We hope you’ve had a lovely summer and managed to get a break to unwind before the start of the 24-25 session. Education Scotland’s Professional Learning and Leadership team are delighted to update you on our new offer for the year ahead, and we would be grateful if you could share this information across your networks.

 

REFRESHED WEBSITE

Education Scotland has refreshed its professional learning offer on its webpage. On here you can

• access Education Scotland professional learning programmes and search for Education Scotland endorsed programmes.
• access self-directed professional learning activities.
• find co-created workshops to download, tailor and deliver in your settings.

 

We would encourage you to signpost the new-look professional learning webpage to staff in your settings: Professional Learning | Education Scotland. We’ve also created a brochure with details on all of our offers which you can access here.

 

NATIONAL LEADERSHIP OFFER AND SUPPORT FOR PROFESSIONAL LEARNING

Here’s an overview of what’s new; what’s been updated; and what we’re continuing this year.

What’s new for 24-25?

• Self-directed offers to support educators to take enquiring and coaching approaches to practice for the 2024-25 school session. These are accessed directly via our website.

Click here to find out more about Enquiry in Education

Click here to find out more about Coaching in Education

 

• A dedicated, facilitated programme for those in schools Leading Professional Learning begins in October 2024. Applications for this programme opened on Monday 12th August, and close on Friday 13^th September.

Click here to find out more about Leading Professional Learning

 

What’s been updated for 24-25?

• ‘Excellence in Headship’ becomes ‘The How of Change: Facilitated learning for strategic leadership’ and expressions of interest are now open of this new offer for headteachers and those who hold the GTCS Professional Standard for Headship.

Click here to find out more about The How of Change

 

• Our Aspiring to Middle Leadership and Middle Leaders Leading Change programmes continue to be offered in the 2024-25 school session. This year, participants can access this learning and where suits you with an optional completion certificate.

Click here to find out more about Aspiring to Middle Leadership

Click here to find out more about Middle Leaders Leading Change

 

What do we continue to offer in 24-25?

• Two new cohorts of Building Racial Literacy will be facilitated this session which we recruited for before the summer.
• We continue to offer Into Headship – Scotland’s national programme for aspiring headteachers.
• Our Connected and Collaborative Systems Leadership programme continues this year for experienced headteachers and system leaders. Applications for this offer opened today, and close on Friday 30^th August.

Click here to find out more about Connected and Collaborative Systems Leadership

 

 

We’re hosting introductory webinars in September where educators can hear more about the following programmes:

Tuesday 3^rd September 4pm – 5pm – Aspiring to Leadership Introductory Session

Click here to register

 

Thursday 5^th September 4pm – 6pm – Enquiry in Education Introductory Session

Click here to register

 

Monday 9^th September 4pm – 5pm – Middle Leaders Leading Change Introductory Session

Click here to register

 

Tuesday 24^th September 4pm – 5.30pm – Coaching in Education Introductory Session

Click here to register

 

 

Gordon Smith will be hosting a session of Outdoor Education and EVOLVE as part of our HT Induction programme. The session will take place on Monday 2 September from 1-2pm. If you are a new in role and feel that you would benefit from this training please feel free to click on the link below and join the session.

Join the meeting now

Signposts for Global Citizenship

Scotdec, Wosdec and Highland One World Development Education Centres offer a range of free, Career Long Professional Learning (CLPL) opportunities for educators to support the development of Global Citizenship Education within their setting.

Here you can find the CLPL twilights on offer for early, primary and secondary level educators over the coming year.

 

Climate Action Week 2024

Timed with the Scottish Government’s Climate Week, this year’s Climate Action Week will focus on how our homes and gardens could look in a climate ready future with pupils invited to design their own sustainable home.

Timetable

Early years-P3:

Tuesday 24th September 11.00-11.30am: Animal homes with RZSS

P4-S2: All lessons take place 9.30-10.15am.

