Category Archives: Research

Project STEM, Book of Insights 2014

The Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) is the Government department for economic growth.
It works with further and higher education providers to give students the skills they need to compete in a global employment market and supports the UK’s science and research industry, which is important to economic growth.

The organisation has produced Project STEM, Book of Insights 2014 which details young people’s attitudes, beliefs, motivations and behaviours that affect their decisions on subject choice and career paths to add depth to the current understanding of how they perceive STEM careers.

The book brings together four phases of research activity with young people; qualitative, social listening, co-creation and quantitative research activities that ran between February and March 2014.
To complement the qualitative research, the researchers listened to young people’s social media conversations to understand their sentiment towards STEM careers and subjects.

To access the research document Project STEM, Book of Insights 2014

Christmas Cyber Security public Lecture

The Christmas cyber security lectures, run in association with SICSA, are a series of lectures for school pupils that take place across Scotland in the week before the Christmas holidays. With up to 5 talks from leading industry figures, Police Scotland and University academics in one session the lectures provide a fun and varied introduction to the challenges facing all of us as we move towards the internet of things.   The lectures aim to use light-hearted and fun methods to promote cyber security and to highlight educational and career options in the field.

The first two times slots are for school pupils only (approximately age 14+), while the third, starting at 14:30, is a public lecture open to all.   There are public lectures at Edinburgh, Dundee and Glasgow universities.

· Glasgow Uni – Mon 15th Dec, 1430-1630

· Edinburgh Napier (Riady lecture theatre, Craiglockhart campus) – Tue 16th Dec, 1430-1630

· Dundee Abertay – Wed 17th Dec, 1430-1630

Registration is free and is open via Eventbrite at

https://christmas-cyber-security-lectures-2014.eventbrite.com/

Teachmeet @ SLF 2014

Sign-up now for TeachMeet @ Scottish Learning Festival 2014.

Learn something new, be amazed, amused and enthused. This is an informal gathering of those curious about teaching and learning. Anyone can share great ideas they’ve trialled in their classrooms, ask important questions or simply sign up to take part in learning conversations. Education professionals from all sectors are welcome to take part.

The Scottish Learning Festival TeachMeet is always something special. It is usually the biggest TeachMeet in Scotland and often attracts some of the biggest names in education. It is also great fun!

John Carnochan at SLF 2014

With SLF 2014 now only 4 weeks away we hear for one of this year’s keynote speakers, John Carnochan about his keynote and thoughts on Scottish education.

Responding Differently

“We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men; and among those fibers, as sympathetic threads, our actions run as causes, and they come back to us as effects.” Herman Melville

Teachers, parents and families have a collective responsibility to ensure our children receive a rounded education that helps prepare them for life. Sadly, in the process, we too often forget or ignore the fundamental importance of human connection and relationships in our lives.

We seem to think now that as professionals we just need to do more of the same and everything will be ok, more policy, more training, more process and everything will be fine. This slavish adherence to professional process is, at times, naively arrogant and often ineffective. Not only does it ignore the value of human attributes, it often deliberately de-values them as being somehow unprofessional.

Professionals do not have all the answers and neither can we continue to assume that professional skills are the only “skills” appropriate or adequate responses to persistent problems. The strategies, systems and structures that exist today often can only manage the problems we face, new thinking is required if we are to make these problems better. We must begin to Respond Differently.

Professional and technical skills are important but they are not more important than the human attributes that demand we care for our fellow humans that help us establish relationships and that keep us connected. By combining the professional technical skills with our human attributes we will produce far more effective services and also help us do the right things for the right reasons.

