Comments on: A Curriculum for Excellence in East Lothian: Freedom and Responsibility http://edubuzz.org/blogs/donsblog/2008/07/22/a-curriculum-for-excellence-in-east-lothian-freedom-and-responsibility/ "We learn from our experience.....if we reflect upon our experience" John Dewey Wed, 03 Dec 2008 04:33:11 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Margaret Alcorn http://edubuzz.org/blogs/donsblog/2008/07/22/a-curriculum-for-excellence-in-east-lothian-freedom-and-responsibility/#comment-11283 Margaret Alcorn Thu, 24 Jul 2008 16:01:08 +0000 http://edubuzz.org/blogs/donsblog/2008/07/22/a-curriculum-for-excellence-in-east-lothian-freedom-and-responsibility/#comment-11283 These are good - and very challenging - questions which go right to the heart of how we support and encourage engagement with the values of Curriculum for Excellence in every school, centre and establishment. Within the National CPD Team we have argued that success will require that every educator has access to the best professional learning opportunities, and that we develop better ways to help them answer three familiar and simple questions in the context of their own workplace and previous learning. The questions are of course: "How am I doing?", "How do I know?" and "What is my next bit of learning?" CPDReflect - currently being piloted in East Lothian - will allow teachers to see what good practice looks like. It will give opportunties for those who have already gained skills and knowledge to share these easily with colleagues. By taking the Standards and offering exemplification, CPDReflect will offer tools and strategies to help everyone involved in developing teaching and learning identify ways to progress and develop their professional skills and knowledge in a way that is personalised to their sector, previous experience and workplace. East Lothian leading the way! We're delighted to be working with all of you These are good - and very challenging - questions which go right to the heart of how we support and encourage engagement with the values of Curriculum for Excellence in every school, centre and establishment.

Within the National CPD Team we have argued that success will require that every educator has access to the best professional learning opportunities, and that we develop better ways to help them answer three familiar and simple questions in the context of their own workplace and previous learning. The questions are of course: “How am I doing?”, “How do I know?” and “What is my next bit of learning?”

CPDReflect - currently being piloted in East Lothian - will allow teachers to see what good practice looks like. It will give opportunties for those who have already gained skills and knowledge to share these easily with colleagues. By taking the Standards and offering exemplification, CPDReflect will offer tools and strategies to help everyone involved in developing teaching and learning identify ways to progress and develop their professional skills and knowledge in a way that is personalised to their sector, previous experience and workplace.

East Lothian leading the way! We’re delighted to be working with all of you

]]> By: David Gilmour http://edubuzz.org/blogs/donsblog/2008/07/22/a-curriculum-for-excellence-in-east-lothian-freedom-and-responsibility/#comment-11282 David Gilmour Thu, 24 Jul 2008 09:15:09 +0000 http://edubuzz.org/blogs/donsblog/2008/07/22/a-curriculum-for-excellence-in-east-lothian-freedom-and-responsibility/#comment-11282 Like you, I agree that "the range and extent of partnership events that have enabled colleagues from nursery, primary and secondary schools to work together have been remarkable". In the long term, of course, it's not the partnership events that will be of most benefit, but the new professional, and personal, relationships that have been created. These new communities of practice, once created, don't require specific "partnership events" to enable them to continue to work together. Collaboration between locations just starts to become normal practice. During the year, for example, I heard a teacher say that in her previous city school she felt that she very much belonged to the school, whereas in East Lothian she felt part of a much larger professional community. Those links are increasingly being supported by electronic communications tools, and Glow will of course provide more options. To get to the point: perhaps the key points could explicitly mention collaboration between schools? You mention collaborative working between staff, across curriculum areas, and partnerships with other agencies or groups, but there's a risk people assume this should all be happening within the context of their individual school. One of the most successful Curriculum for Excellence developments of last session was the <a href="http://edubuzz.org/blogs/mgsguitarhero/" rel="nofollow">Guitar Hero transition project</a> in the Musselburgh cluster. That showed how inter-school collaboration can be hugely important in resourcing curriculum developments by spreading the load. Given that resourcing is one of the key risks, perhaps we should actively encourage this approach to curriculum development? Like you, I agree that “the range and extent of partnership events that have enabled colleagues from nursery, primary and secondary schools to work together have been remarkable”. In the long term, of course, it’s not the partnership events that will be of most benefit, but the new professional, and personal, relationships that have been created.

These new communities of practice, once created, don’t require specific “partnership events” to enable them to continue to work together. Collaboration between locations just starts to become normal practice. During the year, for example, I heard a teacher say that in her previous city school she felt that she very much belonged to the school, whereas in East Lothian she felt part of a much larger professional community. Those links are increasingly being supported by electronic communications tools, and Glow will of course provide more options.

To get to the point: perhaps the key points could explicitly mention collaboration between schools? You mention collaborative working between staff, across curriculum areas, and partnerships with other agencies or groups, but there’s a risk people assume this should all be happening within the context of their individual school.

One of the most successful Curriculum for Excellence developments of last session was the Guitar Hero transition project in the Musselburgh cluster. That showed how inter-school collaboration can be hugely important in resourcing curriculum developments by spreading the load. Given that resourcing is one of the key risks, perhaps we should actively encourage this approach to curriculum development?

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