I have finally reached the end of the SQH course, all being well after moderation. It has been a long ‘journey’ and an incredible learning experience that has furthered my knowledge, understanding and ability to do my job and grapple with the complex workings of teaching and learning in school. I am looking forward to the challenges that will lie ahead in the future, but I’m not sure I’ll be rushing to do another course like this for some years!
I received an email this morning from a colleague in Senegal, West Africa, who has contacted me about the possibility of having some sort of educational exchange with us. She sent a picture(above) of their secondary school, CEM Adeane, in Ziguinchor in the south-west region of Cassamance.
It brings into very sharp focus the material luxury we have in our country. She also told me that they have no computers in the school at all and if youngsters want to access the internet they have to travel into the city(not a straightforward process with very little transport infrasturcture) to go to an internet cafe. How easy we have it!
On a personal level I’m very keen to learn about the experience of education in semi-rural Senegal and hopefully on wider scale we can create a mutually beneficial and equal partnership between the schools, however that is some way off yet.
I have taken the opportunity to be a part of the East Lothian secondary learning team with the hope of improving my classroom practice and learning from others.
First up, improving my learning ’success criteria’ in PSE lessons. How will youngsters know when they have successfully achieved the aims of each lesson? The idea is to generate clear success criteria for the main points of the lesson and share these at the beginning and review.
Summary of my notes from the event on Jan 17th
Keynote : Sir Robert Smith(Scottish and Southern Energy) - Smith Group
Self appointed, business and entrepreneurs group. Interested in supporting MCMC youngsters.
Only Turkey and Mexico have worse stats for OECD countries for NEET 16-19 year olds (35000)
Key to have college/school/business triangle of provision.
Smith group offering work experience placements, being rolled out across Scotland this year.
Using federation of small businesses, providing vocational ed opportunities and work experience for youngsters.
Keynote: Graham Hollowell
NEET Strategy Coventry & Warwickshire
Government strategy
Careful tracking
Range of voc ed programmes
Personalised support & guidance for youngsters
September Guarantee is a guarantee that every youngster who applies for a learning opportunity will get one
Early identification / indicators
Workshop 2
Glasgow’s vocational education.
All under one central group including training for work, apprenticeships etc
Special Programme for looked aftger youngsters : EVIP
Programmes include recognised qualifications like lifeguarding and CITB
Referrer (school) will decide who goes on the course, not the college or central agency group
In S4 they have an employability day, with a mock interview from an employer
Co-ordinated support plan is in place for every young person taking part in vocational courses
Opportunities:
EVIP(enhanced vocational inclusion programme)
YOUTH START
SOCCER SUCCESS
WINTER LEAVERS
Development of alternative curricula
EVIP (full-time programme)
Vocational coach
CSP
Intensive employability input
Development and recognition of soft skills(Step it up) youthlink website : (it is an evaluation tool)
Transition planning and support
Funded (until end of financial year)by external funding from Scottish Government, european funding etc
Glasgow City Council have one round of ‘corporate’ recruitment for which every youngster who is on a vocational programme is guaranteed a first level interview and prepare for this with their vocational coach
The ability not to take myself too seriously, invaluable.
I am hoping to undertake an EEBL placement with the Mercy Corps in the next couple of months. The focus will be producing a global citizenship CPD resource for teachers, as well as finding out more about the work the Mercy Corps does across the world. We hope to have some time with a group of teachers from East Timor who are visiting the UK in May so I’m really excited about the prospect of taking part.
I’ll be writing more when things are firmed up.
I’m grateful for Christmas holiday time with the family!
Resilience and perspective. Two key attributes for any teacher!
The loss of the Community Liaison Team Active Steps outdoor education provision from our ALPs programme due to funding not being renewed will be a major blow. Sally Harris and her team have done a fantastic job working with our youngsters in the past year and it will mean a re-think of our programme at the school. I know that the team have done similar, excellent work throughout East Lothian in the past few years with many different groups of young people and their provision will be sorely missed. A great shame.
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