Teachers are on the front line of Responding Differently, helping prepare our children for life. It’s certainly true that our children will need many of the technical skills delivered so effectively everyday in classrooms across Scotland. But these technical skills alone will not be enough if our children are to lead successful and productive lives. There is every possibility that many will be working in roles and doing jobs that have not yet been invented; they may be working in industries that haven’t been created yet. The skills that will be of most use to them in everything they do will be human “skills’. Our children will need to be resilient, adaptable, courageous, thoughtful, collaborative; they will need to communicate, problem solve, negotiate, compromise. Most importantly they will need to connect with others, they will need to be human; create better relationships and in schools it will create better learning and better behaviour.

In Scotland we have started to Respond Differently, particularly in Education. We have defined What our ambition is for our children, we want to make Scotland the Best Place to Grow Up. We have also defined How we are going to do it with the introduction of national policies such as GIRFEC and CfE. The inclusion of “wellbeing”, in CfE, with its aims to help children become Successful Learners, Confident Individuals, Effective Contributors and Responsible Citizens is hugely important.

This is an exciting time for Scotland and I sense that we have started to Respond Differently to children how we educate them and how we include them.

We know What we want to do and we know How we’re going to do it that’s a great start. Change is always difficult but if we remember also Why we are doing it the angst borne of the change will lessen as our aspirations increase. We are after all humans first and change is what we humans do, its what we have always done. Leadership has a role to play but we are all leaders and we can all Respond Differently.

If you want to hear John’s keynote then register for SLF 2014.

SLF 2014 – looking forward to Frank Dick’s keynote

With SLF 2014 now only 5 weeks away we hear for one of this year’s keynote speakers, Dr Frank Dick OBE, on his thoughts about how people are prepared to take ownership of their lives and the vital role that teachers and mentors play.

A Winning Lead

Whether as teacher, coach or mentor, our purpose is to prepare the pathway that takes people from who they are to who they will become. My thinking in this was mostly shaped by two life changing books: Richard Bach’s Jonathan Livingston Seagull which to me was about taking the risk of being different; and The Prophet which persuaded me that the coach is to the athlete as Kahlil Gibran saw the parent to the child – the parent is to the bow as the child is to the arrow.

Both of these seemed to point to preparing people to take ownership of their lives – to doing things right and to do the right thing.

We are not in total control of conditions in our lives, nor of results, but we are of our attitude to dealing with them and of our performance. And because life is more like a white water ride than a flat water glide, our attitude must find us controlling the controllables and being agile to turn uncertainty and adversity to advantage. In this, focussing on the performance of those whose development we influence and our own, is key.

Our behaviours, it seems to me, must work to a simple acronym: “O.D.D.” Own: take personal ownership of each moment to turn it into opportunity. Decide: take considered risks in decision making to turn opportunity to advantage. Do: just do it – effectively and excellently.

Giving ownership means not only preparing people to be let go (arrow) but being prepared to let go (bow).
Whether teaching, coaching or mentoring or being taught, coached or mentored, the most important quote to reflect on is Arie de Geus: “Probably the only sustainable advantage we have, is the ability to learn faster than the opposition.” The key to this, clearly is in being prepared to learn.

“Being prepared” is about attitude (again!) and process. The attitude part is clear and must be there every step of the life experience pathway towards who we will become.

The process starts with learning to learn and having in place the “machinery” to learn. For example, before a Commonwealth Games you must put in place how you will collect the necessary intelligence to debrief meticulously all that has influenced the performance and results.

In all of this we might agree that there are some things in life we can be taught, and others we can only learn.
Early in our life experience pathway of shaping personal and professional growth, we are taught the “science” for our education and development role. As we proceed, through experience, we learn the “art” of translating the science to action excellence by effective decision making.

The trouble, however, as Vernon Law avered, is: “Experience is a hard teacher, because she gives the test first and the lesson after.”

Yet if we are to learn the art of delivering our purpose in education, we must be exposed to the challenge and pressure of experiencing the untrodden path. It is by taking such risk that we turn fear to courage in the process of making right judgement calls.

It is important to get this right. The learning experience must be planned to ensure it is appropriate for the intended lesson, and we must have a critical competency set in the person responsible to teach, coach or mentor following the experience.

