NPFS Conference report 2014
- 1. Conference Report Saturday 4th of October Bishopbriggs Academy 10:00am to 3:45pm Preparing our Children with Skills for their Future National Parent Forum of Scotland are pleased to announce that 110 delegates attended our conference on Saturday 4th of October, as well as 30 children. This year’s theme was Preparing our Children with Skills for their Future, focusing on how parents can get involved in their child’s education to ensure positive pathways for each and every child. We are delighted that we have been able to keep this a free event for all delegates. NPFS were grateful for the support of Lorraine Sanda, Scottish Government, who acted as Chair for the day, opening and closing the conference as well as facilitating audience discussion. 2014 Keynote speeches were by Dr Alasdair Allan MSP, Minister for Learning, Science and Scotland’s Languages, and Sir Ian Wood, Chair of the Commission for Developing Scotland’s Young Workforce. Delegates attending the keynote speeches Film of the keynote speeches, and the questions that followed, can be found here. Keynotes Dr Alasdair Allan commended the collaboration of parents in this ‘monumental year of change’, which included the challenges of the new National qualifications. He reminded everyone that CfE provides the framework and capacity for excellent and effective parental involvement – that NPFS are authentically representing the parent voice and heavily influencing policy and that Scottish Government are grateful for the support. He also welcomed the breadth of new qualifications such as the Certificate of Work Readiness and Skills for Work courses, which encourage a shift to skills based learning. Dr Allan spoke about the value of the Wood Commission’s report, the recommendations of which, MSPS and NPFS have supported. Specifically: preparing for work should be embedded in CfE with pathways in the senior phase which prepare young people for the workforce; and that every young person should have a senior phase which is relevant to them,
- 2. with children and young people developing skills for life and work. Dr Allan recognised that this requires a culture shift in which young people must be supported. It will be a cross party effort, which requires much planning, and in which parental engagement can make a crucial difference. Sir Ian Wood opened with his conviction that a culture change must be achieved; where vocational qualifications are held in the same esteem as academic ones. He pointed to a youth unemployment rate of 50,000, which is 3 times the overall employment rate. Over 50% of young people do not go to university, yet do not have relevant qualifications for the workforce. The Commission found there was not enough emphasis on employability skills in schools, that teachers need further training in career development skills, and that much more adequate work experience is required. Additionally, currently only 27% of employers offer work experience. His report found that large numbers of schools struggle with vocational education and parents, teachers and the public currently think success is academic success, reinforced by the Education Scotland measures. This will change with the new senior benchmarking tool INSIGHT that will measure wider outlook and attainment, pathways will be created for the poorly catered for 50%. The Commission’s report includes proposals for comprehensive direction on career guidance in schools, a regional outcome agreement, better resources for colleges, and 5000 more apprenticeships. The recommendations are that every secondary school will have a business partner with encouragement for small and medium companies to be involved (through incentives and disincentives) and they will write joint objectives. The Wood Commission aims that by 2020 of the 50% who do not go onto university, 60% will leave school with industry qualifications. And most importantly, youth unemployment down to 20,000. Seminars The conference hosted eleven successful seminars from which we have received some excellent feedback. Some of the presentations can be found here. Children’s Parliament Using a mix of creative activities, discussion and examples of Children’s parliament projects, this workshop engaged parents to explore children’s rights in the context of home and family life and how rights impact upon children’s wellbeing, aspirations and attainment. Delegates in the Children’s Parliament Session
- 3. Crookfur Primary School This workshop explored how pupils, staff and parents at Crookfur Primary School are involved in the process of assessment, tracking, profiling and reporting. Class teachers use a range of strategies, including day-to-day class work and more formal assessments, to ensure pupils make progress in their learning. This information is used to plan next steps and takes account of breadth, depth and application of learning. Pupils have regular opportunities to discuss their learning with their teacher, reflect on progress and are fully involved in planning further learning. The process of profiling is fully embedded throughout the school where pupils develop the skills of recognizing their attainment and achievements. Parents are given regular opportunities to be involved in their child’s learning. Information is shared on a monthly basis and advice is given on how parents can help at home. Electronic profiles are easily accessed from home, through Glow, and parents are encouraged to access them with their child to discuss and reflect on their learning. ‘Crookfur Primary seminar was really good and I took some points back to my school to ask if they could adjust their practices to incorporate some of the ideas from Crookfur.’ Education Scotland CfE Workshop This workshop explored progress with implementation of CfE, including ways the curriculum is being developed to meet young people's needs at local level including different options for qualifications where appropriate. It considered how parents can best support young people within CfE and the key role of parents as partners in education. The workshop also explored other developments such as the new report on skills for work and youth employment entitled 'Education Working for All'. Delegates in the Education Scotland Seminar run by Elizabeth Morrison (Assistant Director) ‘At all workshops, as a person who has never attended a parent conference before, I found all of them useful and interesting. Equal parenting for non-resident parents This workshop discussed research that Children in Scotland and Families Need Fathers Scotland have conducted into problems non-resident parents experience in dealing with schools and nurseries. This can cause distress and more importantly is in conflict with the intentions of the Scottish Schools (Parental Involvement) Act 2006.
