January 2025 News
Happy Gregorian New Year! 🌟
Please scroll down to view upcoming professional learning, updates and resources.
Upcoming Professional Learning
This online professional learning will provide an overview of the context of Education Scotland professional learning linked to Inclusion, Wellbeing and Equalities in Scotland. Two sessions taking place on 4.2.25 & 11.2.25 4.00pm – 5.15pm provide the context for the suite of professional learning and resources available for practitioners linked to Inclusion, Wellbeing and Equalities and Relationships and Behaviour.
4.2.25 Introduction to the IWE PL framework
Sign up via this link.
11.2.25 Promoting Positive Relationships and Behaviour Policy Context plus Expectations and Consequences
Sign up via this link.
The 5 sessions taking place on Tuesday afternoons from 25.2.25 – 25.3.25 4.00pm – 5.15pm will provide an overview of what practitioners need to know and should be able to understand relating to supporting learners using relational approaches. This includes understanding the biology of the brain and getting to really know your learners to support them. In addition, the sessions aim to provide practical supports, and skills, for practitioners to use when behaviours become distressed. It is beneficial if you are signing up for the ‘It’s all about relationships’ programme that you attend all sessions. It would be a good idea to please protect the dates and times in your own calendar when you sign up for these sessions and notify us if you are unable to attend.
The 5 sessions are as follows:
25.2.25 Relationships Matter & Relational approaches (whole school)
4.3.25 The Brain and Emotional regulation/ Self regulation/ Regulate, Relate, Reason & Restore (Knowledge and Understanding)
11.3.25 What is trauma? What is Nurture? Window of Tolerance (Knowledge and Understanding)
18.3.25 Co-regulation and De-escalation (Knowledge and Skills Development)
25.3.25 Attunement, Active Listening and Reframing (Skills Development)
Sign up for all five sessions via this link.
Keynote and Q&A with Angela Saini
10 Feb 2025 16:00 – 17:30
Join us for a thought-provoking online webinar featuring a keynote talk by award-winning author Angela Saini, focusing on the intersectional experiences of race and gender in education. Angela will share insights from her latest book, Patriarchs: How Men Came to Rule, along with her acclaimed works Superior: The Return of Race Science and Inferior: How Science Got Women Wrong and the New Research That’s Rewriting the Story. Her work delves into the power structures that shape our understanding of race, gender, and hierarchy, offering essential perspectives for those working in education.
Link to sign up: Keynote and Q&A with Angela Saini (Online Webinar) Tickets, Mon 10 Feb 2025 at 16:00 | Eventbrite
Building an Anti-Racist School Community: the Role of Parents and Parent Groups
28 January 2025, 8-9pm
Join this live online Information Session to hear about the positive steps school communities can take to play their part in promoting anti-racism, respecting diversity and including all families. Professor Khadija Mohammed of the Scottish Association of Minority Ethnic Educators (SAMEE) will share her research with Black and Minority Ethnic parents, explaining why it really matters that anti-racist practice is embedded in every school community. She will set out how this can be done and why parents and parent groups are key enablers.
Link to sign up: Building an Anti-Racist School Community: Role of Parents & Parent Groups Tickets, Tue, Jan 28, 2025 at 8:00 PM | Eventbrite
Train the Trainer 1 Day professional learning event
4/2/25 or 18/3/25, Glasgow
Professional learning materials have been developed and piloted with Early Learning and Childcare practitioners and Primary School staff. The topics explored include the nature of gender-based violence, gender stereotypes, how these themes can be explored through the curriculum and how to respond to related harmful behaviour.
The Train the Trainer (TTT) Programme is a one day in person training which will equip participants to deliver the piloted materials in their own authorities. During the training staff will be made familiar with the materials and explore the sensitivities around professional learning on this topic.
Who should attend? Each local authority needs to make sure that their training team includes one local authority lead with a strong knowledge of the health and wellbeing curriculum and one with strong knowledge in the area of gender-based violence (this could be a local authority partner). For sustainability a minimum of two staff but ideally three staff from each local authority will be trained. Staff attending should have the work capacity to deliver the training to staff in their local authority.
To apply please fill in this form.
LGBT Inclusive Education: Guidance, Practicalities and Planning
26 Feb 2025 16:00 – 17:30
LGBT inclusive education is for everyone. It is needed to foster a safe and supportive environment for all children, young people and adult learners, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender.
This webinar will explore:
- Guidance and national approach to LGBT inclusive education
- Examples and case studies of integrating this in our settings and practice
- Insights into young people’s experiences of online prejudice, homophobia and misogyny at school
- The positive impact of LGBT inclusive education
Link to sign up: LGBT Inclusive Education: Guidance, Practicalities and Planning Tickets, Wed 26 Feb 2025 at 16:00 | Eventbrite
Elearning course – cost of the school day
The professional learning resource includes reflective questions, examples from schools across Scotland and links to other helpful Cost of the School Day resources.
January Updates and Resources
Work has started on reviewing and evolving Scotland’s Curriculum. This is known as the Curriculum Improvement Cycle. We are in the early stages of the process and we want to make sure you are kept up to speed with what’s happening so you know what it will mean for you and Scotland’s children and young people.