To return to our purpose: by preparing the pathway well, we not only develop people for their arena, but through the process for a better life. We not only develop them to improve performance, but to deliver it under pressure, on the day.

Want to hear more from Frank? Then register for SLF 2014 today.

Bookbug in the Home-Evaluation

Blake Stevenson and consultant Dr Suzanne Zeedyk recently undertook a year- long evaluation of the Bookbug for the Home training, which aims to expand the reach of the Bookbug programme (this encourages families to read with their children from a young age) to vulnerable families and those living in deprived areas. Professionals who work in families’ homes, such as social workers, are provided with the knowledge and resources to introduce the principles of Bookbug Sessions – talking, singing, cuddling and book sharing. 1,145 professionals have been trained over the last two years and 800 more from 8 local authorities in Scotland are signed up to take part this year.There was a noted impact on professionals who undertook the training, with 99% saying it was relevant to their role and a good use of their time and 71% stating that it had positively impacted on their professional practice.


Researchers found that parents who took part in Bookbug for the Home had developed closer bonds with their children, and felt more equipped to play, interact and read with them, with the number of people reading daily with their children increasing from 41% to 78%, and the number of people singing or rhyming daily with their children increasing from 53% to 78%. This in turn has had a beneficial effect on children’s confidence, social skills, speech and language development and positively impacted on parent and child attachment, with 98% of the professionals who undertook the training noticing a positive impact on the families involved in the programme. To read more about this positive evaluation and to learn more about the Bookbug for the Home programme please see link below.

http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/learning/early-years-professionals/assertive-outreach-evaluation

Bookbug is run by Scottish Book Trust and funded by the Scottish Government.

Workforce Review – Practitioner Consultation

Professor Iram Siraj has been commissioned by the Scottish Government to chair a review on the Early Learning and Childcare Workforce and Out of school Care Workforce from March 2014 to April 2015.

The second call for evidence in relation to the review has now been launched by Professor Iram Siraj.

This call for evidence consists of the completion of separate questions by practitioners and individuals working within early learning and childcare and out of school care sectors. Individuals working within both sectors will have the opportunity to complete both sets of questions.

The original deadline for the first call for evidence, which was specifically aimed at organisations has also been extended. This is in recognition that there may be organisations who have not yet had time to respond. The date for both responses is now the 30th September 2014.

This is an excellent opportunity for individuals and organisations to contribute to the review of Scotland’s Workforce.

ASPIRES awarded further funding by the ESRC

The ASPIRES study, tracked the development of young people’s science and career
aspirations from age 10-14.
The first ASPIRES Project has now ended but the ESRC has awarded further funding to continue their research for the next five years.
ASPIRES 2 will continue this tracking over the crucial next five years of the young people’s lives, to understand the changing influences of the family, school, careers education and social identities and inequalities on young people’s science and career aspirations and, crucially, relate these to their actual subject choices and attainment in national examinations and their post-16 choices. This tracking of young people’s aspirations and educational outcomes comprises the crucial ‘final link’ in the longitudinal project,
and will have strong bearing on educational policy and practice.

ASPIRES 2 aims to investigate:
1. How are student educational and occupational aspirations formed, and how do they change, over time?
2. How are subject choices and (GCSE) attainment related to aspirations, and how are these patterned over time?
3. How are aspirations shaped by families and schools (including experiences of school science and careers education)?
4. How are aspirations shaped by gender, class and ethnic identities?
5. How can findings be translated for stakeholder audiences, specifically for policy-makers/ intermediaries, teachers, students and parents/families

The final report of the ASPIRES Project is available online

Citizen Science for Hurricane Season: Cyclone Center

June 1st marked the official beginning of the hurricane season in the Atlantic, and you can help improve our understanding of these powerful storms on www.cyclonecenter.org

To recognize the start of the season, Cyclone Center (or Centre – depending on where you are in the world) is focussing on four hurricanes that all struck Florida ten years ago in 2004: Charley, Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne. These storms claimed 34 lives and caused $18.9 billion in damages. We can’t prevent these disasters from happening, but your clicks can help us understand them better.

