Have you had a chat with children and young people about what they want to do when they grow up?
Reflective/challenge questions –
Why not continue the conversation here?
DYW in pictures
We have tried to capture some of the messages around DYW into cartoon format.
Challenge Questions
Developing the young workforce
I came across this interesting video from a 1947 classroom which gives teacher tips on managing pupil behaviour. Have a wee look:
Some questions to reflect on:
Following the publication of its 3-18 Curriculum Impact Report for Sciences in September 2012, Education Scotland organised a series of conversation days, where priorities for action to secure improvements in science education nationally were identified.
Key aspects for development emerged, which included:
“In the primary sector and at the early stages of secondary school, there is generally less emphasis in the key area of Topical Science than on the other four organisers……. In these cases, children and young people do not have enough opportunity to discuss and debate a range of ethical issues.”
To address this aspect the Sciences team hosted a “Topical Science and Partnerships” Glow Meet .
To Watch Again : https://meet.glowscotland.org.uk/p5rd5cx8od8/
Each glow meet is complimented by a series of professional learning twilight sessions.
Please register through: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/TwilightSessions2015
Breakout sessions will be provided by Dynamic Earth, The Royal Society of Chemistry, Glasgow City of Science, Stem Ambassadors and The English Speaking Union.
Education Scotland will also be delivering sessions on Citizen Science, Community Resilience, Food and Science and Social Studies and Science.
KoduKup
About the Competition
The Kodu Kup is open to anyone from a Scottish school aged between seven to fourteen years old. Children must be entered by their school teacher as a team of three, forming a mini “game studio”.
What Should be Submitted?
Teachers should enter their pupils’ games by sharing them from inside Kodu Game Lab, this automatically uploads them to www.kodugamelab.com. Once uploaded, e-mail david.renton@wcs.ac.uk with team name, game name, school name, teacher’s name, link to the game (on www.kodugamelab.com), game description, screenshot, business plan and photos of merchandise created along with any additional files to backup the entry. Schools can enter as many teams as they wish, but each team can only submit a single game. Before sharing a game, please use the following structure to name it:
GameName_TeamName_KoduKupScotland
Closing date is the 29th May
Internationally renowned artist, Andy Scott, creator of the famous ‘Kelpies’ and ‘Arria’ sculptures will be interviewed about his life and work by Education Scotland’s Ron Cowie.
Andy will talk about his experiences at school and describe the path he followed to become a successful artist. Viewers will hear about the people and things that influenced him along the way!
The Glow Meet will be broadcast exclusively from Andy’s studio workshop in Glasgow on Wednesday 11th March from 10:30- 11:30.
You can register for the event here
Date and time:
Saturday 21st March, 2015
9:30 – 15:00
Where:
Stirling Management Centre, Stirling Court Hotel
Organised and funded by Education Scotland, the day aims to engage practitioners in lively professional dialogue about the success and challenges of using digital learning in the Social Studies classroom. Download the full programme here: http://bit.ly/Ddayprogramme
There are 50 places available on a first come, first served basis and the day is open to all primary teachers and secondary Social Subject teachers. Book your place now: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2STXHJS
This is a free event, including a free lunch. However, delegates will be required to meet their own travel costs.
Keynote Speakers
1) Active History
Russel Tarr – Head of History at the International School of Toulouse
Russel will share the digital applications and programs he has developed for his websites www.classtools.net and www.activehistory.co.uk. All of these have been designed for the students in his own history classroom.
2) Digital Commonwealth 2104
Professor David McGillivray – Chair in Event and Digital Cultures
School of Media, Culture and Society, University of the West of Scotland
Jennifer Jones – Project Coordinator, Digital Commonwealth 2014
David and Jennifer will share the success of the Digital Commonwealth to engage learners in developing and applying skills in digital media.
3) Digital Learning with the BBC
BBC Learning Online
Learn about new online resources to support CfE, the success of School News Report and the creativity of BBC Scotland’s L.A.B.
4) Reconnecting with Glow
Glow Futures Team, Education Scotland
The Glow team want to highlight some of what’s on offer and would like to invite delegates to have a fresh look at how Glow can help support learning and teaching.
Workshops
As one of Microsoft’s Innovative Educator Experts, Annette will share her passion for digital learning through using a variety of apps on tablets and ipods that integrate ICT seamlessly into her lessons, as well as creating class textbooks in OneNote.
A former Senior Lecturer on Glasgow University’s Initial Teacher Education programme, Philip has long been a passionate innovator and exponent of digital technology in the classroom.
Delegates will learn simple but powerful methods for pupils to use Digital Video to reinforce curricular learning across all ages and contexts of Social Studies. Delegates will develop skills in voice overs, selecting still and moving images, and using video editing software.
Online mapping can be the starting point of any lesson that has place as a concept. Carol will show delegates how to get pupils to be creative and present information to demonstrate their understanding of something they are being taught.
A team from Sky Skills Studio will show delegates how to combine a range of digital and presentation skills to develop learners abilities to research, debate and report on news and politics.
Directions:
http://www.stirlingcourthotel.com/stunning-location/Getting-Here/
Education Scotland will publish the report of the Technologies Impact Review, “Building Society: young people’s experiences in the technologies”, on 9th March 2015. This report continues the series in which Education Scotland evaluates the quality of young people’s learning and achievements, in this case in the technologies. The report contributes to the overall picture of what it is like to be a learner in a Scottish early years centre or school in this second decade of the 21st Century.
Education Scotland have organized a launch event for this report and the college aspect report Computing and Digital Media.
Making tomorrow happen: technology education in Scotland
will be held in Celtic Park, Glasgow on 9 March 2015.
The event has been organized to raise awareness of the reports and to discuss the implications for future developments in the Technologies area of the curriculum.
It would greatly assist the organisation of the conference if you could send your nominees to Kenneth Rae – Kenneth.Rae@educationscotland.gsi.gov.uk by 27th February 2015, stating their name, role and email address.
We’ve received a fantastic number of entries for the Scottish Education Awards but times running out now. The awards showcase and celebrate the hard work and dedication across Scottish education.
To be in with a chance of winning make sure you’re entries are in before midday on 16 February.
A full list of categories and details on how to enter are on the Scottish Education Awards website. Get you’re entry in now and good luck.
Many governments and organisations are concerned that not enough young people are choosing to study Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) after the age of 16.
There is also widespread concern that the profile of those who do go on to study STEM subjects and pursue STEM careers is too narrow, with women, working-class and some minority ethnic groups remaining under-represented, especially in the physical sciences and engineering.
Particular STEM fields are predicting or already experiencing significant STEM skills gaps that may impact negatively on the economy. There is also a pressing need to improve the spread of scientific literacy across all societal groups.
The ASPIRES study sought to shed new light on our understanding of how young people’s aspirations develop over this 10-14 age period, exploring in particular what influences the likelihood of a young person aspiring to a science-related career.
The project is a five-year study funded by the UK’s Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) as part of its Targeted Initiative on Science and Mathematics Education (TISME).
