One of the conclusions I’ve gradually come to over the years is that in order to facilitate real change in any system it’s necessary to change the landscape.  It’s come to me slowly and for all that I believe that focusing upon cultural change is still fundamentally the correct route to improvement - I’ve also come to recognise that we just tinker at the edges if we are asking teachers to change their practice within a system where the fundamental features remain static. 

So when it comes to a Curriculum for Excellence I fear that little will change unless we shift some of the key building blocks upon which our practice is based, e.g. how we give credit for learning; how we organise learning, and how we deliver learning. 

My thinking on this has been influenced by a recent trip to New Zealand where I encountered their qualifications system. Much like our Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) their system is based upon levels and associated credits for learning.  However, there are two important features of their system, which appear to have an advantage of our Scottish version.  Firstly, their levels and credits equate exactly with university entrance requirements, whereas SCQF has to be translated into UCAS points; and secondly, they differentiate outcome by a simple system of Pass, Merit and Excellence in any unit of study. A New Zealand student needs 80 credits to gain a National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) at any level.  That certificate can be endorsed with “Merit” if 50 of these points are achieved with “Merit” and likewise for the student who gains 50 points or more with “Excellence”.

It was while this was fresh in my mind that I recently visited Jewel and Esk College of Further Education with a group of our secondary Headteachers and senior staff. In something of a damascene moment I began to see how we might begin to change the landscape for organising and delivering learning in our schools and the example has been under our nose for a number of years now - you don’t even have to go to the other side of the world!

One of the understandable strategic elements of the Curriculum for Excellence implementation process has been to try to keep the qualifications issue separate from the curriculum development - as it was feared that the focus of secondary teachers would always swing to what was going to be tested and ignore some of the more fundamental questions about the experiences and outcomes of the courses they taught.  However, with hindsight this may have been a mistake as it denies the reality of secondary education and its links to access to employment and further and higher education. 

The other lesson to be learned from our New Zealand cousins and, more pertinently, from our colleagues in further and higher education - is how to trust internal assessment.  I’ve written before how colleges in Scotland can give credit for learning up to Higher National Diploma (which is a couple of notches beyond Advanced Higher level) without having to rely upon any form of external assessment) - while schools continue to have to rely heavily upon external assessment - at levels of learning significantly below HND.

So how might we use this knowledge to create a framework within which our schools can innovate, develop practice and improve the outcomes for learners? Perhaps we could create a common assessment and accreditation that could overlay the curricular model being developed in our schools?

Imagine a scenario where each relevant unit of work taught in S1 - S3 carried a credit for numeracy, literacy, health and well-being - and skills for work, i.e. all those experiences and outcomes that are the responsibility of all teachers. By creating a matrix of learning experiences learners could, through moderated internal assessment, which builds upon formative assessment strategies, be awarded credits at a range of levels of learning with outcome being recognised through Pass, Merit and Excellence. As these credits are accumulated the learner could achieve a local Certificate of Achievement that could be endorsed with Merit or Excellence. By the end of S3 a learner will have undertaken a broad education and will also have a record of their achievements in these crucial building blocks for learning.

Such a system would provide teachers with a clear framework; yet enable them to create innovative and challenging learning contexts where these outcomes can be achieved. Some schools may create units of study which fill identified gaps in provision, which may not sit clearly with a single subject domain.

Finally, such a system would enable students to become familiar with the likely curricular structure and national accreditation model, which they will encounter, in the senior phase of learning and beyond school in further and higher education.

I was recently asked to write a piece for secondary school leavers.  Here’s my first draft.

“Now is not the End. It is not even the beginning of the End. But it is, perhaps, the End of the Beginning” - Sir Winston Churchill, November 1942.

Stepping out beyond the world of school after having spent up to 14 years in the system can be an exciting, relieving, and potentially frightening experience. However, I think Winston Churchill’s words, which he used to describe victory in the Battle of Britain, can be used to capture the notion  that schooling is not an end in itself – in fact in educational terms this is not even the beginning of the end of your education. Nevertheless, it does mark an important transfer point as you move into adult life and lifelong learning.

As the father of two sons who have both left school in the last three years, I have come to appreciate that learning about life only really begins once your child has left school. I would encourage you to seek out opportunities, challenges and experiences upon which you can build a strong foundation to lead the rest of your lives.

