The CfE and Glow News e-update provides you with updates on Curriculum for Excellence and support for practitioners, along with all the latest developments within Glow.
In this issue...
- Education Scotland’s Learning Blog
- Recently published support materials for practitioners:
- World of Work Online
- Portable software: supporting the accessibility needs of print-disabled pupils
- Expanded Learning Opportunities (ELO) help support transitions for young people
- Flexible Learning: supporting transitions for young people with additional support needs
- Coalyard transition project – providing stepping stones to employment for young people with learning disabilities
- CPD support framework to develop practical food skills/knowledge within a cluster
- New website to support delivery of Higher Sciences
- STEM Central
- New qualifications update
- SLF Extra 2011
- Glow Science
- National Support with Glow E-Portfolios
- Read the latest Glow Cookbooks
- Cabinet Secretary Glow Futures announcement
Education Scotland’s Learning Blog
Education Scotland has launched its new Learning Blog. You have told us that finding out ‘what’s new’ across all curricular areas can be time-consuming. In response, we have developed this interdisciplinary blog, as a single stop for all things educational. This blog is the place to visit for news, resources and events. Our support for improving outcomes for learners relies on your feedback.
Recently published support materials for practitioners:
World of Work Online has a wide range of videos for young people to see real people doing real jobs, and talking about different aspects of their workplace and their specific job skills. The site aims to enhance and support work placements by enabling young people to find out about different workplaces whether in school or at home.
Portable software: supporting the accessibility needs of print-disabled pupils
There are a significant number of print-disabled learners in schools in Scotland who have specific support requirements. Traditional approaches to meeting these needs, including classroom assistants acting as reader scribes, although providing short-term support, do not necessarily promote a longer-term solution. Approaches involving the use of ICT can promote a level of independence in learning, even for those with very complex needs.
Expanded Learning Opportunities (ELO) help support transitions for young people
Expanded Learning Opportunities (ELO) is a transition programme based in three North Lanarkshire special schools: Fallside and the New Park Centre, Willowbank and Portland. The pupils attending these schools have additional support needs arising particularly from social and emotional factors.
Flexible Learning: supporting transitions for young people with additional support needs
The Flexible Learning Initiative, which is co-ordinated and delivered from the Inclusion Support Base in North Lanarkshire, has been set up to enable mainstream schools to support young people with additional support needs, including those arising from social or emotional difficulties. Every year the project supports 50 young people from S4 and S5 by identifying their needs and providing each with an individual package of support.
Transition into employment, training or further education can be a challenge for many young people. However, the statistics for young people with additional support needs highlight that it is even more problematic for them. Obtaining and sustaining appropriate opportunities for these young people can be very difficult. One project which is providing a supported transition programme for these young people is the Coalyard, based in Larkhall. The programme is delivered through a partnership between South Lanarkshire Council, Motherwell College and the local community.
CPD support framework to develop practical food skills/knowledge within a cluster
The aim is to create an opportunity for cluster colleagues to share developments from early to fourth level through dialogue and discussion around content, context and delivery.
This framework is set out in four sessions. Each session will deliver support for one of the lines of development within the food and health organiser area of health and wellbeing. Additionally, there is one session specifically focusing on the practical food skills area.
New website to support delivery of Higher Sciences
The NQ Higher Sciences website has been developed to support delivery of the revised Higher courses in Biology, Physics, Chemistry and Human Biology.
There are materials for each of the SQA units within the revised Highers and the resources include:
teacher notes and learner activities
PowerPoint slides
film clips and animations
links to selected resources on other websites.
STEM Central – Engineering through sciences, technologies and mathematics
Education Scotland has launched STEM Central, a new online resource designed to help teachers to introduce sciences, technologies, engineering and mathematics into the curriculum and to make connections between them.
New qualifications update
On 31 August 2011 SQA published the latest draft documents for the new qualifications.
These are:
Unit Specifications for National 4 and National 5
Course Rationales and Summaries for Access 2
Course Rationales and Summaries for Access 3
Course Specifications for Higher.
These documents are the next steps in the development process of the new qualifications.
SQA is publishing draft documents between now and April 2012 when the final versions will be published.
