Vision, Values and Aims

 

What are they?

The vision, values and aims is what the setting aspires to be for all stakeholders.  It is a shared ethos of core values that should be built upon when making decisions about future improvement opportunities.  The aims change and evolve and are part of the self-evaluation process.

“Effective settings have a clear shared vision for what they would like their provision to be and what they want for the children in their care.  The vision should be based on the unique needs of your children and families in your setting.  Developing a vision that is co-created by us with children and families means that everyone is working together for the best interests of the children.  It is important to refresh the vision from time to time to ensure that it remains relevant to the community you work within.”

(Realising the Ambition, Education Scotland, 2020, p. 82)

 

Key messages:

  • Agree Vision and Aims statements around nurture:  “The Nurture Principles should be embedded and communicated every day in schools and settings.”  SBC INCLUDES: NURTURING APPROACHES GUIDELINES, Scottish Borders Council, 2020, p 12)>
  • Developed with all stakeholders.
  • Visibly embedded into the life of the setting.
  • Vision, values and aims are unique to the setting (if a school setting should be in line with the school’s vision, values and aims in some way).
  • Take into account early years pedagogy.
  • The Vision, values and aims should be displayed in a way that is accessible to all stakeholders, e.g. shared language, display etc.
  • Stakeholders can talk about the vision, values and aims.
  • Regularly review the vision, values & aims with all stakeholders.

 

Ways we can do this:

Developed with all stakeholders:  Consider involving children in a meaningful way and explaining the concept to the children?  How to gather their feedback?  Practitioners can link this with planning at the beginning of the term.  How are parents being engaged with the setting?  Practitioners could find out what their families’ values are and what is important to them.  Find out what they would like from a nursery for their child and what they feel the current strengths of the nursery are.  Consider doing this in multiple ways to receive as much feedback as possible, e.g. letters, social media, online surveys, feedback box.  Get feedback from practitioners, management, visitors, and other practitioners.  What are the current strengths of the setting?   What are their own professional values and aspirations for the setting?  It could be a good idea to find out how stakeholders could help in the setting going forward.

Needs to be visibly embedded into the life of the setting:  Practitioners could create class rules that align with the nursery’s vision, values, and aims.  How are these displayed so that they are easily accessible to all stakeholders?  Practitioners could incorporate the values into daily practice through appropriate and meaningful language.   Consider how the children will be supported to live by these values, try a “word of the week” approach for more complex words.  Or, it might help to use words that practitioners will feel comfortable using in their daily interactions.  This way, the vision, values and aims can be embedded easily through everyday interactions.  They should be used meaningfully to guide improvement and practice.

Vision, values and aims are unique to the setting:  A setting’s vision, values and aims might be adapted to fit early years pedagogy (with a vision statement specifically for the nursery if linked to a school choosing just a few of the key schools’ values). 

A vision statement is the aspirations of its stakeholders.  The aims could indicate how the vision, values and aims are applied in the nursery and linked with early years pedagogy.   Existing values followed by practitioners in the nursery are included in the vision, values and aims.  The vision, values and aims should fully reflect the practice seen on the floor and should play a prominent role in the day-to-day life of the setting.

The vision, values and aims should reflect the context of the setting, the local community, the socio-economic context of the area, and the background of the children and their families.

Take into account early years pedagogy:  Realising the Ambition has some valuable sources of information for this.  Practitioners should consider embedding parts of the UNCRC into the vision, values and aims.   What parts of early years pedagogy mean the most to the stakeholders in the setting?  

Display the vision, values & aims:  This enables the vision, values and aims to be more accessible and relevant for nursery children.  In addition, it can support dialogue with stakeholders and act as a visual reminder of the setting’s vision, values and aims.

Stakeholders can talk about the vision values and aims:  Stakeholders will be able to do this if the vision, values and aims are accessible to all, for example, displayed to see regularly or embedding them across the setting, e.g. displayed in reception, playground/garden or playrooms/classrooms, website, at the bottom of newsletters/communications with parents, used in conversation or discussed during circle times or in assembly etc. 

Regularly review the vision, values and aims with all stakeholders:  This ensures that the vision, values, and aims are still relevant to the setting, stakeholders, community, and current best practices.   It also ensures that all stakeholder views are listened to as a valuable part of the setting and that they have a shared understanding and ownership of it.  It ensures that the vision, values and aims take account of recent and ongoing change and development.  Consider refreshing yearly.

 “The vision, values and aims of the ELC setting or school should be developed in partnership with staff, parents, children and young people, partners and relevant stakeholders to reflect outcomes for children and families and be based on self-evaluation processes”…  “Different methods can be used to gather the views of and communicate with stakeholders.  These can include, but are not limited to:

carrying out a survey to gather views on school improvement and how best to involve stakeholders; meetings of the parent forum, AGM or Board of Trustees; parents evenings; coffee mornings; stay and play sessions; sports days; mass; school performances; information events; open evenings; weekly drop-in surgery; blogs; social media; school website”  (Engaging parents and families;  A toolkit for practitioners Section 10: School improvement planning, 2019 , p 8)

 

Linked Areas of Practice

Children’s Rights

Creating the Climate & Culture

Curriculum Rationale

Early Level Pedagogy

Family Partnerships

Play Pedagogy

Pedagogical Leadership

Self-Evaluation

Transitions

 

Tools  

Reflecting on Practice

SBC Guidance to support

National Guidance to support

Further Reading to support

Training to support