The International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement 2018. Theme Leading Capacity for Change- Scotland’s approach: Empowering out Teachers, parents and communities to deliver excellence and equity for our children.
Proposal for a session following the guidance and structure on their website.
Extract (499words)
The purpose of the Innovate session is to explore howEducation Governance: Next Steps – Empowering out teachers, parents and communities to deliver excellence and equity for our children(2017)willimprove Scottish education . The approach sets out to deliver bold but necessary reform to Scottish education to enable the education system to realise our ambition of excellence and equity. This approach led jointly by Education Scotland and Scottish Government,in partnership with all key stakeholders in Scottish education,builds on the work of the National Improvement Framework2016 which set out a clear vision and shared set of priorities for everyone in Scottish education.
The primary focus of the reform is to shape an education system to create a school and teacher-led system. It is based on strong international evidence. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) considered the relationship between school autonomy and performance using evidence gathered through PISA and concluded “At the country level, the greater the number of schools that have the responsibility to define and elaborate their curricula and assessments, the better the performance of the entire school system.”
Scotland has a proud history of providing universal education for our children. The majority of young people are performing well. A higher percentage of young people now leave school for positive destinations. The highest ever proportion of school leavers from the most deprived communities are going on to a positive initial destination. However, the latest results from the international study PISA found that Scotland’s overall performance has declined in science and reading compared to 2012, and is unchanged in mathematics. Our relative performance compared to other countries has deteriorated across all three areas. There is still a clear gap in attainment between children from more deprived and less deprived backgrounds. This is not good enough for Scotland’s children.
Education Scotland and Scottish Government are leadingchanges to empower teachers, parents and communities. Children and young people are at the heart of education and this approach aims to ensure that decisions about their learning are taken as close to them as possible. Stronger duties will be placed upon schools to ensure that the role of parents is strengthened. The moves provide a constructive response to the OECD report: Improving Schools in Scotland (2015), which called for Scotland to ‘strengthen the middle’.
New Regional Improvement Collaboratives will lead the capacity for change. This will be done through collaborative working and networks, sharing best practice and pursuing partnership approaches. It will mean that hands on advice, support and guidance can flow directly to schools.
We are aware that evidence shows that improvement will not be achieved solely as a result of changes to structures. Changes in culture and practice are also essential. The seminar will provide opportunities for delegates to discusswithrepresentatives from Scotland ,how we are harnessingteachers, parents and communitiesto work collaboratively on producing a bold new approachto deliver school and system improvements, and achieve excellence and equity for all Scotland’s children.
Short version (199 words)
The purpose of the Innovate session is to explore how Education Governance: Next Steps – Empowering out teachers, parents and communities to deliver excellence and equity for our children (2017) will improve Scottish education . The approach will deliver bold but necessary reform to Scottish education to realise our ambition of excellence and equity. This approach to transformational change builds on the work of the National Improvement Framework2016 which set out a clear vision and shared set of priorities for everyone in Scottish education.
Children and young people are at the heart of education and decisions about their learning should be taken as close to them as possible. Changes will empower teachers, parents and communities. Stronger duties will be placed to ensure that the role of parents is strengthened.
New Regional Improvement Collaboratives will lead the capacity for change, sharing best practice and pursuing partnership approaches. It will mean that hands on advice, support and guidance can flow directly to schools.
The seminar led jointly by Education Scotland andScottish Government will share how Scotland is empowering the system to create an innovative approach to deliver school and system improvements, and achieve excellence and equity for all Scotland’s children.