As the cycle evolves we will continue to include updates in this newsletter. We invite you to consider what this means for Inclusion, Wellbeing and Equalities. You can also sign-up for the curriculum improvement cycle e-bulletin here.
National Guidance on LGBT Inclusive Education
Scottish Government has published the National Guidance on LGBT Inclusive Education. The guidance sets out the ‘National Approach to LGBT Inclusive Education’ and includes content relating to professional learning, what LGBT Inclusive Education should look like in practice, and how it connects to broader education in Scotland. The guidance outlines that schools and education settings should integrate LGBT Inclusive Education across curriculum in line with the national approach. Professional learning and resources to support this are already available via the LGBT Inclusive Education National Platform. Education Scotland’s IWE Professional Learning Framework also includes resources which underpin this approach, for example the professional learning resource on “Diversity in the Curriculum: Mirrors and Windows” which promotes a practical approach for more inclusive curriculum design.
We are partnering with Time for Inclusive Education on our next LGBT Inclusive Education webinar to explore the new guidance, provide examples and case studies of integrating this into curriculum, and share the positive impact of LGBT Inclusive Education.
Funding and Life Skills Programmes for Care Experienced Young People
The Share Foundation work with local authorities in Scotland around supporting care experienced young people with financial education and access to Junior ISAs. If a looked after young person is under 18, been in care for over a year and doesn’t qualify for the Child Trust Fund, they can open a Junior ISA, drawing down £200. The Share Foundation also supports eligible young people to access their Child Trust Fund.
Share Foundation created the Stepladder of Achievement, a program of building life skills for young people in care aged 15 to 17 and for care leavers up to the age of 25: six steps incorporating literacy, numeracy and financial education. With the co-operation of local authorities, the Share Foundation can find donors to provide additional voluntary incentives, then the Share Foundation will provide the ‘Stepladder Plus’ version for young people in care aged 15-17 from those areas. In this version the young person can ‘earn’ up to an additional £1,500 in their account ready for access at 18.
I Am Me Scotland Learning Platform
An exciting suite of online resources supporting the Health & Wellbeing Experiences and Outcomes for Early Years, Primary & Secondary schools. Developed with, and for, children & young people.
This briefing has been developed by Public Health Scotland, supported by the Child Poverty in Schools Practice Network on referral pathways to money advice. It is useful for schools, local authorities, elected officials or anyone keen to maximise family incomes in their area
Support for Families on Low Incomes
Practical advice from parent and carers on:
- creating poverty aware school communities
- ways to show leadership and demonstrate commitment to equity
- how to effectively share information on financial support and help with school costs
- how to approach conversations about costs and financial support.
Abertay University Gender Bias in Subject Choice Intervention
Abertay University has designed a new intervention to counter the gendered nature of students’ subject choices and pathways. They use an evidence-based approach to reduce the gender stereotypes that can limit young people’s exploration of educational opportunities. Abertay University is looking to recruit a secondary school to participate in a pilot study of the intervention. Participation would involve allowing me to supervise some group activities with young people in S2/S3, encouraging them to challenge gender stereotypes and consider education and career options that are not typically associated with their gender. The intervention activities are designed to be enjoyable and engaging for young people and to reduce the influence of gender stereotypes on their subject choices. Please get in touch with Karen Golden at Abertay University for further details. k.golden1800@abertay.ac.uk
Learner participation in educational settings | Resources | Education Scotland
Guidance and support materials to help schools and Early Learning and Childcare settings develop an understanding of learner participation and plan for implementation within their setting. The guidance offers :
- a clear definition of learner participation
- principles for participation
- the rationale and benefits of participation
- an outline of the four arenas in which participation happens.
National Complex Needs Networks (NCNN/NCNPN)
As we enter into a new term, the Networks are evolving further, with an opportunity to shape the sessions ahead being discussed at our termly meetings. Already in the diary for this month are discussion around responding to racial incidents involving pupils with a CLD, and training sessions on Using the TEACCH Approach and Meeting the needs of a learners with Down’s Syndrome with others being finalised.
The NCNN subgroups (Monitoring, Tracking, Visible Voices, CLPL and Transitions) are continuing to work behind the scenes with exciting resources and supports for this cohort of practitioners and beyond evolving. Updates on how this work is progressing and a few asks for help are coming out to members shortly on a padlet. A few new subgroups (IDL and Planning) are starting up and looking for members.
If you work with learners with complex needs, whether in a specialist setting or mainstream environment and would like to join the network, please complete this form.
Aberdeenshire LGBTQ+ Club Teachers Network
The Aberdeenshire Teachers LGBTQ+ Club Network is a supportive community for educators passionate about fostering inclusivity and equality within schools. The network provides a platform for sharing resources, ideas, and best practices to champion LGBTQ+ visibility and understanding in education. Through collaboration and mutual support, the group empowers teachers to create safe, welcoming spaces for all students and staff across Aberdeenshire.
Everyone is welcome to join the group:
Aberdeenshire Teachers LGBTQ+ Network – Glow Teams Code: 5hyk6zx
We also run a student chat for all secondary school students in Aberdeenshire:
Aberdeenshire LGBTQ+ Student Chat – Glow Teams Code: snhxxj8