Monday 23rd September: Imagining our future with Scottish Book Trust

Tuesday 24th September: How to engineer a sustainable home with Jacobs

Wednesday 25th September: How to design a sustainable home in association with SEDA

Thursday 26th September: Climate ready gardens with the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh

All ages Assembly Friday 27th September 9.30-10.00am.

Register here

TRAINING – PLANNING FOR RETIREMENT

We are pleased to be able offer places on a short online course focusing on pre-retirement planning run by Affinity Connect, a financial education company. The course will be delivered online – Monday 2nd September 09.30-12.30 or Thursday 21st November 13.00-15.30

 

This pre-retirement course is perfect for anyone thinking about retirement or who is already at the planning stages.

 

During the course you’ll learn how to:

Help plan for the lifestyle changes ahead

Maximise the benefits of your State and workplace pensions

Make the most of your tax-free cash

Understand the income options available from your pension

Achieve your retirement goals

 

If you would like to attend the course please click on the link below or use the QR code on the attached poster and book directly with Affinity Connect.

 

Affinity Connect (event-registration.co.uk)

 

Managers – please ensure that colleagues who do not have council email addresses are aware of and can access these sessions. The information is available Employee Policies and Procedures | Scottish Borders Council (scotborders.gov.uk)

corporate

One Good Adult : information and launch of resource : Wednesday 11^th September

One Good Adult: Information session | Events | Education Scotland

This session will provide an overview of the ‘One Good Adult’ resource created by the partners in the Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Joint Delivery Board for all people who work / volunteer with children and young people in Scotland across all sectors including education, Health, Social Work etc.

One Good Adult Job Description (nhs.scot) was written by children and young people. It sets out what children and young people need from the adults around them to optimise their mental health and wellbeing.

 

Keeping your cool in school : information session Wednesday 2^nd October

Keeping Your Cool in School: information session | Events | Education Scotland

This session will provide an overview of the ‘Keeping Your Cool in School’ primary resource designed to support children in developing and maintaining positive relationships; becoming more confident in tackling challenging situations and enabling them to have a better understanding of their responsibilities in school and beyond.

Cool in School – A site about keeping your cool in school

 

Gender Based Violence : new guidance information session for practitioners Wednesday 18^th September

This awareness raising event will provide practitioners with an overview of the new Preventing and responding to gender based violence: a whole school framework  and considerations for next steps relating to future professional learning that may be required to support its implementation.

 

**NEW** Safeguarding : Criminal Exploitation page on the website

Safeguarding: Criminal exploitation | Resources | Education Scotland : This resource aims to support the knowledge skills and understanding of criminal exploitation of the education workforce. Includes professional learning for educators as well as resources to support learning and teaching.

Over a number of years SCES and the University of Glasgow have been working to ensure that as many students and teachers can access the required Catholic Teacher Certificate to teach Religious Education. It has just been confirmed that this year the eligibility for funding has been extended to include existing GTCS registered teachers, including NQTS.

This means that any teacher, currently working within a Scottish school and eligible to teach RE in a Catholic school can apply and receive a fully funded place to undertake the Catholic Teacher Certificate via CREDL or “Setting Out On The Road”.

Details of both courses can be found here:

Setting Out On The Road

CREDL

If you have any questions regarding the courses, please contact Roisin Coll: roisin.coll@glasgow.ac or Denise Porada: denise.porada@glasgow.ac.uk at the University of Glasgow.

TUESDAY 17^TH SEPTEMBER 2024

4.30 – 6.00PM @ Selkirk High School, Music Dept

 CLASS TEACHER SESSION

 As part of the Benedetti Foundation’s Residency Sessions in the Scottish Borders, there will be the opportunity for a free professional development session for primary classroom teachers, teaching assistants, trainee teachers, or anyone responsible for delivering music in the classroom. This session is aimed at educators who are non-specialist musicians and would like to gain more confidence and develop skills in delivering classroom music.

The workshop will be delivered by Head of Creative Learning at the Benedetti Foundation, Lucy Drever, and percussionist Calum Huggan who will be delivering workshops during the Residency.