It is an interesting statistic that 1 in 5 children born today will live to the age of 100. With that in mind your journey is only just at the start and I believe that it is important that we don’t see ourselves as being fully formed individuals at the age of 18. As a member of the older generation I have come to realise that the judgements that we make about our peers when we are 17 or 18 years old can be remarkably inaccurate when we meet them again 30 years later. I would urge you to keep an open mind on all those with whom you have shared such a valuable educational experience and enjoy meeting them in the future when you are able to compare and contrast your lives beyond school.

You have been so fortunate to have experienced such a rich and rewarding education as that provided by your school and I would like to take this opportunity to wish you well for the future as you set out on your journey -wherever that road may take you.

The Open University’s Young Applicants in Schools and Colleges Scheme (or YASS for short) enables academically gifted students in their final two years of school to study a wide range of undergraduate modules at first-year level alongside their Highers and Advanced Highers.

The scheme has only recently been opened up to Scottish schools but I feel it will provide a wonderful opportunity for some of our more able senior students. 

Why should East Lothian schools get involved?

For students

The scheme gives students the opportunity to study at university level, encourages independent learning, builds confidence and has the added bonus of differentiating them from other students when it comes to applying to traditional universities. 

For teachers

The scheme adds breadth and depth to the school curriculum, enriches the academic profile and develops learning skills.

Benefits

• There are early indications that students who have studied with The Open University while at school are more likely to succeed at university studies.
• Their OU study differentiates them from other candidates on their UCAS application and admissions officers view such study very positively - particularly for the more competitive subjects such as medicine.
• There are very clear benefits in terms of study skills, personal organisation (the ability to plan ahead and meet deadlines) and independent learning.
• Students encounter new subject areas and/or approach familiar subject areas from a different standpoint.
• Those young students who decide to continue their university studies with The Open University can count the module they have passed while at school towards their degree.
• Most young students studying with The Open University acknowledge their increase in self-confidence.
• The competing demands of school and Open University study (together with, in many instances, part-time jobs) results in the development of a strategic approach to learning which will stand them in good stead in the future.

All of the courses are equivalent to Advanced Higher level. YASS might provide another avenue for schools  to consider when creating their options for senior students.

I attended the National Education conference on Thursday. The event was organised by the General Teaching Council Scotland (GTCS).

I’ll make a few posts on some of the things I learned during the day and the first of these will relate to the OpenLearn website which gives free access to Open University course materials.  By accessing site you will find hundreds of free study units, each with a discussion forum.  You can study independently at your own pace or join a group and use the free learning tools to work with others.

At a time when teachers are looking for new resources to support student learning and don’t have the time to make up the resources themselves then it’s incumbent upon us as managers to identify other cources of support.

There’s even a nice section on Education which teachers can use for their personal development.

The site uses Moodle to create the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)

When I was out in New Zealand I came across their equivalent of our Scottish Qualifications Authority.  The NZQA are in many ways very similar to our own awarding authority but I did come across one distinct difference which may have some significance for a Curriculum for Excellence.

The New Zealand system uses a system of levels and credit points.  In much the same way as our SCQF uses levels and credit points.  The main difference appears to be that the New Zealand points system directly relates to university entrance , whereas we have to translate our courses into UCAS points.  In other words the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) system is focused upon allowing comparison to made between qualifications, and doesn’t give any indication of the extent to which learning outcomes might have been met by a learner. For example, all Higher Courses are awarded 32 SCQF credit points, regardless of whether a student gains a D or a A.

In New Zealand a school can select from a range of Units, each of which might have a different number of credit points attached, depending upon the standard required.  In addition to the credit points available for completing the unit successfully a student can gain additional recognition by achieving a unit with “Merit” or “Excellence”.  If a student achieves a certain number of Credit points with Merit or excellence at a certain level then their National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA)  will record that this has been achieved with Merit.  The following is lifted for the advice to Parents on the NZQA website.g

If you gain the required number of credits with ‘Merit’ or ‘Excellence’, your certificate will be endorsed:

• 50 credits at Merit or Excellence - Certificate with Merit
• 50 credits at Excellence - Certificate with Excellence