We’ll be doing more special storm sets throughout the hurricane season, so keep checking on the site.

PS If storms aren’t your thing, then maybe try our most-recently launched animal-spotting project: Condor Watch.

Use of Wikis

As you might know, the current wiki service within Glow will be decommissioned in October 2014 and we are planning to have a replacement service by then.

As part of that process, we are gathering requirements and we would like to consult with users of wikis to understand their current use (Glow or otherwise) and the features they would be interested to see in the future.

To participate in this survey please visit the QuestBack Survey.
Thank you in advance for taking part your feedback is very important to us.

Welcome to ‘Clean Energy from the Sea’

Welcome to ‘Clean Energy from the Sea’ 

The Sustainable Learning Partnership, in association with our partners The Crown Estate, welcomes teachers, school leaders, educational professionals and learners to this progressive, interdisciplinary learning and teaching resource – the first in a planned series – founded upon the principles and practices of 21st Century Learning and designed to help young learners prepare for life and active participation in a global society that is safe, just and sustainable.

Equalities in STEM education – An exciting professional learning opportunity

Education Scotland is offering a very exciting opportunity to any practitioners interested in looking at equalities issues around STEM. The facts are stark in this area.

“In Scotland, 27% of women graduate in STEM work in the sector they qualified in, compared with 52% of male graduates.  This means that of the 56000 female STEM graduates in Scotland, just over 15000 continue to work in the sector.”

The Royal Society of Edinburgh, 2012.  Tapping all our Talents: Women in STEM: strategy for Scotland, 10.

“23% of the most socially advantaged pupils aspire to become a scientist, compared to just 9% of disadvantaged pupils.”

TISME, spring 2013.  Interim Research Summary, ASPIRES project:

What shapes children’s science and career aspiration age 10 – 13, 7.

This is an opportunity to develop a fuller understanding of the issues and consider approaches to tackling them.

The first of two day long sessions will include a morning with SLF keynote speaker Dr Avis Glaze, Edu-quest International Inc and Former Chief Student Achievement Officer of Ontario. Dr Glaze brings a wealth of experience and expertise in addressing issues of equity and this is a unique opportunity to spend time with her in a small group setting. The afternoon will consider relevant research into equalities across STEM and how this is relevant to practitioners’ own contexts. A second day will be planned for early 2014 and will be held in a STEM industry setting with an opportunity for practitioners to share their own experiences and thinking and hear about equalities in STEM from a business perspective.

There are 20 places available to any interested practitioners and these will be allocated on a first come first served basis. If you are interested in taking part please email Diane Carson at Diane.Carson@educationscotland.gov.uk .The first day will take place on Tuesday September 24th in The Optima building in Glasgow. The second day will be held in early 2014 in an industry setting, date and venue are yet to be confirmed.

Tell us what you think of the Education Scotland website

At Education Scotland we are continually improving our website (http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk) to ensure it meets the needs of Scottish education. As part of our plans to redevelop the website we need your opinions of it; this is your opportunity to review the website and provide feedback for improvements.

We are looking for a wide range of people who work in, or have an interest in, the education system, such as:
· practitioners (early years, primary, secondary, additional support needs, Gaelic)
· establishment managers and leaders
· community development officers
· college lecturers and curriculum leaders
· education service managers
· quality improvement officers (QIOs)
· parents and carers.

All you’ll need to do is spend an hour completing a few set tasks, supported by one of our usability experts.

If you are interested and would like more information, please email the following details to websitefeedback@educationscotland.gov.uk

· Name
· Position or role
· Educational establishment
· Local authority area
· Email
· Phone number

Many thanks
Education Scotland Online Service team

Learning for Sustainability – report published

Learning for Sustainability – the report of the One Planet Schools Working Group, was published 17 December 2012. 