In addition to researching influences on students’ aspirations, the project also worked with a small group of teachers to develop approaches for integrating STEM careers information into science lessons.
Access the report through http://bit.ly/1fkDdDy
The Scottish Learning Festival (SLF) 2015 will address the theme of raising attainment and achievement for all, with a focus on maximising educational outcomes through:
* local partnerships and collaboration – to share approaches that lead to better outcomes
* self-evaluation – to ensure creative and innovative approaches to sustained improvement
* work-related learning – to improve transitions into sustainable, productive employment.
Is your establishment delivering Learning for Sustainability (LfS) that you would like to showcase? Are you able to share your approaches to promoting local partnerships and collaboration? Would you be willing to help others make the connections between the different aspects of LfS; including global citizenship, sustainable development education, outdoor learning, international education, children’s rights and play?
If the answer to any (or all) of these questions is “Yes”, we would love to hear from you. Please consider submitting your seminar proposal by Friday 27th February 2015.
The Scottish Education Awards celebrate the hard work and success which takes place in Scottish education. They recognise the achievements of people who dedicate their lives to children and young people and showcase the valuable work and innovation in Scottish classrooms
This year a new award category for STEM, Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics, has been introduced.
This category recognises establishments who are helping children and young people develop STEM skills and apply these across the four contexts for learning – curriculum, inter-disciplinary learning, ethos and life of the school and opportunities for personal achievement.
Nominations should be able to evidence the following questions and describe the impact on learners, the school and wider community:
Nominations for this year’s awards are now open.
Nominations close 12pm on Monday 16 February 2015.
#primaryscience
Education Scotland and partners link up with The Herald and Evening Times
The third issue in a series of publications for young people called ‘What could I be?’ has been produced by The Herald and Evening Times newspapers, together with Education Scotland, the Scottish Government, Skills Development Scotland and the Scottish Qualifications Authority. Parents, carers and teachers will also find this innovative series of publications about careers helpful. This edition looks specifically at career ideas in the food and drink industry.
Access the Magazine here
SLF 2015 takes place on Wednesday 23 and Thursday 24 September in Glasgow.
SLF provides high quality continuing professional learning and is a rendezvous for educational professionals both nationally and internationally, providing a unique platform to engage with a diverse range of experts, colleagues and suppliers.
We are now accepting seminar proposals for the 2015 conference programme which will feature around 100 seminars over the 2 days.
Is there a project you have been working on that could be showcased? Or perhaps you are aware of establishments that demonstrate good practice? We would encourage you to share this information with your colleagues and networks and submit relevant proposals for consideration.
The theme for SLF 2015: Raising attainment and achievement for all, with a focus on maximising educational outcomes through:
• local partnerships and collaboration – to share approaches that lead to better outcomes
• self-evaluation – to ensure creative and innovative approaches to sustained improvement
• work-related learning – to improve transitions into sustainable, productive employment.
Full details of the theme are available on the SLF website.
If you would like to submit a proposal for consideration please do so before Friday 27 February. Proposals received after this date will not be considered for inclusion in the conference programme. All proposals must be submitted online.
There is a robust review, evaluation and scoring system in place to help ensure that all submissions are treated equally therefore it is essential that all requests to participate go through the submission process and adhere to the timescales.
Last year we received in excess of 300 proposals which allowed Education Scotland to deliver a relevant and balanced conference programme covering all key areas of education. The 2015 conference programme and registration will be launched in May and will feature the sessions that have been submitted and selected for inclusion.
We look forward to receiving your proposals and hope you will contribute to SLF 2015 to help continue to deliver Scotland’s largest annual national education event. If you would like any further information about SLF 2015 please contact the SLF team.
Social Studies and Digital Technologies Day
organised by Education Scotland
Date: 21st March 2015
Time: 9:30 – 3:00
Venue: Stirling Management Centre, Stirling
Places: 40 – open to all primary and secondary practitioners
This is an excellent CLPL opportunity to refresh and learn new approaches to integrating ICT and Technologies through Social Studies.
There will be three exciting keynote speakers in the morning, followed by an afternoon session with a choice of three interactive workshops.
A complete programme for the day and the opportunity to book a place will be published in early February.
Sky Academy Skills Studios in Livingston is inviting you and your class to be part of an unforgettable, exciting and interactive learning experience!
Already hugely popular in London, Sky Academy Skills Studios opens in Livingston in March 2015. This free half day learning experience gives young people between the ages of 8-18 the opportunity to use cutting edge technology to make their very own TV report based on a subject area of your choice.
Groups of up to 32 students will be divided into four teams, each with their own studio equipped with a green screen, broadcast quality HD camera and touch screen edit table.
The whole experience is tailored to the Curriculum for Excellence, and learning is central to every stage of the experience. Topics link to:
• Mathematics
• Literacy and English
• Sciences, Technologies
• Expressive Arts
• Social Studies
• Health and Wellbeing
Students also develop core life skills such as creativity, problem solving, communication, teamwork and self-management. Sky’s dedicated team will be on hand to ensure the experience is inspiring and unforgettable, as well as safe and easy to organise.
Take a look online (Sky.com/skills) to find out more about Sky Academy Skills Studios and book now on Sky.com/teachers or call us on 01506 325 999.
We’re delighted to announce that SLF 2015 will take place on Wednesday 23 and Thursday 24 September in the SECC, Glasgow. SLF is the largest education event in Scotland and will focus on raising achievement and attainment. Those interested in presenting a seminar at the festival can submit a proposal in January, when further information will be available on the SLF website.
Registration for the SLF will open in May, look out for more information over the coming months and save the dates in your diary now.
We are also working with a range of partners to host a series of SLF Extra events in 2015. On 17 February, Aberdeen City Council in partnership with Education Scotland, Aberdeenshire Council and Moray Council will host the Aberdeen Learning Festival in the AECC. The festival will include keynotes, workshop and an exhibition. More information about the event and how to register will be available in January.
On 27 February Children in Scotland, in partnership with Education Scotland, are hosting the first in a series of six free events for all those involved in education. The morning session will focus on pupil engagement and participation and the afternoon session will look at parental engagement. This first event takes place in Melrose and more information is available on the Children in Scotland website.
More SLF Extra events will be taking place in 2015, visit the SLF website for details.
Glasgow Science Festival is pleased to announce the K’Nex Cluster Challenge for 2015. This annual competition is a chance for primary 5 and 6 pupils to apply their creativity and construction skills to various engineering based challenges, competing at three levels; classroom, cluster and area to become their area champion.
Over the past year at West Barns we have been developing a clearer rationale for our curriculum. From the outset it was evident that in order to move this forward we needed to work closely with our pupils and their families, staff and the wider community to define what kind of school we wanted at West Barns.
We felt it was important that the vision, value and aims reflected the views of our staff, pupils and families and defined the unique features of our school and its environment. We also wanted the whole school community to have a shared understanding of what we are trying to achieve.
Why ‘Team’ West Barns?
