Saturday Night / Monday Morning November 13, 2006
Posted by Brian in : CPD Conference, Single Status, Uncategorized , add a comment 
Ewan McIntosh
I met up with Ewan McIntosh on Saturday night for a few beers and we talked about various different stuff that’s happening with regard to new technology in East Lothian.
As I have posted before, here in East Lothian there is a big push to use social software to enhance the teaching and learning experience for staff and pupils. We use wiki’s and the head of education encourages staff and pupils to blog. Imagine my surprise when I heard that one of the local authorities has decided to block blogs and wikis from use on their computers. You can read about it on Ewans blog.
We also came up with a couple of ideas and will work to roll them out in the local authority as soon as they get the go ahead.
This morning when I logged on I found out that I had received a comment from a senior technician in England who had lost money when re graded as a part of the single status implementation. She had read my post on Friday about the meeting and wondered how things were going North of the border. I emailed her back to say that each different authority was approaching the exercise in their own way, with some technicians being placed on a higher scale whilst others have taken pay cuts (sorry, freeze) of up to several thousands of pounds. It would be great to start a discussion to see how everyone fares out of the whole exercise the length and breadth of the country.
Margaret from Eyemouth High provides today’s insight into the national technicians conference.Click on her picture to hear her views.
Margaret from Eyemouth High
That Old Single Status Feeling November 10, 2006
Posted by Brian in : CPD Conference, Single Status, Uncategorized , 3commentsI have just returned from a meeting about single status and job evaluation in east Lothian. It was presented by Sharon Saunders who is head of personnel in East Lothian. The presentation lasted just over an hour. Staff from all the Musselburgh cluster were there and although the big question couldn’t be answered (where will I be placed on the new scale?) it was all very informative and worthwhile.
There seemed to be differing levels of awareness amongst the assembled group. I have been following the whole process very closely due to the fact that I was evaluated for the technicians in the local authority and also because being a member of the Scottish Technicians Advisory Group (STAG) I have met technicians from across Scotland that have taken a hefty pay cut because of the implementation of single status.
Each different local authority have approached single status in their own way and there is no evidence to say that just because one authority has marked down a certain group of workers, that another will do the same, but human nature is such that comparisons will be made between councils.
If you have any thoughts on single status issues then please leave a comment. I have been thinking about starting an area where support staff can discuss and compare agreements. If you would be interested in contributing then please leave a comment and I can get something sorted very quickly.
I have managed to get all the conference photos uploaded.
If you want to see some of the delegates then click here
For photos of the Scientific and Chemical workshop then click here
For general photos, including the presentations on the final morning, click here
Hope you enjoy them.
Todays talking head from the conference is Graham Sheridan from Dundee Council. As usual just click on his picture to run the video.
Graham Sheridan
Blogging for All November 9, 2006
Posted by Brian in : CPD Conference, Uncategorized , add a comment
In East Lothian we are trying to improve the education experience by using social software. For example Blogging.
I have blogged on and off for around nine months. Others within the education department have been blogging more regularly and for longer than myself.
The first question people usually ask is “why blog”? There are a multitude of reasons why people jot down their experiences on a daily basis and if you asked a hundred bloggers why they blog then you would probably get one hundred different answers.
For an example, in East Lothian several people blog. One of these is Don Ledingham who is the head of education. Now I don’t know about you, but before Don started blogging I had no idea what a head of education did all day. Don usually gives a very brief description of what he has been up to and often describes his own thoughts about education within the local authority and how all staff can contribute to help improve the teaching and learning experience.
Reading others blogs has been a real eye opener for me, so I thought I would throw my hat in the ring and I enquired about starting my own blog. I found out it was remarkably easy and although some people have said to me that it looks as though it can take some time, I can assure you that you don’t have to post every day and you do not have to write screeds and screeds.I have found it a useful tool to engage others within and outside East Lothian and I received many positive comments when I blogged from the national conference for technical support staff a week ago.
I subsequently learnt that my blog from the conference had enabled staff, who couldn’t be there, to see what was going on and, should there be funding available next year, it may encourage those members of staff who didn’t think the conference was for them to come along, join in the debate, and help form future policy for technical support staff throughout Scotland.
If anyone, especially technical suport staff, wants to ask me about blogging then please feel free to leave a comment and I will email you back right away.
Todays video from the conference is from Colin Phelan who works for Dundee City Council. Click on his picture to hear what he has to say.
Colin Phelan
Health, Safety and Google Video November 7, 2006
Posted by Brian in : CPD Conference, Uncategorized , add a commentThe Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have just released the statistics for work related ill health, injuries and dangerous occurrances in the Education Sector.