The report includes strategic recommendations to support the development of coherent whole school approaches to ensure that learning for sustainability, global citizenship and outdoor learning are experienced in a transformative way by every learner in every school across Scotland. The report includes a number of recommendations relating to career-long professional learning and initial teacher education and advocates genuine partnerships with local communities and action to improve the sustainability of the school estate. A key ambition of the report is to provide an agenda for strategic change that will create an enabling framework, remove barriers, and build on existing excellent practice.

Dr Alasdair Allan, Minister for Learning, Science and Scotland’s Languages said:
“I welcome the publication of Learning for Sustainability and would like to thank the Working Group for their work and commitment to producing the report and recommendations. As we approach the Year of Natural Scotland in 2013, the report reminds us of the importance of learning which connects young people to local and global issues, an integral part of Curriculum for Excellence.

“A wide range of actions have been taken as part of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development and we welcome steps to encourage and support schools in their approach to sustainability and global citizenship, including through outdoor learning.

“We will take time to consider the report, to engage with partners on its recommendations and respond in full in March 2013.”

The report can be downloaded from:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Education/Schools/curriculum/ACE/OnePlanetSchools 

See the associated Engage in Education blog from Professor Pete Higgins, Chair of the One Planet Schools Working Group: http://engageforeducation.org/news/learning-for-sustainability/

Opening up the Future: It’s your future

It’s my Future is a song created by children, young people and adult learners to express their views on how learning needs to change to fulfil their aspirations. It demonstrates what exciting modern learning can look like.

Education Scotland want to hear from children and young people across Scotland about their hopes and aspirations for the future.

On Tuesday December 4 2012 at 11am Education Scotland will host a national event in Inveralmond Community High School. The event led, by young people, will help shape future developments in learning and teaching. This Glow TV session will enable children and young people to speak directly to Craig Munro, one of Education Scotland’s strategic directors, and share their views about learning and teaching.

These views will be taken into consideration as the organisation shapes its corporate improvement plan priorities. There will be an opportunity to see the launch of the music video and follow links to inspirational learning taking place in Scottish education.

Sign up and join us in Glow TV on the day or view the recording in Watch Again.

The Sciences 3-18 Curriculum Area Impact Project Report Launches at SLF 2012

 Yesterday saw the launch of the Sciences 3-18 Curriculum Area Impact Project report in a lively and challenging session at SLF 2012. We were delighted to welcome to the session practitioners, partners, young people and parents as we shared the key messages from the report, and our strategies for taking this forward. Delegates were enthusiastic in joining the debate around the key strengths and aspects for development, talking together and reflecting on these, and on their role in taking forward the sciences 3-18 in Scotland.

 If you haven’t yet seen the report, you can find it on the Education Scotland website and join the debate on our Sciences Curriculum Area Impact Project blog. We have posted the shared outcomes of the discussions at SLF2012, which we hope will inspire you to blog and comment too!

Launch of The Sciences 3-18 Curriculum Impact Project report

Education Scotland today launches The Sciences 3-18 Curriculum Impact Project report. The sciences and social studies reports are the first two reports in a Curriculum Impact series designed to present a subject-by-subject picture of how children and young people are experiencing learning in different areas of the 3-18 curriculum across the country.

Providing subject-specific analysis and evaluation of current practice, based on a range of independent inspection activities, the report identifies emerging innovative and thought-provoking practice, while highlighting important areas for development. Published on the web, the report will be refreshed from time to time with links to newly-identified, practice and evidence, a dynamic approach that will keep the reviews contemporary on an on-going basis, and relevant to developing needs.

A summary for children and young people has also been published, along with a summary of key strengths and aspects for development.

The publication is intended to provide a focus engagement by children and young people, parents, practitioners and the wider sciences community in Scotland.