Over the past year we have been working closely with the whole school community to help us improve our school and provide a high quality education for all our learners. Developing a team spirit with pupils, staff, families and the local community has been an important underlying theme, and through this we have been able to move forward the learning and teaching as well as the life and ethos of the school.
This has included:
• Introducing cooperative learning to help pupils develop their group working and independent learning skills.
• Using school and house challenges and team sports to help build the school community.
• Providing all pupils and staff with more meaningful opportunities to develop the life and work of the school through School Committees.
• Working with outside organisations to ensure that our pupils have all the support that they need to do their best in school.
• Using Learning Journeys to help our pupils reflect on their learning and share their achievements with their families.
• Including parents and families in the work and life of the school through Parent Council, West Barns Helping Hands and other volunteering opportunities.
• Working closely with parents and families to keep them informed and find out their views on how we can develop our school.
• Finding more opportunities for the school to work with the local community.
• Working with local organisations to learn about and protect our local environment.
• Providing staff with opportunities to work together to help share good practice in learning and teaching.
• Developing closer working relationships with other schools through sharing good practice, joint professional learning opportunities, moderation and self-evaluation visits.
• Working collaboratively with other Head Teachers on curriculum development, professional learning and self-evaluation.
Using this as a starting point we began to develop a new vision, values and aims for West Barns that would support every child towards reaching their full potential and help them to develop the skills and confidence to face the challenges of the 21st Century.
From this starting point we have begun to evaluate our curriculum rationale, reflecting on our strengths and identifying those areas we now need to develop.
Coming soon – Developing a rationale for the West Barns Curriculum 2 – Pulling the pieces together.
Young Engineers and Science Clubs Scotland encourage you to enter the Junior Saltire Competition 2015 Marine Energy Challenge.
Finalists will be invited to test their devices at FloWave’s Ocean Energy Research Facility, which is the world’s most sophisticated ocean simulator.
Prizes of up to £750 and unique Saltire medals are up for grabs!
Read more in our newsletter http://eepurl.com/-Iaif
#primaryscience
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/
Primary 7 pupils at Hermitage Primary School, Helensburgh took part in their Technology Challenge presentation evening on Thursday 4th December, which brought their interdisciplinary topic to a close.
The project incorporated all STEM subjects enabling learners to develop their knowledge and understanding of the concepts and skills in Technologies, Maths, Language and Science. This also included aspects of PSD.
The Technology Challenge required pupils to work in cooperative groups, to plan and design a working electrical vehicle which was supported by a good business plan. Their progress was recorded in the form of a booklet and i-pad presentation.
Vehicles had to move forwards, backwards and have working lights and were to be created within a given budget. In addition, pupils were granted an additional £10 by the Head Teacher in order to add extra technology such as LED lights, pulley operated doors, a working lift and even a moving dragon’s head!
Following weeks of hard work the 10 teams of 6 pupils spoke to a panel of 3 judges and an audience of invited guests.
Each team gave a presentation about their vehicle detailing their experiences of working as a team, planning and designing, working to a budget and what they felt they had achieved.
The judging panel were very impressed with the standard of work and the efforts of every team member and eventually selected U-PoP as the winning team.
U-Pop created a mobile recording studio which included a working recording and playback sound module.
The delighted team members were Max Kemp, Hamish Paterson, Annika Seitz, Shannon Beaton, Esther Lopez and Rory Frew.
#primaryscience
The Scottish Education Awards celebrate the hard work and success which takes place in Scottish education. They recognise the achievements of people who dedicate their lives to children and young people and showcase the valuable work and innovation in Scottish classrooms.
This year a new award category for STEM, Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics, has been introduced. 
This category recognises establishments who are helping children and young people develop STEM skills and apply these across the four contexts for learning – curriculum, inter-disciplinary learning, ethos and life of the school and opportunities for personal achievement.
Nominations should be able to evidence the following questions and describe the impact on learners, the school and wider community:
Nominations for this year’s awards are now open.
Nominations close 12pm on Monday 16 February 2015.
#primaryscience
There is still plenty of time to sign up for the BBC’s School Report. The next practice day is on the 11th December.
BBC News School Report gives 11-16 year-old students in the UK the chance to make their own news reports for a real audience.
It is a collaborative project run by BBC News and BBC Learning.
Using lesson plans and materials from this website, and with support from BBC staff and partners, teachers help students develop their journalistic skills to become School Reporters.
In March, schools take part in an annual News Day, simultaneously creating video, audio and text-based news reports, and publishing them on a school website, to which the BBC aims to link.
School Reporters produced a stunning array of content on 27 March 2014, with more than 1,000 schools across the UK making the news on the biggest ever School Report News Day.
The ninth News Day will be held on 19 March 2015.
Sign up to the Social Studies e-bulletin: bit.do/e-bulletin
The Amnesty Youth Awards bit.ly/132PPRy celebrates young people’s talents for human rights reporting, photography, songwriting (and performing), campaigning and fundraising.
Applications for our Youth Awards 2015 open on 8 September 2014 and closes on the 30 January 2015.
The competition is open to young people between the ages of 7 – 19 (up to and including Further Education). Students can take part in one or more categories to develop new skills and confidence to engage creatively with human rights.
Amnesty has awards and teaching resources to support five different catagories:
The Awards run in conjunction with the Times Educational Supplement and this year’s judges include:
Nominations for the Scottish Education Awards 2015 awards are now open. Celebrating the hard work and success in Scottish education, the awards recognise the achievements of people who dedicate their lives to children and young people.
There are 17 awards available across a range of categories covering all areas of education. New awards for this year include learning for sustainability, making languages come alive and transforming lives through partnerships.
If you know of a school or teacher that deserves to be recognised for their hard work visit the Scottish Education Awards website for more information and to submit a nomination.
Nominations must be submitted by Monday 16 February 2015, good luck.
Date: Tuesday 9 December
Time: 16:30-18:30
Venue: Studio 1, Learning Centre, National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh
Cost: Free
Booking: Please book your FREE space by email schools@nms.ac.uk or phone 0131 247 4041. Tea/coffee and cake will be provided. Spaces are limited so please book your place as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.
This session will introduce teachers to the Game Masters exhibition in preparation for visiting with a class.
The event will run as follows:
4.30pm – Registration and Refreshments
4.45pm – Introduction, practicalities about visit & overview of resources
5pm – Sarah Rothwell, Assistant Curator (Modern & Contemporary Design), introduces exhibition
5.15pm – Short tour of exhibition, followed by opportunity to explore exhibition and try games
6.15pm – Finish
More details about school visits to Game Masters: www.nms.ac.uk/schoolgames
Presentations
Our presentations are designed to be delivered to up to 150 people. We can happily deliver these to an entire year group. All presentations run from 40mins– 1 hour
P7 – S3 Workshops
Our workshops are intensive fully interactive sessions designed for groups of up to 30 pupils (unless otherwise stated). Workshops are 45mins—1 hour long to fit into a standard lesson.
Careers & Parents’ Evenings
We are happy to attend your careers event or parents’ evening to answer individual questions and provide literature and information on our courses. We also have presentations suitable for a group of parents & carers. Please let us know your date and we will check availability.
