Today I had the pleasure of attending the BOCSH conference on teaching and learning held at Inveralmond. It was a privilege to be able to meet and engage with such inspirational practitioners examining a wide range of areas of practice. The highlights for me were as follows:

Tracking and Monitoring across the BGE: This session was led by Faith Bateman from St. Andrew’s HS in Glasgow and examined how the Social Subjects faculty had worked collaboratively to moderate assessments to ensure standards were consistent. They are already engaging with RAG as terms for progress and involving learners in conversations to track their progress against both skills and SAL (this was reflected in a later presentation by Joanne Ramsay from St. Joseph’s Academy in Kilmarnock who had some very interesting ideas for how to aid learner reflection). They are looking at creating a ‘Standard for St. Andrew’s’ folder to use as a teaching aid to allow learners to see what would constitute a level 4 piece of work before embarking on a task. There was plenty of discussion around moderation and both the benefits and issues of this as a task now requiring embedding within BGE practice.

I also attended a short presentation on the notion of ‘flipped classrooms’ led by Jade Hunter from Preston Lodge HS Maths department. She has been experimenting for around a year and a half with colleagues on how to best implement a flipped approach, focusing on an existing two year Higher class to do this. She has created a series of 5 to 7 minute presentations which are held on a department website. Learners access these the night prior to a lesson and can then get started immediately on activities and extension tasks for the most able. Any pupils who do not complete this have access to the materials in class, allowing more attention for those prepared and ready to go. There does seem to be a fairly high front-loaded component to the preparation of this approach but would reduce some preparation in the longer term and has led to increased engagement within the classes being piloted.

Overall, it was an incredibly inspiring day and it is clear that the BOCSH group has a lot to offer those wishing to consider emerging approaches and effective and inspiring ways to engage learners and bridge the gap.

Stephen Small