In order to get into university in New Zealand a student must satisfy the following:

• a minimum of 42 credits at level 3 or higher on the National Qualifications Framework, including a minimum of 14 credits at level 3 or higher in each of two subjects from an approved subject list, with a further 14 credits at level 3 or higher taken from no more than two additional domains on the National Qualifications Framework or approved subjects

• a minimum of 14 credits at level 1 or higher in Mathematics or Pangarau on the National Qualifications Framework

• a minimum of 8 credits at level 2 or higher in English or Te Reo Māori; 4 credits must be in Reading and 4 credits must be in Writing. The literacy credits will be selected from a schedule of approved achievement standards and unit standards.

I particularly like the way that the New Zealand system allows students to accumulate points and gives students and schools the opportunity to create their own curriculum from a set of approved units.  I spoke to one student out there who knew that he was weak in some areas but was able to compensate by being able to accumulate more points in other areas where he had strengths.

So how does this compare with our system in Scotland?

Scottish Qualifications* UCAS points

Trying to compare SCQF credit points with UCAS tariff points is like trying to compare apples with oranges. The SCQF credit points only give an indication of the amout of learning time required - with one point translating to 10 hours.

All this came into sharp focus for me on Friday when I visited Jewel and Esk College with senior managers from all East Lothian secondary schools. In the course of a very productive day we learned how the college makes use of units of study and which enables course teams to make up courses to best suit their students - in much the same manner as in New Zealand.  The contrast with schools couldn’t really be more marked with subject departments being locked into course delivery which offers a very limited degree of flexibility and decision making for the teachers - and students.

It set us to wondering if we couldn’t begin to develop a curriculum/assessment model in our secondary schools which made much more use of units of study which had UCAS points attached to them, whilst relating to SCQF levels.

Looking to the revision of the assessment system in Scottish schools I think I’d like to see us try to emulate the best features of the New Zealand system whilst also learning fr the experience of our colleagues in Scottish colleges. 

As a starter we are going to explore the possible delivery of National Units and HNC units in our schools for the coming year.

In order to provide some strategic leverage for this change to take place in schools I’d like to move from reporting attainment from the number of Highers or standard Grades gained to the number of UCAS tariff points accumulated by each student at the end of S4, S5 and S6.

As an extension of my Listen and Learn meetings I’ve arranged to meet with four primary 7 pupils (12 year olds) and four secondary first year pupils (13 year olds).  Over the next four weeks I will carry out one meeting in each of our six school clusters (secondary school and associated primary schools).

The focus of the meetings will be to explore in more depth the type of learning that children experience in upper primary school and lower secondary school.  We have recently surveyed the opinion of every P6 and S2 child in East Lothian on a range of topics.  One of the key differences was how children  perceived the extent to which they enjoyed the learning experience.  On average 84% of primary 6 children found lessons to be interesting, whilst only 52% of secondary 2 children found lessons interesting.  I wanted to drill into this in more depth to find out if the difference was due to any significant qualitative differences in what they experience or whether or not the difference was simply down to adolescence, i.e. the ”Kevin effect”?

I’ll be reporting my findings to each cluster and collating any general findings at the end of the process.  I completed two meetings this week and the results have been fascinating!

Lake Tekapo

I returned last week from a three week trip to New Zealand to see our son who is spending a year in Christchurch.

It was good to fulfil a lifetime’s ambition to see the country and I wasn’t disappointed.  We were overwhelmed by the hospitality and friendship we encountered - whilst the scenery was spectacular.

In the course of our visit I inevitably found out a fair about their education system and I’ll try to reflect upon some of these findings over the next few weeks. 

Oranje-Diamant Primary in Hopetown, South Africa which has a wonderful link with Longniddry Primary School, has recently set up it’s own website using our edubuzz platforom.

The Link began in 2005 when Mrs Forgie spent her summer holidays as a ‘Global Teacher’ (through Link Community Development) in Oranje-Diamant Primary. During these 5 weeks she worked with the school on Behaviour Management - sharing with them about Golden Time, the Golden Rules (which Oranje-Diamant Primary adapted to ‘The Diamond Rules’) and Rewards and Sanctions.  She also worked in the Computer Suite with whole classes, did some demonstration lessons in Basic Moves and worked with some teachers on differentiation in classes.  Following her return, both Longniddry Primary and Oranje-Diamant schools were very keen to set up a Partnership or ‘Link’.  Since then the schools have regularly exchanged pupil’s work, Christmas cards and questionnaires.  The teachers have shared information about the teaching of science and formative assessment.

