#CLPL – Page 2 – Learning for Sustainability

LfS at the SLF

There is still time to register for seminars at the Scottish Learning Festival 2015.

The Scottish Learning Festival (SLF) is the key education event in Scotland welcoming thousands of education professionals.

SLF 2015 takes place on Wednesday 23 and Thursday 24 September in the SECC, Glasgow.

Below are some of the key seminars relating to learning for sustainability. Remember that even if the seminars are showing up as full when you register, it can be worth trying to attend on the day, as spaces often become available.

Staff will also be on hand at the Education Scotland stand to discuss learning for sustainability between 3:00 and 3:30pm on Wed 23rd and 12:30 and 1:00pm on Thu 24th.

Wednesday 23rd September

Learning for Sustainability: National Progress, Local Success

Ian Menzies, Education Scotland, SEMINAR CODE B1E

Participation – collaborating with children and young people to raise attainment and achievement

Paul McWatt, Education Scotland, SEMINAR CODE A1B

Scotland Lights Up Malawi

Alastair Davidson, Keep Scotland Beautiful, SEMINAR CODE K3A

If You Go Down to the Woods – Developing Forest Kindergartens

Marian Cairns, Forestry Commission Scotland, SEMINAR CODE B2C

‘Joined up Thinking’. Using the John Muir Award

Phil Thompson, Ardroy Outdoor Education Centre, SEMINAR CODE A2E

Social Studies Resource Launch

Lynne Robertson, Education Scotland, SEMINAR CODE C2E

The Unexpected Outcomes of Youth Achievement Awards

Aileen McGovern, West Lothian Council, SEMINAR CODE C1E

Establishing and developing a successful link with France

Thomas Chaurin, Institut Français d’Écosse, SEMINAR CODE K3C

How do the Scottish Teacher Education Standards and the GTCS Code of Professionalism & Conduct set parameters for teacher professionalism in Scotland?

Tom Hamilton and Lindsay Thomson, GTCS, SEMINAR CODE L2D

Better Eating, Better Learning – practical ideas to put the guidance into practice

Lorna Aitken, Education Scotland, SEMINAR CODE C1B

Thursday 24th September

Working in tandem – using bicycles in the curriculum

Sustrans Scotland and Harestanes Primary School

SEMINAR CODE A1F

Think about it! Philosophy with children and young people

Joe Walker, Education Scotland, SEMINAR CODE M1F

Making it into Higher Education

Martin Davidson, The Outward Bound Trust, SEMINAR CODE A1G

PAS promoting education for all in the planning process

Julia Frost, PAS, SEMINAR CODE D2H

World War One Whole School Context – a collaborative approach

Jenny Watson, Middleton Park School, SEMINAR CODE N1H

Collaboration, shared self-evaluation and partnership with the third sector

Alona Murray, Education Scotland, SEMINAR CODE D1I

Making Rights Real: A Framework for Rights Based Learning

South Lanarkshire Council, Curriculum Quality Improvement Service, SEM CODE L2I

Embedding international education in school: A whole school approach to raising attainment

Lucy Young, British Council Scotland, SEMINAR CODE D2I

Air Quality Learning and Teaching Package

Ben Jackson, Scottish Environment Protection Agency, SEMINAR CODE M1I

Global Citizenship News and Resources

Scottish teachers are able to benefit from a wide range of free resources produced by charities and NGOs to support global citizenship education and learning for sustainability. The online magazine Stride, produced by the IDEAS forum in Scotland, is a very helpful means of finding out about new projects and materials for education. The summer 2015 edition includes an article about a Literacy project linking Scotland and Rwanda , features such as ‘taking global learning outdoors locally’ , and class activity suggestions.

The IDEAS forum is also behind “Signposts for Global Citizenship“, a new searchable collection of resources which can support education practitioners.

One fresh example is a resource created by education staff at Oxfam, ‘Maths and Global Citizenship’, which describes how maths can be taught with a global citizenship approach. They argue that “Global Citizenship provides real-life contexts which engage learners’ curiosity and make them want to use maths to explore patterns and formulate ideas about the world. The motivation for mathematical learning often hinges on its application. Therefore using real-life statistics is a great way to demonstrate the purpose of maths to learners and to inspire them.

In early 2014, Oxfam found that the world’s 85 richest people owned the same wealth as the poorest half of the world’s population. By January 2015, this number had fallen to 80. What story about inequality do these statistics tell? Are the numbers reliable? How was the research carried out? Does everyone agree with these figures? Learners can develop their mathematical understanding both in making sense of such data and by investigating its context and validity. Through a Global Citizenship approach to maths, learners critically analyse the statistics they are exposed to in daily life; make connections between the local and the global and then share their understanding with others.”