The top five
- Stress
- Infections
- Upper limb disorders
- Dermatitis
- Spine and back disorders
There were no fatal injuries to workers in the Education sector in 2005/2006, but there have been ten fatal injuries to workers over the whole period from 1996/1997 to 2005/2006.
The most common kind of major injury (55%) was caused by a slip or a trip. So watch where you are putting your feet and make sure that any repairs to flooring etc are carried out as soon as possible.
If you want to view the full statistics you can do so by clicking here.
Google Video
Jono Lewis from Orkney can be seen giving his view of the recent Technicians conference on Google Video.
If you click on his picture below it will start playing. If your school system blocks Google video then please leave me a comment stating which local authority you work for, then contact your IT manager and ask them why it is blocked.
I would be interested to know just how many local authorities prevent the use of this valuable tool as we here in East Lothian find it invaluable.
Jono Lewis ICT Orkney
Hello to the East Lothian server team who carried out the shut down of our server and thanks for getting it up and running again so quickly. Good luck on the telephone to Dell in the morning !!!
Conference Update November 5, 2006
Posted by Brian in : CPD Conference, Uncategorized , add a comment 
Delegates discuss points raised by the working groups.
I am still working on the pictures I took whilst at the conference. Hopefully I will get some time this week to put them all together in one place so that they all can be viewed all at once. I also have a couple of videos to upload and again I hope to get that done very shortly.
Many thanks for the people who have taken the time to comment on my blog or send me email. Many good points have been raised and I hope to start blogs or webpages about other issues that were not allowed to be discussed at the conference.
Once I have all the photos uploaded, if you want copies of them then I will happily email them to you. The pics that currently appearing on Flickr should be able to be downloaded by simply right clicking on them and then choosing save. Please feel free to add names to the pictures as I have a brain like swiss cheese and cannot remember who a lot of the people were.
Stay tuned.
Final Post From Conference November 3, 2006
Posted by Brian in : CPD Conference, Uncategorized , 4comments 
This mornings final session was a great success.The eight working groups from yesterday combined forces to produce four excellent presentations of their main recommendations with regard to the questions discussed at yesterdays afternoon session. It was clear that delegates had clear ideas of how the technicians service should be organised and issues such as staff retention, training, organisation and how to rais the profile of the technicians service were a few of the topics addressed.
As with last year the subject the most contentious subject was of whole school technicians versus specialised subject based technical support. Delegates spoke very passionately and I think that this subject will continue to provoke debate throughout local authorities for many years to come.
The notes from all the groups will be kept and will form the basis of the final report to the Scottish Executive with regard to the CPD for technical support staff project.
After a break for morning coffee Brian Richmond thanked various delegates and members of the Scottish Technicians Advisory Group for their help in organising and running the conference. Brian then introduced Bristow Muldoon MSP who gave a short speech to the delegates.
Bristow is a qualified chemist with a keen interest in promoting science in schools. It struck me that apart from one truly noteable exception there are very few politicians with a science background. The majority, I guess, have legal backgrounds. It was refreshing to hear a politician speak with passion about the teaching of science rather than the normal mouthing of platitudes whilst having no idea whatsoever of what is involved in the promotion of a subject with declining student numbers.
The conference then closed and after a lovely lunch of soup and sandwiches the delegates began making their way home to the four corners of the country.
Just before I sign off for today. I would like to thank all the delegates who expressed an interest in my Blog.
Some had said that they had come across it by accident some time ago, some werent aware what a blog was, many said it was an excellent idea which would enable colleagues, management and even families to see just what goes on at these type of events.
This was the first time I had tried anything like this from the conference and i must say I thoroughly enjoyed doing it. I basically did it to see how practical it would be. I turned out to be surprisingly easy. I will post some more of the pictures I took last night and this morning soon along with links to some videos if I manage to download them successfully.
Please feel free to make comments, feedback on the conference and blog would be appreciated.
Hopefully see you all next year, should funding be available.
Conference Post 4 November 3, 2006
Posted by Brian in : CPD Conference, Uncategorized , 2commentsIts late at night and its been a long day. A lot of work was done at this afternoons sessions. We split into working groups and discussed many points. Lots of excellent ideas were perused and it will all come to a head tomorrow when the results of each of the eight groups consultations will be presented to the project team. I have had many enquiries about the blog that i have been writing and I am amazed that some of the delegates here actively read my blog.
The main aim of my blog from the conference was to enlighten education staff as to what actually goes on. Its been the first time I have attempted anthing like this and would welcome an comments on its content. Hopefully I have managed to let the technicians who were unable to attend gain a flavour of what happens when technicians from all over Scotland get together.
I have taken a few very short videos of some of the delegates and its my aim, using google video, to post a link to them in the near future so that people can see who they are and hear their views about the conference.