In 2006/07 the schools successfully applied for a Reciprocal Visit Grant from the British Council and DFiD.  In May 2007, Averil Gorrah (Depute Head of Oranje-Diamant) and Audrey Finck (teacher) visited Longniddry from SA.  They spent a full 5 days in school, closely observing areas of interest to them, and answering many questions about South Africa

In January 2008, Longniddry’s Hilary Bell (Art Specialist and class teacher) and Jennifer Cummings (Special Needs Auxilliary) went out to visit Oranje Diamant Primary.  They had a warm welcome in Cape Town, where Averil Gorrah and his brother were able to show them around.  They then spent a full 5 days in ODPS where they observed lessons and took part in staff meetings and inservice sessions.  

Perhaps the time is right to explore alternative delivery models for education where we shift our thinking from people being users or consumers, to being participants? Ironically there is much to learn from our Scottish educational heritage as we consider our future.

The shift from School Boards to Parent Councils - which surely must be one of the best things to happen in Scottish education in the last twenty years - begins to provide an insight into the potential of true community involvement in the delivery of education at a local level.

Our current system - as it has evolved - has been dominated by the tenets of centralised control - both from the government and, in their turn, local authorities. The dependency culture, which this has created, is not the fault of those who work in schools, yet - in an ironic twist - it has become one of the key barriers to enabling teachers and school leaders to grasp the opportunity provided by a Curriculum for Excellence.

So how might we release the potential that so clearly exists in our schools and our communities?

Maybe the answer lies in our past? For when Scotland led the world in education it was through schools that were “owned” by their communities. The Scottish parish schools, which originally were purely elementary, were encouraged to provide at least the elements of secondary education. These schools played this role so well, that the Argyle Commission in its report of 1868 reported that over fifty per cent of the students attending the four Scottish universities came direct from parish schools. Parish schools were later joined by the establishment of burgh schools, essentially secondary schools, and in this way both types of schools became universal education providers, and gave to Scotland an education system that was the envy of Europe.

I want to make it clear here that I am not relating the traditional parish school with any religious affiliation - but instead see the concept as a powerful one where a community’s emotional bond to their schools is matched by an opportunity to translate that affinity into an active and substantive role in shaping and improving the quality of education delivered in their name.

What I have in mind is community-based management of schools. To a certain extent this concept has been trialled in certain areas of Scotland. This is where the local primary schools and secondary school work to promote links to smooth the journey for children and to benefit from sharing good practice. In some areas these developments have had dedicated management time allocated in the form of Learning Community manager or leader. However, the governance of these schools still lies with each of the respective head teachers. But what if we could establish a Community Educational Trust to which was devolved the entire budget for running education within that community? The main change that such a system could introduce is the notion of the schools being “owned” by their community. The shift in the perceived ownership of the school would actually match what people feel about their local school but where the perception of a centralised power base still keeps them removed from the real running of the school.

The reason I opt for community- based, as opposed to school-based management, is drawn from the lessons from South of the Border where schools have actually sought to limit their intake to particular types of student. This has resulted in huge variations in terms of the quality of education provision, with “magnet” schools and “sink” schools existing in close proximity to one another. The community-based model perceives the provision of education to be a much more inclusive and universal process. This is where the concept of “these are our bairns” underpins and permeates policy and practice.

Of course, the practicality of community-based management of schools throws up as many questions as it does answers. Not least of which would include how such schools would relate to their local authority? How would they manage budgets and systems that currently benefit from large-scale procurement? How would such communities relate to other Council delivered services and other agencies: and; How would the authority ensure that the needs of ALL children were being met?

Despite these, and many other such questions, I’d like to think that the potential of such a scheme is worthy of serious consideration and exploration. Even if such an idea comes to nought, it may indeed allow us to create different forms of educational delivery that might emulate the genetic traits that so characterised the success of the Scottish parish school system.

I’m going to try to write one poem each week for the next year.  We’ll see if I can remain true to my word.