Through our Sciences 3-18 Impact Project blog, we want to engage all those involved in the sciences 3-18 to talk together  about how we can work together to take forward the key messages of the report.

This outward facing, public blog is a mechanism to allow engagement by all.

 

 

 

 

Talk with us on bit.ly/sciences3-18.

The STEM Professional Learning Community will also act as a focus for professional dialogue and learning around the Sciences 3-18 Impact Project. Join us, using your Glow login in, on bit.ly/stemhome.

Research Round-up – tell us what you need!

Education Scotland are currently reviewing Research Round-Up, our bi-monthly educational research scanning service and are keen to hear the views of the education community.

Research Round-Up presents the latest educational research and statistical reports from a range of government departments, educational agencies, research organisations and other sources.  The latest version from August 2012 can be viewed via this link.

Research Round-Up has been produced in its current format since 2009 and we are keen to ensure that it remains relevant and useful, while taking account of the developing landscape around professional learning and the current needs of the Scottish education system.

Your input is vital and it would be appreciated if you could complete this  short survey telling us what they think about Research Round-Up, and how we can make improvements that will help you in your work.

Please feel free to contact us at research@educationscotland.gov.uk if you have any questions.

SLF 2012: Forensic Rookies, Transition and the AstraZeneca Science Teaching Trust: Scottish Islands and Mainland ICT and Science project

With a week to go until SLF 2012 kicks off, there are only a few spaces remaining in session N1A “Forensic Rookies”, presented by Professor Susan Rodrigues and Neil Taylor. The workshop will share the findings of a recent project involving 3 pairs of primary & secondary schools from several different local authorities, and the sustained impact in those local authorities where this project is being rolled out further. Learners and practitioners views and feedback will be shared, and delegates can get hands on with forensic investigation activities. This project was supported by funding from AstraZeneca Science Teaching Trust and led by Professor Susan Rodrigues and Neil Taylor as part of the suite of ‘Partnerships in Primary Science’ (PIPS) CPD projects.

There have been a series of videos made using learners and practitioners which will be used within the session, and these will are also available via the ScienceEdResearch channel YouTube.

The individual vodcasts for each school:

Brae High; Blairgowrie; Coupar Angus; Inveralmond Community High; Urafirth; Westfield

Visitor registration for SLF 2012 is now open!

Standards for Leadership and Management

GTC Scotland have been working on a revision of the Professional Standards, and have published drafts of each of the revised standards for consultation, with a view to publishing the Standards at the start of 2013.

Join us in Glow TV on Thursday 13th September at 4pm to find out more about The Standard for Leadership and Management. The draft revised standard for Leadership and Management has been extended from the previous Standard for Headship to include a standard for middle leadership as well as the Standard for Headship, in order to meet the needs of all teachers in, or aspiring to formal leadership roles in our schools.

This session will be led by Gillian Hamilton, Head of Education Services at GTC Scotland and will explore the thinking behind the revision of this planned standard, as well as some of the planned content.

Sign up and join us live in Glow TV or view the recording via Watch Again.

Glow TV – Watch Again!

Have you read about an event in Glow TV and wanted to join in live but were unable to because of other classroom commitments or timetabling? Do you want the ability to view exciting or interesting pupil focused Glow Meets at a time that is convenient to you? Do you want to enhance your Professional Learning at a time that suits you? Well you can in Glow TV’s Watch Again facility!

All Glow TV events are recorded so if the time of the live event isn’t suitable for you and/or your class to join in you can still have the opportunity to watch the recorded version at a time that suits your timetable or other classroom/personal commitments.

Watch Again is available in Glow TV and you can filter all the recordings that have taken place over the past 17 months either by name or by the programme category eg Literacy and English, CPD etc or by the programme tags.Once you have found what you want to watch simply click the Watch Again link which will take you to your chosen programme (and all the others in that channel category too!) and you can then view the recording at your leisure. You can also have the opportunity in our Watch Again Feedback Forum to let us know how useful you found the recording and if/how it enhanced your or your classes learning.

