation, email address and telephone number) to: conference@bemis.org.uk  or contact Tanveer Parnez, BEMIS, Centrum Building, 38 Queen Street, Glasgow G1 3DX, 0141 548 8047 / Fax: 0141 548 8284

Children and Young people’s Mental Health Indicators

  
NHS Health Scotland has launched a new set of indicators for the mental health of children and young people in Scotland.  Updated every four years, the profile aims to provide a greater understanding of the current and changing picture of mental health within this population and the factors that influence it.

A briefing which contains the indicators is available from the Health Scotland website The indicators were launched at an event on 25th November at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. The presentations are available here, and videos of the presentations will be added to this webpage shortly as will the final report from the project.

 

Notes from Community Development Alliance Scotland (CDAS) Conference available

 
Presentations and reports from the CDAS Conference held on 22 November 2011 at Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh are now available to download.  The conference was entitled “Community Development: at the centre of the action”, and presentations were given by Alan Johnston, Deputy Director, Public Bodies and Public Service Reform, Scottish Government, Gerry McLaughlin, CEO, NHS Health Scotland and Gabriel Chanan, PACES (Public Agency and Community Empowerment Strategies).  Powerpoint slides from these presentations, as well as notes from conference workshops can be accessed here.

New Better Community Engagement resources available

 
The Scottish Government has made available learning and training resources produced as part of the Better Community Engagement (BCE) programme which SCDC helped to deliver nationally.  These include practical materials, training guides and resource packs based on the local BCE demonstration projects which were delivered through the programme. 

The programme was based on the Better Community Engagement Framework (Learning Connections, Communities Scotland, 2007) which sets out a framework of competences designed to enable the planning of learning in community engagement and was developed to build the capacity of practitioners in community engagement.

The aims of the programme were to:

  • establish one or more working models of effective learning for community engagement across Scotland
  • evidence how structured learning could impact or improve community engagement practice
  • provide an evidence base for future development of learning for community engagement

Examples of the kind of resources available include training material for community and voluntary groups, templates for needs assessments, training for trainers and a guide to better engagement between public agencies and faith communities.  These, and many other resources, can be downloaded from the Better Community Engagement section of the Scottish Government website.  Click here to find out more about the background to SCDC’s involvement in the programme.