Edinburgh Napier University Information Stand
If you are holding a careers event or parents’ evening, invite us along, and we can bring our information stand with literature about our courses and applying. We will provide a member of staff to answer any questions.
For more information and a brochure on more about ‘what we can do for your pupils’ – studentrecruitment@napier.ac.uk
Engaging with Scottish schools to promote STEM
10am to 3:30pm, 2nd February 2015
Venue: Deans Community High School, Livingston
The Commission for Developing Scotland’s Young Workforce states in its report that ‘a focus on sciences, technologies, engineering and mathematics (STEM) should sit at the heart of the development of Scotland’s young workforce’ and calls for long-term partnerships to be established between schools, colleges and employers to bring about significant change.
Similarly, higher education institutions and research groups are looking for ways to engage effectively with school communities to encourage learners to develop STEM skills and pursue further study in these areas.
There are many activities taking place nationally and schools are already engaging with a variety of partner organisations and institutions to enhance the learning and teaching of STEM within Curriculum for Excellence and to develop the employability skills of learners. However, more needs to be done to coordinate efforts and scale up successful approaches to bring about the transformative change that is required.
The purpose of this event is to:
• Share interesting and thought-provoking models of school partnerships with industry, higher education and colleges
• Create a forum for discussion regarding effective partnership working with schools to support learning and teaching in STEM areas
• Outline the national actions that are being developed by national bodies to address the recommendations from the Commission for Developing Scotland’s Young Workforce.
Audience: This event is aimed at key decision makers or a nominated substitute (persons with interest in STEM School engagement) in local authorities, professional bodies, colleges, higher education, research and industry.
Programme: The event will include a stimulating mix of keynote presentations, workshops and discussion. Further details regarding speakers and workshops will be provided in due course.
To register: This is a free event. Please email STS@SSERC.org.uk to book a place. It is advisable to book early as places are limited. When booking, please remember to send details of any special dietary or access requirements.
For further information please contact Scott Bryce at scott.bryce@sserc.org.uk.
38 primary teachers from 8 different local authorities landed on the Isle of Cumbrae between the 14-16th November for a fun packed weekend of Outdoor Learning. The Social Studies fieldwork skills CLPL was held at the Field Studies Council centre in Millport. The course was fully funded by Education Scotland and organised in conjunction with Scottish FSC manager, Daniel Moncrieff, and his team.
FSC Scotland delivers Primary, Environmental, Biology, Adventurous Activity and Geography courses for over 5000 students a year. The course built on this expertise and introduced participants to a range of different fieldwork activities which can be used with primary school students. The course was aimed at primary teachers and educators who wanted to further develop their skills to support and lead outdoor learning.
On Saturday, the course focused on Biodiversity and school grounds activities. Engaging activities to illustrate geographical processes included Kung Fu, Geosquishing and Sensory Mapping.
A trip to the Rocky Shore included a competitive scavenge for seal life, making Rocky Shore Real Estate adverts, using string quadrats to compare different areas of plants, and using found objects to create environmental beach art.
The afternoon consisted of fun interactive games helping to explain food chains and food webs, digging for and collecting worm data (using one of the free Citizen Science Opal packs), a trip to the aquarium to study plankton under the microscope and an energetic game of Star Orienteering.
On Sunday the focus was on Energy and the Viking history of the island. The Viking activities included landscape poetry, sound maps, family dramas and a superb Viking Changing Rooms activity where groups had to piece together the interior of a Viking home.
The Energy activity introduced annotated sketches and photos. The groups explored the advantages and drawbacks of different energy production methods present on the Clyde (including wind, coal and nuclear) and considered possible and probable futures over the next 100 years based on these activities. IPads were used to GPS log and annotate photos and to film imaginative stories explaining the litter objects found on the beach from the perspective of someone from 2600!
The feedback from participants was overwhelmingly positive:
“I was not confident in my ability to come up with and deliver creative lessons which targeted the relevant CfE outcomes for Social Studies. With all the great ideas for games and activites I can transfer these skills to pretty much any outcome (with some tweaking of course).”
“The best bit was the practical nature of the whole weekend. It gave the opportunity to feel like the pupil and how they would benefit from all the different types of learning we experienced.”
“Daniel was absolutely fantastic at delivering every experience. His humour and intelligence go hand in hand.”
“The resources needed were easily accessible, cheap and did not require specialist knowledge.”
“I loved the rocky shore activity because it is something I could easily adapt at the allotment – searching through leaf piles and logs, etc.”
“I loved how they brought the history of the Vikings to life, incorporating Social Studies, literacy and Drama. I plan to adapt this activity next term during the Victorians IDL topic.”
“I enjoyed the course enormously. The course instructors were enthusiastic, passionate and very helpful. I look forward to taking outdoor learning to a higher level and delivering meaningful and engaging learning experiences to children.”
“Excellent opportunity for teachers to not only gain experience and knowledge of outdoor learning but it also provided an opportunity for teachers to get together and share experiences informally without paper work and expectations.”
The Education Scotland Social Studies team plan to run more opportunities in the future for primary and secondary teachers to improve their fieldwork skills.
Sign up now to the Social Studies E-Bulletin so you don’t miss out: http://bit.do/e-bulletin
Log on to the Social Studies Network on Glow to share your thoughts on Outdoor Learning: http://bit.do/socialstudiespl
Contact Daniel and his staff at Millport FSC for more information about class visits and OPAL Survey packs: enquiries.sco@field-studies-council.org
Hopefully you will have had the chance to see some of the outstanding sessions available as part of the online Disruptive Innovation Festival which has been running from 20th October to 14th November 2014. For those of you that have not managed to catch any of the sessions or missed some due to other commitments we are delighted to announce that many of the events have been recorded and will be available to view for another 30 days.
Visit the DIF website archive at DIF Archive to access the sessions that are still available until 14th December 2014.
Here is a small sample of some of the events that will be available to view until 14th December:
• 3D Printed materials and the Circular Economy
• Internet of Things
• Circular Economy Classroom Activity
• Biomimicry Classroom
• William McDonough (Cradle to cradle): Redesigning the Future
• Jeremy Rifkin: The Next Industrial Revolution
• Mark Miodownik: Made to be Made Again
• TU Delft: Pioneers of Design -Longer Lasting Products
• Sir Ken Robinson: Inspiring a Generation
Please share this information with colleagues who might be interested: STEM subjects, Geography, Business Education, Economics, Modern Studies and anyone interested in inter-disciplinary learning.
If you are inspired to introduce your pupils to the circular economy but would welcome some help in getting started please do not hesitate to contact me by email at jen.barrett@ellenmacarthurfoundation.org
CC4G
Free to the first 50 schools to sign up!
CC4G – Computer Clubs for Girls – is a fully resourced scheme of work from e-skills UK, developed with teachers, supported by role models from leading employers and specifically designed to encourage girls to take on the digital world with confidence.