Kenyan Connections Conference: Inverness, Monday 8th June

Kenyan Connections is a partnership between Crofting Connections and NECOFA Kenya School Gardens Initiative which works with rural schools and communities in the Eastern Rift Valley of Kenya.

Four Crofting Connections schools have been awarded funding through the British Council’s Connecting Classrooms programme to host exchange teacher visits with Kenyan schools, using food growing in the school gardens as a starting point for learning about local food production and for delivering learning for sustainability.

This conference is part of a visit to Scotland by Kenyan teachers to the participating Crofting Connections schools. It provides a valuable CLPL opportunity for teachers, as the Scottish and Kenyan partner schools share their learning with other schools.

Speakers include Dr Margaret Bennett, writer, folklorist, singer and broadcaster; Dr Rehema White, lecturer in Sustainable Development at the University of St Andrews; Samuel Muhunyu, director of NECOFA Kenya, and Catriona Willis, Global Learning coordinator at Highland One World.

For further information and to book a place at this event, click here.

Learning for sustainability: outdoor learning showcase

Dreghorn Primary School in North Ayshire will host an LfS-focussed outdoor learning showcase on Thursday 28th May from 4pm to 6pm. The event is aimed at practitioners and leaders across North, East and South Ayrshire and is bookable via the North Ayshire CPD service.

Presentations from practitioners, learners and Education Scotland staff will be followed by a “market place” event where delegates can discuss outdoor learning approaches with a range of key partners. Grounds for Learning, the Soil Association, the Royal Highland Education Trust, the John Muir Trust, Outdoor and Woodland Learning Scotland, Keep Scotland Beautiful and the Adventure Centre for Education will be joined by the North Ayrshire Ranger service.

These providers will be on hand to offer advice and support on delivering outdoor learning as a regular, progressive curriculum-led experience for all learners.

For further information, contact Julia Kerr at Dreghorn Primary School.

Global Citizenship Primary Conference

The national recommendations on learning for sustainability (LfS) require all practitioners to embed LfS in their everyday values and practice. SCOTDEC is hosting a free one day conference on Thursday 14^th May, entitled ‘Global Citizenship Matters’. It is aimed at primary practitioners and leaders, providing a space to share, reflect and network. Practical workshops including storytelling, numeracy, health, sustainable living and rights and participation will provide an opportunity to explore a range of global contexts and LfS themes and approaches.

Click here for further details and booking information.

Opening Up Great Learning: Learning for sustainability

Education Scotland has published the second paper in its Opening Up Great Learning series. This paper examines what great learning for sustainability (LfS) looks like. It demonstrates how meeting national LfS recommendations can enable schools, early learning and childcare settings to achieve great outcomes.

The paper also provides a range of Career-long Professional Learning activities to support whole school dialogue and strategic development of LfS.

Click here for further information and support on learning for sustainability.

Developing your outdoor learning space

It can be challenging to find fresh and interesting approaches to learning when consumed by the daily business of education. Even when there is time to find alternative approaches, having the support and space to implement it thoughtfully in your context can also be tricky.

The national recommendations on learning for sustainability (LfS) and the GTCS professional standards set out clear expectations of practitioners demonstrating LfS in their practice. The recommendations also make clear that learners should have an opportunity for contact with nature in their grounds on a daily basis and throughout the seasons through provision of green space for outdoor learning and play (Recommendation 4.1).

A new case study from the Children and Families team at Education Scotland offers an inspiring insight into how one early years establishment has developed a high-quality outdoor learning environment. The video and reflective questions that accompany it provide an excellent stiumulus for professional dialogue. This dialogue and the activites and action points that stem from it are exactly the kind of meaningful examples of CLPL referred to in the LfS report. Through engaging in a thougtful, reflective and focussed professional discussion of exisiting innovative practice, we can move another step closer to ensuring that learning for sustainability is “experienced in a transformative way by every learner in Scotland”.

Global Learning Programme Scotland

Overheard conversation between two young learners in a Scottish primary school this week – Learner 1: “I want to go to the rainforest and tell them to stop cutting it down.” Learner 2: “Don’t go yet. You’re too wee. Wait till we’re bigger and we’ll both go.” The potential of where this conversation and these aspirations will lead to is intriguing. Many learners are making connections between rich curricular contexts for learning and their own capacity to engage with the ever changing world around them.

To engage our learners in learning for sustainability requires teachers who can confidently weave a number of aspects, including global citizenship, sustainable development education, outdoor learning and children’s rights into their practice.

Global Learning Programme Scotland (GLP-S) supports the development of global citizenship through the curriculum and offers free professional learning for teachers. Click here to find out about the range of CLPL on offer from the six Scottish regional Development Education Centres.

You can also sign up for their online global citizenship magazine Stride at www.stridemagazine.org.uk

For more information contact Rachel Hamada at ideasforuminfo@gmail.com