So why not take part in Glow TV when it suits you? You may not be able to ask questions in a live environment but you will still be able to see and listen to experts in their field and have fun in our numerous interactive Glow TV events.

SLF 2012: Forensic Rookies, Transition and the AstraZeneca Science Teaching Trust: Scottish Islands and Mainland ICT and Science project

We’ve been keeping you up to date with this inquiry based science project since last December and we are delighted to confirm that you can find out more by joining us at session N1A at SLF 2012, presented by Professor Susan Rodrigues and Neil Taylor.

The workshop will share the findings of a recent project involving 3 pairs of primary & secondary schools from several different local authorities, and the sustained impact in those local authorities where this project is being rolled out further. Learners and practitioners views and feedback will be shared. This project was supported by funding from AstraZeneca Science Teaching Trust and led by Professor Susan Rodrigues and Neil Taylor as part of the suite of ‘Partnerships in Primary Science’ (PIPS) CPD projects.

The workshop will include an opportunity for delegates to have hands on experience of the six investigative tasks, using the kit provided to schools, funded by AstraZeneca Science Teaching Trust. There have been a series of videos made using learners and practitioners which will be used within the session, and these will also be available via YouTube after the session for delegates to follow up.

Visitor registration for SLF 2012 is now open!

Cabinet Secretary announces positive future for Glow

Mr Michael Russell, Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning, made an announcement today on the immediate and long-term future of Glow. 

You can read full details of Mr Russell’s announcement on Engage for Education.

Learning about Scotland in the Early Years

Saturday was a very inspirational day for the Early Years team at Education Scotland. Our Saturday Conference, Learning about Scotland in the Early Years was a great success. There was singing, poetry writing and even a competition!

 

If you would like to follow up on any interesting discussions from the day or revisit and reflect on the presentations then visit our Early Years CPD community. The presentations are within the Early Years Saturday Conference mini CPD site.

If you have not joined our community yet, then please do. We had a queue of enthusiastic delegates who couldn’t wait to join on Saturday and you can meet them (virtually!) when you do.

Well done to Sharon from South Lanarkshire who won the well deserved prize of two Scots books to share with her establishment.

Thank you

The Early Years Team

Learning for the new NQs: Research tie in with Food Security

At the beginning of May, The James Hutton Institute announced the award of £1.25 million to work towards more sustainble, disease resistance crops to enhance our future food security.

This ties in with Education Scotland’s recently published work on Food Security for National 4 Science and National 5 Biology, along with work associated with Inheritance for National 5 Biology.  Published advice and guidance is intended for use by practitioners in creative and innovative ways, to plan approaches to meet the needs of learners. Flexibility within the new National Qualifications offers the ideal opportunity to plan for learning and teaching which incorporates cutting edge Scottish and global research, and builds in meaningful partnerships from the rich STEM landscape in Scotland.

Looking ahead to the forthcoming school year, we are developing the theme of Food Security for first through to fourth level as a context in STEM Central, providing scope for working within clusters to build a continuous learning journey. More news will be published on the ES Learning Blog later this year.

Learning for the new NQs and forthcoming Glow meet on Stem Cells

The forthcoming special edition of Talking Stem Cells Ethical Dilemma series featuring Dr Bill Ritchie who was involved in the creation of Dolly the Sheep is coming up on Thursday 17th May from 1100-1230. You can sign up and join in via Glow Tv – please drop in even if you can’t attend for the whole event.

This Glow meet, which incorporates an input from a patient who may benefit from stem cell therapy, comes at an ideal time to tie in with recent publication by Education Scotland of advice and guidance associated with the new National Qualifications in Biology. Why not take this opportunity for your current S2 learners who will be entering the Senior Phase in 2013/14 to learn more about a topic on which they can build for NQs in Biology? Or why not sign up as part of your own CPD, and consider how you can plan for forming partnerships with cutting edge research in Scotland to enhance learning and teaching?