- 4. Lochend Community High This workshop centered around how Lochend Community High helps their young people to get the best possible start in life, by not only achieving the best possible qualifications and awards that suit their interests and capabilities, but also by providing them with opportunities for personal development and to gain vital employability skills. They do this in partnership with a range of community partners, businesses and employers in and around their local area. The support and involvement of parents and wider community is key to building a successful future for their young people, several of whom took part in this presentation. ‘Lochend was a great session, so nice to see kids involved and enthusiastic. A really feel good session.’ My World of Work My World of Work offers information about careers or learning and training. The website aims to help people at every stage of their working life, from school right up until retirement. The site has feature articles on a wide range of topics like choosing a career, learning and training, applying for jobs and making a career change. A toolkit is available to help with researching careers and building a first CV. The My Strengths section can help people identify what they are good at and how they apply those strengths to career and study options. Jobseekers and potential trainees and students can search for learning and training opportunities with Course Choices, get interview practice and find job vacancies online using the Job Search function. This workshop discussed how parent’s can get involved. NPFS Workshop These sessions were open for parents to come and talk about anything and everything! Lots of interesting discussions including making parent council’s more accessible to parents, attracting and keeping parents in parent councils, parents taking more ownership of meetings and the concern that fundraising takes over too much of the time. There was a lot of enthusiasm and a genuine belief that parents can influence change. NPFS Workshop Session 3 hosted by Iain Ellis (NPFS Chair) and Maureen Mallon (Assistant Director ES) ‘NPFS was a good informal session with plenty of dialogue’
- 5. Parental Involvement in Secondary Maths In this session Paul Smith told the story of Inverclyde Academy’s mathematic department’s journey from transition information to developing ‘pathways’ through the Broad General Education. How they try to use ‘What I can do in Maths‘, their webpage, and the pathways, to involve parents in the progress of pupils, and how this links into National 4 and National 5 tracking. They feel it is very important that ‘talking’ keeps staff, pupils and parents alike aware of how pupils are doing and how they are continuing to try to develop and share ideas to improve their practice. ‘very knowledgeable and interesting to see how another school tackles Maths.’ SCILT This workshop focused on the 1+2 approach to languages and the benefits it brings to Scottish school children. The Scottish Government’s report “Language Learning in Scotland: A 1+2 Approach” was published in 2012. Local authorities and schools are now working towards implementation of the report. The aim is to enable children and young people to study two languages in addition to their mother tongue in all Scottish primary and secondary schools. Fhiona Fisher (Director, SCILT) discussed the aims of this ambitious policy, outline the benefits that language learning can offer our children and share some of the interesting work that is already happening in schools across the country. SQA Workshop Some significant changes have been taking place to bring SQA's National Qualifications in line with Curriculum for Excellence (CfE). This seminar gave parents an opportunity to take a look at the key differences between the new National Qualifications and the previous / existing National Qualifications they may already be familiar with, and to ask questions about currency, standards and value. ‘John Allan from SQA provided an excellent update from SQA, he is interesting and engaging’ Wood Commission Focus Group This popular group was chaired by Sir Ian Wood and discussed the Commission’s report from the 3rd of June. Many of the conversations surrounded how a culture change can be achieved. There was discussion that the aspirations of the recommendations should start much earlier, from the start of the CfE. It was suggested that schools have a major part to play but that perhaps teachers are too involved Wood Commission Focus Group Session 1
- 6. in teaching and don’t have the relevant career guidance or life experience. It was also emphasized that academic people need practical skills too. There were other comments that a joint system for apprenticeships is needed and that the regionalization of colleges is a good step but that the dots are not yet joined. Children’s Programme NPFS prides itself in being an inclusive organization and as such were delighted to provide a children’s programme for children of all ages. Children were entertained by: the Glasgow Science Centre, Ron Fairweather storytelling, Adam Murphy comic book artist, Children’s Parliament, Get Crafty and Zoo Lab. Under 5’s were catered for in a crèche. There was also enjoyable face painting and balloon modeling available all free of charge. We were also delighted to be supported by nineteen partner organisations in our marketplace: Bilingualism Matters, CALL Scotland, Children in Scotland, Dyslexia Scotland, Enable, Enquire, Gathered Together, Giglets, Kids in Cars, Parenting Across Scotland Pupil Inclusion Network Scotland, Respect me, Road Safety, SCILT, Scottish Book Trust, SCQF, Skills Development Scotland and SPTC The event closed with an audience discussion chaired by Lorraine Sanda, Scottish Government with a panel including John Allan SQA, Elizabeth Morrison, Education Scotland and Iain Ellis, Chair NPFS.