The resources cover a variety of topics, from coding to e-safety, web design to music video production, are fully supported by teacher guides, and can be used to deliver extra-curricular clubs or to support lesson time activities.
Running CC4G doesn’t need any specialist IT expertise or software, it’s fully curriculum-compliant, and girls love it.
Java Fundamentals training
In addition to sponsoring CC4G licenses, Oracle is offering teachers from each school within this scheme free Java Fundamentals training using the Alice and Greenfoot development environments.
The course lays the foundation for students with little or no programming experience to learn the Java programming language, introducing fundamental programming concepts and terminology in an easy, engaging manner.
Sign up now for a free one year account
The first 50 schools in Scotland to respond will each receive a free licence, sponsored by SDS and Oracle, to run CC4G for a one year period, plus free Java Fundamentals training from Oracle. To see for yourself how good CC4G is, register for a free trial at www.cc4g.net.
This offer will not last long and licenses will be assigned on a first come, first served basis. Please contact CC4G with any questions and to confirm your acceptance: cc4ghelpdesk@e-skills.com
CC4G is run by e-skills UK, the Sector Skills Council for Business and Information Technology. We work on behalf of employers to ensure the UK has the technology skills it needs to succeed in a global digital economy. Our work covers software, internet & web, Computer Games, IT services, telecommunications and business change. At e-skills UK we help people achieve their goals every year through our programmes, research and initiatives – at work, school and in further and higher education.
The online Disruptive Innovation Festival (DIF) is working with organisations, universities and individuals from all over the world to spotlight and explore the disruptive innovations that are shaking up industry and creating new opportunities in the economy. Many of the sessions during the festival have been crowd-sourced from global contributors and emphasises the opportunity for interaction and engagement with these ideas. Throughout the four weeks, the DIF provides thought-leadership, advice, short courses, design challenges, resources and networks for new or budding entrepreneurs, designers, makers and doers. The DIF will also welcome participation from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s network including business, policy makers, academics and designers who are contributing to and participating in the DIF 2014.
Of particular relevance from a STEM perspective are the following sessions:
[27 Oct] Eben Bayer – An Entrepreneur’s Story
– http://thinkdif.co/headliners/eben-bayer
[29 Oct] The Circular Economy: an educator’s guide
– http://thinkdif.co/emf-stages/the-circular-economy-an-educators-guide
[30 Oct] Systems thinking and restorative agriculture-at scale
– http://thinkdif.co/emf-stages/systems-thinking-and-restorative-agriculture-at-scale
[30 Oct] Assembly Line or Mind Gym? Where is education going?
– http://thinkdif.co/emf-stages/where-is-education-going
[3 Nov] Mark Miodownik – Made to be Made Again
– http://thinkdif.co/headliners/mark-miodownik
[6 Nov] Sir Ken Robinson – Inspiring a Generation
– http://thinkdif.co/headliners/sir-ken-robinson
[6 Nov] Education: What are the new stories?
– http://thinkdif.co/emf-stages/education-what-are-the-new-stories
[12 Nov] Janine Benyus & Michael Pawlyn – Biomimicry
– http://thinkdif.co/headliners/janine-benyus
[Throughout] Experts on Demand
– http://thinkdif.co/emf-stages/experts-on-demand
[Throughout] Design Challenges
– http://thinkdif.co/pages/challenges
People sign up to receive news about the DIF at www.thinkdif.co
All of the sessions are free to attend, and most will be made available for a short period of time after the event.
Developing the Life and Ethos of West Barns Primary School
Over the past 12 months at we have been working with pupils, families and the wider community to help us develop a clear rational for our curriculum based on shared values of respect, happiness, confidence, responsibility, safety and friendliness. The school continues to develop open and supportive relationships with children and their families. We are now beginning to see the impact of many months of hard work on the life and work of the school.
This year we have introduced Learning Journeys which will support pupils in reflecting on their learning and identify their next steps as well as recording their wider achievement. We are sharing these with parents and families on a regular basis and encourage them to add their own comments, photos, certificates etc. and help their child set health and wellbeing targets. This will provide parents with a great opportunity to become more involved in their child’s learning and achievements. By the end of this first term we are already seeing pupils engaging more in discussing their learning, identifying their strengths and next steps, thinking of strategies to help them move forward and evidencing their achievements.
Parents and families also recently helped our Primary 4-7 pupils understand the importance that literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing skills will play in their adult lives. Pupils interviewed adults as part of the Family Homework task (download parents survey). Pupils then worked together to process and present the information. This gave our children a greater understanding of why it is important to master these basic skills during their school years. Younger pupils have been thinking about what jobs they would like to do when they are older and which skills they will need. Staff continue to make the links between the children’s learning and skills for learning, work and life.
This year we felt it was essential that we looked at how we could better promote emotional resilience in our pupils. We are using a whole school approach to health and wellbeing through using Edinburgh City’s ‘Creating Confident Kids’ resources (http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/info/20075/information_for_professionals/383/learning_publications ). The Headteacher is working with all classes to develop a whole school approach through active learning and school assemblies. The Playground Committee has also been looking at ways that we could better support pupils during break times through developing games and activities and have introduced their own Playground rules.
The whole school community are now working together to develop an ethos of positive behaviour to promote effective learning and wellbeing across the school. This year, before choosing new House Captains, pupils were asked what attributes they valued most in a leader. The results were unanimous – pupils wanted role models who showed respect, kindness and responsibility. Candidates then used these findings to inform their election campaigns and now have a clear remit of what the school community expects from them in their new roles.
Our recent pupil survey showed us that our children wanted to contribute more to the life and work of the school. We are now giving all our pupils the opportunity to exercise their responsibilities through playing an active part in one of our 4 school committees. We have timetabled quality time and invested in resources to ensure that pupils have real opportunities to participate responsibly in decision-making, contribute as leaders and role models and offer support and service to others through meaningful projects that will benefit the school and our wider community.
Although we have an open door policy here at West Barns and welcome communication from parents, we were keen on trying to involve our parents more in the day to day running of the school. Our Parent Council have recruited many volunteers through the West Barns Helping Hands scheme which involves parents, families or neighbours offering their help in a variety of different ways from creating resources, digging the garden, mending toys, making curtains and helping organise events. We are seeing many more parents and families becoming involved in the school and we are making headway with many new projects thanks to their help.
Next month see how our curriculum rationale is being developed.
Supporting Outdoor Learning in Secondary Schools
When: Saturday 15th November 2014
Where: Speyside High School, Aberlour
Time: 9:30am-4pm
In the revised GTCS Standards for Career Long Professional Learning teachers are required to “understand and develop the most appropriate contexts for learning including outdoor learning and be able to apply appropriate pedagogies for these environments”. This event aims to support this and build confidence and capacity in the delivery of outdoor learning in secondary schools.
Throughout the day participants will have the opportunity to attend a variety of practical outdoor workshops delivered by teachers and outdoor partners. These workshops will showcase outdoor learning approaches and will demonstrate how these can be incorporated into practice.