 Background on Dolly the Sheep can be found at The Roslin Institute webpages.  

This event will be coming live from Gairloch High School in the Highlands and you can find a Student pack associated with this event in the Stem Cell Glow Group.

Sign up and join us in Glow TV on Thursday 17th May from 11-12.30pm – or for as long as you can!!

 

Materialism

Listen to an interesting talk by Carol Craig from the Centre for Confidence and Wellbeing on how materialism has undermined our wellbeing in scotland.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQel6t784W0&list=PLD653EAC9A01E75E6&index=6&feature=plpp_video

Team Update

The Early Years team are busy preparing for our Pre Birth to Three conference taking place on Thursday 29th March at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. We are looking forward to hearing about ‘Creating Nurturing Environments’ and ‘Supporting Parents’ just to name a few of the presentations that will take place.

If you would like to learn more about Pre Birth to Three visit:

www.bit.ly/PreBirthtoThree

…and on Glow…www.bit.ly/PB23Glow

In the meantime keep an eye out for:

  • news of our Saturday Conference in May “Learning about Scotland in the Early Years” which will take place at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall 19 May 2012 – save the date!

 

  • Our latest issue of Early Years Matters focusing on involving parents, featuring articles on our new publication Every Day’s a Learning Day, examples of practice from nurseries on involving parents and research findings from the Early Development Instrument.

Literacy in Action

Literacy in Action: Supporting Colleges to Influence Early Years Practice

 The Literacy in Action: Supporting Colleges to Influence Early Years Practice Conference took place at Stirling Management Centre on Saturday 25 February 2012. This event was organised by Education Scotland to give Further Education lecturers an opportunity to hear about the Scottish Government’s Literacy Action Plan.

 View video of the keynote speakers here.

Enjoy!

Wise Up Wednesday – did you know about…?

 Tracy’s Early Years Lowe-down

This weekly blog is the place Early Years Training Manager at the Scottish Book Trust Tracy Lowe (hence the pun-tastic title) shares new resources, interesting information and research relating to the early years.http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/blog/tracys-early-years-lowedown

NHS Health Scotland

NHS Health Scotland’s 2011 publications catalogue

http://www.healthscotland.com/uploads/documents/15300-PublishingCatalogue2011

Maternal and Early Years

This website is for everyone working in the early years workforce in Scotland. It covers a wide breadth of information relevant to practitioners at all levels. It brings together a wealth of up-to-date information, key resources and support.

http://www.maternal-and-early-years.org.uk/

SSSC Workforce Solutions

Practice Simulation for Childhood Practice and Practitioner Research

http://workforcesolutions.sssc.uk.com/course/view.php?id=27

A Random Walk through Mathematics at Stirling University

A planned context for phased development within STEM Central is the “Invisible Worlds” context. Envisaged as a context exploring the Invisible World that’s going on inside our bodies, this will connect the cutting edge of modelling, measuring, investigating, diagnosing and treating in these Invisible Worlds, associated with industry and education in Scotland.

If that sounds like something which you might be interested in, then why not take a look at Stirling University’s lecture on 23rd February which looks at their interest and expertise in modelling biological systems, disease spread and control, and building simple models of population growth.

Very interesting research about parental involvement in the early years

“Children whose parents frequently read with them in their first year of school are still showing the benefit when they are 15, says an international OECD study.”

(BBC News 8 November 2011)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-15639642

New Research and Innovation Blog Page

Welcome to the brand new Research and Innovation Blog Page.

In this blog we intend to highlight educational research which may be of use to you in your role within the organisation.  

We will also promote our in-house research publication Research Round-Up which is a bi-monthly digest that collates and summarises national and international educational research and statistical reports. Summaries within Research Round-Up are organised by topic area and there are hyperlinks to the full reports.

Any feedback, suggestions or questions would be gratefully received.