I have also posted some of the pictures I have taken on flickr which is an image sharing website. Should you want to see these images and make sure your boss was working hard please visit the link below.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/technicians/
Conference Post 3 November 2, 2006
Posted by Brian in : CPD Conference, Uncategorized , add a comment 
Delegates watch an introduction to Microbiology DVD
We have just completed the morning session. We were shown 2 DVD’s of courses that will be run for technicians. Both were filmed and produced by Glasgow City Council central technician services. After viewing them we convened in groups to discuss our thoughts. There were a couple of pointd raised but in general everyone thought that they were very professional, informative and extremely helpful.
They have been produced with the view to being learning aids for staff on the CPD courses. One was basic microbiological techniques, whilst the other covered safe use of workshop machines. They should hopefully be made freely available shortly and would come in very handy in disseminating good practice amongst technical support staff.
After discussing our views we were given a short entertaining talk by Jim Killen, a now retired chief technichian from Renfrewshire.
This afternoon we will be working in groups discussing such topics as
- structures for technical support
- training
- appointment of trainees
- retention of staff
- technician profiles
There will also be a short demonstration of interactive whiteboards and their use in science.
It has been a thoroughly intersting morning and I and the rest of the delegates are looking forward to getting stuck into our working groups.
Conference Morning Session November 2, 2006
Posted by Brian in : CPD Conference, Uncategorized , add a comment 
Fred Young CEO SSERC
Phil Muggins CPD Project Officer
The first thing on the agenda this morning was an update on how the project is progressinng. Phil muggins gave a presentation which outlined the main points that were picked up at last years conference.
Last year a need for properly accredited training courses for technicians was identified. Progress on this has been made with two courses being trialled earlier this year, all participants passed the courses and assessments. These trialled courses are now awaiting SQA accreditation and should be rolled out to all local authorities in the near future.
It is hoped by the time the project ends that four courses for technicians will have gained full accreditation and that Technician support will therefore gain a higher profile within the education community, which should lead to more high quality, meaningfull CPD.
After the morning break we will be looking at DVD’s of the two pilot courses produced for technicians then reviewing and commenting on them. Off for a cup of tea now
Technicians Consultative Conference 2006 November 2, 2006
Posted by Brian in : CPD Conference, Uncategorized , 1 comment so far
Brian Richmond, Project Manager addressing STAG members.
I set off for the national technicians conference at Crieff Hydro on Wed morning. For all sorts of reasons I choose not to have a car in Edinburgh so I checked out my travel options online. Many people recoil in horror when I mention that I use public transport wherever I go but I can assure you that’s its remarkably easy. What help makes it so easy is a site called www.travelinescotland.com Simply type in the address where you are leaving from, then at what time you want to leave/arrive and then where you want to go. Hit the return button and within seconds you are presented with all the travel options. Its not only available for Scotland, at http://www.traveline.org.uk/index.htm its possible to plan journeys throughout the uk.
The website told me what time to leave my home and detailed the bus I would need to get to Haymarket station, which train I should get, then detailed directions, complete with transit times, from the station to the bus stop for the bus that would take me to Crieff. All in all it was a very pleasant journey and I arrived at exactly the time that the website predicted.
When I arrived at the hotel I asked about the availability of a wireless network. It turns out that the cost is £12 for twenty four hours and it starts from the moment that you log on. I thought it was a bit steep but I may bite the bullet. Any donations would be welcomed lol.
The conference is part of a Scottish Executive Education Department funded project. The aim of the project is to address some of the priorities identified by the Scottish Executive in its publication “ A science strategy for Scotland”, specifically those related to the provision of technical support for science and technology education.
An interim report has already been published. The findings of this years conference will be included in the final report presented to the Scottish Executive in 2007.
The members of the Scottish Technicians Advisory Group (STAG) met before the main body of the technicians arrived. As STAG rep for East Lothian I have been give the duty of being a facilitator for one of the working groups that will take place on Thursday afternoon. At last years conference, the working groups were such a success that more time has been devoted this year to them. The delegates will discuss a number of issues and the points raised will form the basis of the final report to be published by the Scottish Executive, so its not just a talking shop. Every delegate here really has an opportunity to help shape future policy of the Technician service in Scotland.
I will detail the subjects that we will discuss in a later post, but one thing that we are officially not allowed to talk about is pay and condition as its not in the remit of the project. This does not of course prevent us talking such things when we are socialising and with the imminent prospect of single status looming over us all its been interesting to see how all the local authorities are handling it in their own ways.
Other interesting conversations that have taken place have been with regard to IT support in schools. This debate has been raging over in jonsies blog http://www.jonesieboy.co.uk/blog/ and I am hoping to encourage other technicians here to join the debate and explain how things work in other regions.
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