A market place and other networking opportunities will allow practitioners to meet with outdoor partners and find out more about the range of resources available to further support outdoor learning.
This is a free event open to secondary staff in Scotland – in particular those who are starting out on their outdoor learning journey and wish to develop their confidence in taking the curriculum outdoors. There is an expectation that those who attend this event will be willing to share their learning with colleagues in their establishment.
Registering for this event:
If you wish to attend this event please register online by Wednesday 29th October @ https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/7P9PS8R
Early registration is advised as this event is likely to be very popular. Workshop choices will be sent out at the start of November.
If you would like further information about this event please contact:
Fiona Cruickshanks, Development Officer, Outdoor Learning Fiona.Cruickshanks@educationscotland.gov.uk
At the beginning of September the Senior Pupil Residential took place at Lagganlia Centre for Outdoor Learning in Glen Feshie. This residential which is now in it’s fourth year is part of the Outdoor Learning with National Parks project and was jointly funded by Education Scotland, Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority, Cairngorms National Park Authority and the Forestry Commission Scotland. In total 14 schools from across seven local authorities took part in this residential with 64 pupils and 11 staff attending. The aim of the residential programme is to consider the ways in which residential experiences can challenge and support pupils in the senior school, with a focus on leadership, personal development and National Parks. Pupils from as far afield as Portree to Portlethen, Crieff to Clydebank and Banff to Blairgowrie worked in groups throughout the week to complete a range of problem solving and team building activities. All pupils took part in an overnight camp with only a bivi-bag and tarpaulin for shelter! As part of this year’s residential the pupils also had to collaborate with their group to present their thoughts on key issues such as ‘What are the benefits of outdoor learning?’ and ‘How can National Parks engage effectively with young people?’ Pupils also worked towards the John Muir Award and are now completing the final Sharing stage of the award back in their schools.
Feedback from both pupils and staff attending the residential was overwhelmingly positive:
“One of the aspects I benefited from was the opportunity to meet new people form all over Scotland, become more open-minded due to the different areas in which we live, create new friendships, boost my confidence and improve my knowledge of the National Parks.” Pupil
“This week has had a huge impact on the pupils’ social skills and their leadership skills.” Teacher
“The impact on the learners has been massive – they have developed so many skills but especially their ability to come out of their comfort zones and interact with new people from different areas across Scotland.” Teacher
Life, the world around us and the search for extra-terrestrials will be explored though a range of hands-on activities at Big Biology Scotland on Sunday 12th October 2014.
This free event for all ages, at Mugdock Country Park from 10:00-15:00, will include outdoor activities such as a Bug Hunt, Sun spotting, Rocket making and Bird ringing.
Inside the visitor centre, budding biologists can get busy making Crafty Critters and DNA bracelets. Older visitors can learn more about health with ‘Bacteria Combat’ and ‘Meet a GP’.
The theatre will host films and talks from ‘Meet the Scientist’ and the Cosmic Way Roadshow where you can explore the origins of life in the stars.
To celebrate National Fungus Day (also on Sunday 12 October) Mugdock park rangers will run a Fungi Foray from 13:00-14-30 and Jaw Brew and Battlefield Bakery will be on hand all day to show how the yeast fungus is vital to brewing beer and baking bread.
Big Biology Day Scotland is one of six science festivals taking place all over the country as part of Biology Week 11-18th October 2014, organised by the Society of Biology.
Dr Mark Downs, Chief Executive of the Society of Biology, says: “Biology affects us all: biological research has helped provide food, medicines, vaccinations, and much more. We have organised Biology Week to share our fascination with the world around us.”
For more information visit: https://www.societyofbiology.org/events?event_id=581
The Dance National Working Group (NWG) met for the third time on 2nd September at the Optima, Glasgow. Notes from the meeting are attached below.
Dance National Working Group (NWG) Meeting Notes
The Implemento document attached below summarises the ‘futures’ discussion we had in relation to dance education 3-18. From the process we have identified key areas for development and action.
Comments and suggestions in relation to all the above documents are very welcome.
The draft action plan document explains how we arrived at the actions and next steps for the group to take these forward.
The Dance National Working Group will meet again at the joint NWG meeting on 27th November at Atlantic Quay.
Community Resilience Education – Free Conversation Day and Networking Event
09:30 (for 10:00 start) – 15:00, Tuesday 7th October 2014
Venue: Thistle Hotel, Millburn Road, Inverness, IV2 3TR
Education Scotland is excited to be hosting a second community resilience conversation and networking event with a view to developing a shared, partnership approach to provide 3-18 resilience education opportunities.
The day aims to bring together members of the Scottish Government, emergency planning and civil contingencies teams from local councils, representatives from local education authorities, and members of other key organisations to consider the potential of community resilience as a rich and exciting context for teaching and learning. Key contexts for focus include flooding, severe weather and pandemic flu and the impact they can have on communities and how we can take steps to mitigate against their impact through educating learners.
We would also like to extend this event invite to school representatives (members of management teams, or teachers who have been, or are interested in engaging in community resilience education) to explore how we can take forward resilience education. Places will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.
Conversation activities will provide delegates with opportunities to network and engage in professional dialogue in relation to developing more resilient individuals, families and communities. Selected examples of good practice will be shared through engaging presentations delivered by Education Scotland, Scottish Government, local councils and schools.
All interested delegates should register online at the following link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/N2F3TWC to confirm attendance and inform us of any special dietary or access requirements you may have.
If you have any further questions or your school is/has been involved in community resilience projects or initiatives and you would be interested in presenting at the event to share your practice with others, please contact Jennifer Moore at: Jennifer.Moore@educationscotland.gov.uk
Basic Science: Understanding Experiments
This practical, hands-on course is aimed at school aged learners to help them start thinking like a scientist by carrying out experiments at home and making scientific observations.
They will carry out simple experiments to extract the DNA from fruit or vegetables, observe osmosis in action and bake a potato to destruction! They’ll also investigate how different liquids behave when frozen and how much water an everyday food item contains.
As they carry out these experiments they will develop important science-based skills including observation, record-keeping, data analysis and how to control an experiment. After examining their results, they will share them with other learners and discuss their findings.
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!
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.
Meet the Engineer with Primary Engineers.
This is an exciting series of 6 Glow TV events between the 4th of September and the 23rd of October from 10am until 11am to help support the Scottish Engineering Special Leaders Award with Primary Engineer and the Leaders Award for STEM.
Ask your pupils the question ‘What would you do if you could be an engineer in Scotland?’ to help them formulate their answer join our Glow TV interviews with engineers and a Glasgow based solicitor who can tell you how to protect your ideas!
For the third year in a row Education Scotland supports this award as an exciting and relevant way for students from primary and secondary schools in Scotland to discover more about the impact and diversity of engineering, alongside paths and routes into this amazing career.