The session will offer practical ideas and suggestions to help you feel comfortable with teaching music. We will cover topics including singing in the classroom, body percussion activities, creating soundscapes, using graphic scores, the percussion trolly in a creative way and embedding music into the curriculum. We will work with teachers to develop ideas for teaching music in an easy to access way for all and leave you with a bank of resources to support your work.

This workshop is free.

Please contact Sara Alakus to register

The Primary and Secondary CLPL programmes can be found on Archdiocese of St Andrew & Edinburgh website.

Leading Professional Learning For anyone leading the learning of colleagues in their setting. Applications open 12^th August 2024 – 12^th September 2024

Aspiring to Middle Leadership  and Middle Leaders Leading Change currently open to all via their programme pages.

The How of Change: Facilitated learning for strategic leadership Expressions of interest are now open of this new offer for headteachers and those who hold the GTCS Professional Standard for Headship.

Connected and Collaborative Systems Leadership For experienced headteachers and system leaders. Applications open 14th August 2024 – 30th August 2024

 

SELF-DIRECTED PROFESSIONAL LEARNING AVAILABLE VIA OUR WEBSITE

Coaching in Education An open access resource designed to support all educators to develop leadership of learning through an enquiring approach.

Enquiry in Education An open access resource designed to support all educators to use coaching approaches in practice.

Scotland’s Financial Schools

Session 1 – Introducing financial education across the curriculum

Session 2 – Embedding financial education through IDL

 

Target Audience:

Early Years/Primary/Secondary (all subjects)

Term 1                                                                                    

Sector	Session 1	Session 2
Early Years	03.09.24	10.09.24
Primary	04.09.24	11.09.24
Secondary	05.09.24	12.09.24

 

Term 2

Sector	Session 1	Session 2
Primary	05.11.24	12.11.24
Secondary	06.11.24	13.11.24
Early Years	07.11.24	14.11.24

 

Term 3                                                                                   

Sector	Session 1	Session 2
Secondary	25.02.25	11.03.25
Early Years	26.02.25	05.03.25
Primary	27.02.25	06.03.25

 

Term 4

Sector	Session 1	Session 2
Early Years	12.05.25	19.05.25
Primary	13.05.25	20.05.25
Secondary	14.05.25	21.05.25

All sessions will run from 16:00 – 17.15

 

Subject(s): Financial Education, Health and Wellbeing, Skills based learning, Learning for Sustainability, Developing the Young Workforce

 

Course Overview: Young Enterprise Scotland aims to equip all young people with the skills to thrive in life, learning and work. Our Scotland’s Financial Schools professional learning programme is designed to support teachers build their confidence in delivering financial education learning experiences and ensure our young people are equipped with appropriate financial skills. The course runs four times throughout the year and consists of two CLPL sessions. We would ask practitioners attend both.

 

Session 1 – Introducing financial education across the curriculum

• To raise awareness of what financial education is and why it is essential for developing skills for life, learning and work
• Learning for Sustainability contextualisation with links the Sustainable Development Goals, DYW agenda, Career Education Standards 3-18, Curriculum Entitlements and the Attainment Challenge.

• To encourage a cross curricular approach to financial education going beyond numeracy and maths

• Overview of ‘Scotland’s Financial Schools’ website – includes access to free lesson plans, a whole school reflections tool and a Financial Education Scottish Progression Pathway which is linked to Curriculum for Excellence
• Overview of financial workshops delivered by our SFS team (secondary schools only)

 

Session 2 – Embedding financial education through IDL

• Encouraging a sustainable approach to embedding financial education into teaching and learning
• Examples of delivering financial education through interdisciplinary learning opportunities
• Examples of case studies to inspire and motivate
• A practical session to encourage discussions and the sharing of examples and ideas

 

Cost

All our training and resources are free. numeracy

 

Book a space

Complete the Microsoft Forms to book your place on the course.