The list of all the dates and speakers is shown below and their biographies can be found on the leaders award website http://leadersaward.com/index.php/corporate/glow-meets
4th September – Philip Hannay – Cloch Solicitors (Patents Solicitor) – Watch Again
11th of September – Craig Goldie – Director Sweitelsky
25th of September – Gordon Masterton – Vice President Jacobs Engineering
2nd of October – Tom Sreeves – Director of Manufacturing Aggreko
9th of October – Douglas Anderson – Founder and CEO OPTOS – this presentation will not be interactive and will be recorded and uploaded to the Education Scotland website Technologies pages
23rd of October – Emma Henderson – Senior Engineer Expro Group
You can find out more and sign up for any of these events by following the relevant links above.
The Leaders Award for STEM website holds resources such as lesson plans for primary and secondary schools, links to resources from The Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame and award winning engineering companies from across Scotland through Scottish Engineering.
Entry deadlines are the 12th February 2015 with awards being presented in Glasgow alongside a public exhibition in March 2015.
With SLF 2014 now only 4 weeks away we hear for one of this year’s keynote speakers, Prof Alma Harris about her keynote and her thoughts on Scottish education.
I am looking forward to being part of the ‘Scottish Learning Festival’ 2014 and engaging with this vibrant educational community. I will be bringing a group of Malaysian educators with me and I have promised them a warm welcome but not warm weather! In my previous visits to Scotland I have found that teachers and principals appreciate honesty and integrity so my aim is demonstrate both.
In my session I will argue that we need to go ‘beyond PISA’ to find the touchstone of real educational success and that there are important lessons that systems, like Scotland, can give to the global educational community. Despite the fact that education systems in Asia currently dominate the top of the PISA tables, there is much that the East can learn from the West in terms of educational change and improvement. Some of these messages will be shared with you all.
The aim of the session is not to devalue or dismiss PISA but rather to underline that high performance in education is defined by much more than rankings. The session will argue that we need to put the ‘learner’ at the forefront of our educational reform processes and avoid being seduced by superficial explanations of ‘high performance’ that tend to objectify learners and place performance above learning.
I will also focus upon leadership and will aim to answer the question, ‘what type of leadership is required to ensure success for every student in every setting?’ To answer this question, I will share the findings from two recent comparative studies. The first set of findings comes from a ‘7 System Leadership Study’ that is exploring the relationship between leadership development and leadership practice in differentially performing systems (Australia, England, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia Singapore and Russia). Initial findings highlight that there are more similarities than differences in the approaches these systems are using to secure and sustain improvement. The findings also challenge some of the cultural assumptions and popular assertions about ‘high performing systems’.
The second study looks at leadership within high performing organisations across different sectors (education, sport and business). The full range of empirical findings can be found in a new book with Andy Hargreaves and Alan Boyle called ‘’Uplifting Leadership’. Among, a range of conclusions, the findings from this study show that the type of leadership needed to secure and sustain exceptional performance is that which builds professional and social capital.
Overall, my message is that we need to look ‘beyond PISA’ and to move past the current preoccupation with international rankings, if authentic school and system improvement is to be achieved. I will propose that the real power and potential for system transformation in Scotland resides in the professionalism of its teachers and its school leaders, combined with an unshakable belief that every child deserves the best education possible.
It is with a huge degree of humility that I take part in this ‘Scottish Learning Festival’ 2014 involving educators from many countries. It is also with a great sense of pride that I am speaking at a conference that is about learning first and foremost. Putting the learner at the heart of the reform process, deeply, authentically and genuinely gets us much closer to the outcomes that we want for all young people.
If you want to hear Alma’s keynote then register for SLF 2014.
Pilot project for schools, using museum collections datasets as part of the Computing Science curriculum:
Museums have an untapped resource of rich data, relating to their collections, which can be explored and re-used in new and exciting ways.
Museums in Scotland have identified digital engagement as a priority (see page 17 of One Year On: Turning Actions into Advocacy), with a focus on how to reuse assets such as digital collections records (which can be similar to library catalogue records, containing data about individual or groups of museum objects) and images.
Education Scotland and MGS (Museums Galleries Scotland the national development body for the museum sector in Scotland) would be keen to establish up to a number of pilot projects to run over the autumn to spring terms, through which schools would make use of museum collections data, as part of the Computing Science curriculum.
Museums would provide access to museum collections data, to support coding or other exploratory work. The time available by the museums involved in these pilot projects will vary, but there would be the opportunity to discuss with the museum what the collections data represents, and how it is currently organised, and for the museum-school partners to explore their shared interest in data reuse. There may also be the opportunity to work with the museum to create a resource which has a life beyond the project, to present new stories about the collections in new ways to the museum and its visitors.
Education Scotland and MGS would aim to work with the school-museum partnerships to develop case studies and a report on what has been learned from the pilot projects, to share with the wider museum and education sector.
If you are interested or would like to find out more about this opportunity please contact Kirsty McFaul Senior Education Officer Technologies, Education Scotland, Kirsty.mcfaul@educationscotland.gov.uk
Community Resilience Education – Free Conversation Day and Networking Event
09:30 (for 10:00 start) – 15:00, Tuesday 7th October 2014
Venue: Thistle Hotel, Millburn Road, Inverness, IV2 3TR
Education Scotland is excited to be hosting a second community resilience conversation and networking event with a view to developing a shared, partnership approach to provide 3-18 resilience education opportunities.
The day aims to bring together members of the Scottish Government, emergency planning and civil contingencies teams from local councils, representatives from local education authorities, and members of other key organisations to consider the potential of community resilience as a rich and exciting context for teaching and learning. Key contexts for focus include flooding, severe weather and pandemic flu and the impact they can have on communities and how we can take steps to mitigate against their impact through educating learners.
We would also like to extend this event invite to school representatives (members of management teams, or teachers who have been, or are interested in engaging in community resilience education) to explore how we can take forward resilience education. Places will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.
Conversation activities will provide delegates with opportunities to network and engage in professional dialogue in relation to developing more resilient individuals, families and communities. Selected examples of good practice will be shared through engaging presentations delivered by Education Scotland, Scottish Government, local councils and schools.
All interested delegates should register online by Friday 29th August 2014 at the following link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/N2F3TWC to confirm attendance and inform us of any special dietary or access requirements you may have.
If you have any further questions or your school is/has been involved in community resilience projects or initiatives and you would be interested in presenting at the event to share your practice with others, please contact Jennifer Moore at: Jennifer.Moore@educationscotland.gov.uk
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.
Higher Computing Science – Conference Report
Background information
Education Scotland held a conference on Thursday 29 May 2014 as part of the ongoing support of the new national qualifications. The need for this national event became clear following a series of meetings early in 2014 between the Technologies team at Education Scotland and the following local authorities:
Discussion with the local authority representatives focused mainly on the implications of moving from 2 Higher Grade courses in this area of the curriculum to one new higher. The opportunity to up-date the content was quite rightly taken. However this has resulted in a significant amount of new content which has resulted in practitioners being uneasy about their ability to deliver the subject content for this new qualification. In order to evaluate the scale of the difficulties Education Scotland established a Short Life Working group for Computing Science to discuss the best ways to address the issues that were being highlighted. This resulted in two main areas of activity
The main aims of the conference were to
Conference organisation and delivery
The programme for the event was a mix of keynote presentations and workshop sessions. Gerry Docherty set the scene for the conference. He is currently Chief Executive of Smarter Grid Solutions a fast-growing company, with operational bases in Glasgow, London and New York. He leads on the implementation of the ICT and Digital Technologies Skills Investment Plan. This plan makes explicit the need for developing skills in this key area of the Scottish economy. It also makes clear connections to the industry working much more closely with the education sector. From an education perspective, Education Scotland see this report as being a powerful driver behind the support we are going to be giving this area of the curriculum over the next year or two. Gerry did a tremendous job setting the scene for the conference and many of the issues he raised in the morning were discussed again in the closing plenary.
Peter Donaldson set the scene for the afternoon sessions by outlining the aims and objective of PLAN C (Professional Learning and Networking for Computing). He explained that the Core PLAN C team are connected to 50 lead teachers who are then connected to a further 10-25 teachers in their local area with industry, HE and FE encouraged to link in taking a more strategic approach to supporting work in this area of the curriculum.
The workshops were delivered by 9 practitioners identified by the Computing Science Working Group and delegates were able to attend 3 workshops over the course of the day. It was planned that each of these workshops would focus on learning and teaching as well as new course content.
Evaluations
The evaluations and conversations with various stakeholders during and after the event indicate these aims were met. The table below indicates how successful the event was with respect to the evaluation forms returned at the end of the event. This is based on 66 returned evaluations. In total there were 125 delegates in attendance and 30 out of 32 local authorities had representatives and there was representatives from the private sector and from colleges.
The key statistics from the table above are
The figure of 67% in the final statistic is probably explained by the fact that the delegates were approaching the new content from a slightly different teaching background. These being either a Computing Science or Information Systems background. It is also an indication that much more needs to be done to support teachers in this area. One of the comments from the delegates also helped explain this
‘Still need more detail. Some subjects were over-subscribed, more access to these would be helpful.’
Further comments from delegates were very helpful and they focused on the following key areas.
Ongoing Support
The delegates recognise that this is just the start
‘More events like this to show ideas and methods. Better continued support. Direct guidelines to local councils as to how staff should be supported – reinforce the importance of computing science.’
‘We are still unclear about the depth of coverage and are simply guessing. Fortunately we have a year to get the handle on this so hopefully more information will come out from SQA and yourselves.’
‘More meetings where we can gather, talk face to face and get away from being lots of ‘wee islands’ – the sessions were excellent and I am away feeling muchh more confident about the higher. Anything for ISDD would be great.’
Professional Learning Community
While computing teachers have an excellent ‘professional learning community’ through CompEdNet there is still more that we can do.
‘Local ES events welcome. How can we develop a shared agenda?’
‘More of the same please. Always good discussions + inspiration.’
The role of key organisations
In the context of on-going work across education and the ICT sector this comment is pertinent
‘Very interesting and useful event. Great speech by Gerry Docherty’.
Education Scotland and SQA are still expected to do more in this area too.
‘SQA arrangements still require more guidance on depth of treatment required.’
‘More detail on the support team at Education Scotland. Who’s our contact? Who does what?’
Summary/Conclusions
Education Scotland would like to thank the Computing Science Working Group for their support in making this conference a great success. The conference would not have been possible without their knowledge and understanding of the computing science context in local authorities and in schools. Workshop presenters did a superb job and the level of ‘interactivity’ in the sessions was impressive.
The following comment is one that we should finish on
‘Absolutely fantastic, we need more of these to get up to speed.’
It may be worth considering following this conference up in May 2015 to cover other aspects of the new higher but also have a focus on the new ‘Advanced Higher’.
Next steps
The following suggestions have been made as to how we build on the success of the conference
– Work with the CompedNet practitioner network to identify the features within Glow that will support what they are doing through their professional on-line community. This will focus on the added value Glow brings that is different from what’s on offer already through CompEdNet e.g. Glow TV, Glow Meets etc
– Create user stories (identifying practice that’s worthy of sharing)
– Monthly Computer Science update (publication, 2 sides A4)
– Host a series of regional events to roll out the information from the conference
– Host an online national conferences.
Education Scotland is aware that more support is required for computing science and this will continue over the next academic year.
LfS Scotland, in partnership with the Moray House School of Education, is now taking bookings for our new Leadership for Sustainability professional development course – a one-day course for Head Teachers, Depute Head Teachers and Principal Teachers in primary or secondary schools, and local authority officers with a key role in supporting Learning for Sustainability.
This highly interactive programme will highlight simple steps that school leaders can take to develop an effective whole school approach to Learning for Sustainability. It will enable you to effectively plan for and implement Learning for Sustainability requirements in your school in ways that will significantly enhance the educational experience of your pupils. A free follow-up twilight course is available to provide the opportunity for continuing collaboration with colleagues and for sharing insights from critical self-evaluation, reflection and enquiry.
More information is available here and to book a place, please contact Morag Watson
Nominations are now open for the SQA’s annual Star Awards.
The awards are a unique way to celebrate success, triumph, achievement and recognition of the best in education and training. Behind every success story lies motivation and commitment, pride and self-esteem and, of course, sheer hard work.
See the stars come out – nominate your stars today at www.sqa.org.uk/star
Closing date for entries is Friday 27 June 2014.
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.
Education Scotland organised and delivered a conference to support learning and teaching around the new Higher Computing Science on 29 May 2014. The main aims of the conference were to
Gerry Docherty, Chief Executive of Smarter Grid Solutions, who leads on the implementation of the ICT and Digital Technologies Skills Investment Plan was the keynote speaker. He did a tremendous job setting the scene for the conference and many of the issues he raised in the morning were discussed again in the closing plenary.
It was a really great day and gives us lots to build on. If you have any suggestions as to how Education Scotland can further support this area of the curriculum please contact jim.lally@educationscotland.gov.uk.
Wednesday 24th – 25th June 2014
Into Films will be running 3 career sessions at next month’s EIFF.
One focusing on STEM students, the other on the same day includes STEM as part of film careers, with a third event will involve conversations with a VFX industry professional.
If you are interested in attending these events please contact – yen.yau@intofilm.org
The third in a series of conversation days focussing on skills across the 3-18 curriculum will take place at Eden Court Theatre, Inverness on Thursday 5th June 2014. Education Scotland are delighted to host the event along with our education partners Highland Council and Skills Development Scotland.
The event will provide an opportunity for stakeholders to continue the conversations started at Loch Leven Community Campus in September and December 2013. The focus then was on exploring the issues around developing a common language and understanding of skills and local approaches to engagement with employers, including contrasting rural and urban opportunities for work experience.
The key area of focus for the third event in the series will be how schools are planning for and recording progression in the development of skills. The conversations will pick up some of the inter-linked threads from previous events and weave these through the day’s presentations and activities.
The outcomes, materials and suggested actions generated from the day will be posted on the Education Scotland Learning Blog.