Course Rationales and Summaries and Course Specifications have previously been published for some qualifications. This is the first time SQA has published Unit Specifications.
For more information please visit the SQA website.
SLF Extra 2011
The SLF Extra 2011 Glow group has been designed with Glow users from all over Scotland in mind, not just those who are able to attend the festival (21-22 September).
Glow TV will aim to bring you as much content as we possibly can, with all keynote speeches streamed live through Glow and sign-ups and links available through the GlowTV schedule. Glow TV will also present a number of ‘Best of SLF’ broadcasts from our temporary studio at the SECC, where we aim to capture the key discussion topics from the Keynote speeches and allow Glow users to take part (through the Glow meet chat pod) in our studio discussion with our panel in Glasgow.
Glow Science
Glow Science has added a new module called Healthy Living which covers fitness, nutrition, health and disease, and substance misuse. Over 20 compelling short films make up this module along with learning materials (including quizzes, lesson ideas, extension questions, diagrams, images and interactive quizzes) to consolidate learning points and reinforce understanding.
National Support with Glow E-Portfolios
A national Glow E-portfolio group has been set up for schools who have requested, through their local authority, that the National Glow Team work with them, and for schools wishing to get started with e-portfolios themselves. You will find planning documents, support documents and video to support you with getting ready for Glow e-portfolios.
Read the latest Glow Cookbooks:
Glow e-portfolios in East Renfrewshire – Part 1
The Assessment Team in East Renfrewshire was keen to ensure that all schools are providing opportunity for pupils to reflect on their learning, evaluate it and record evidence of what they have achieved, both in school and outwith. They felt it to be essential that there was a consistent approach across all schools in the local authority. This approach is encouraged in Building the Curriculum 5. Read all about this in the Glow Cookbook.
St Aidan’s High School Transition – Interactive School Map
Margaret Hamilton is PT Raising Achievement at St Aidan’s High School in North Lanarkshire. She is also the Glow Mentor for the school. As part of the many things Margaret was using Glow for she wanted to work on a Transition Glow Group which she just started before the end of term.
Standard Grade Music – A Glow Group using a Graphical Interface
Irene Stewart is a Principal Teacher of Music at Bellshill Academy in North Lanarkshire. She began using Glow quite recently, encouraged by her own son’s use of Glow in primary school. She saw the potential for her secondary pupils to access materials from home and to ask questions on Discussion Boards for help with their homework.
Standard Grade Music – Using a wiki for project work
This is the second of two Cookbooks and looks at how Irene Stewart has started to use Glow with her Standard Grade classes but mainly with S3. This second Cookbook on Irene’s use of Glow focuses on the pupils using a wiki to upload project work for Standard Grade Music.
Using Glow Meet for transition at St Mark’s Primary
Clare Fallon is Principal Teacher at St Mark’s Primary in Irvine, North Ayrshire. She is a Glow Mentor and decided to start using Glow with her pupils at St Mark’s. She began to use Glow with P4 to P7 as she teaches ICT to the whole school. After giving each child their Glow usernames and passwords they were ready to get started. They used many of the resources on the national site as part of their introduction to Glow. This Cookbook focuses on the use of Glow Meet for the P4s and also the P7s.
Mini-Mentors project at Coylton Primary
Find out, through this cookbook, how one teacher spread the use of Glow to all pupils of P3 and above in Coylton Primary school. During the planning phase Judith quickly realised that the rollout of Glow was going to take longer than expected and thought it would be a good idea for some of her pupils to come and help her out.
Enhancing learning and teaching in English classes
Glenwood High School in Fife has seen a significant increase in the use of Glow over the last six months. In this new Glow Cookbook we focus on the work of one teacher, Alison Wood, and explore how she has used Glow with English classes from first year to Higher. The cookbook describes how a number of staff from different departments have been using Glow to enhance learning and teaching. One of Alison’s key aims with beginning to use Glow was to support her Higher class.
Using a Document Library to facilitate group presentations
In this Glow Cookbook we focus on the work of one teacher, Kim Yapp, and how she found that Glow solved a long-standing problem. Kim teaches Modern Foreign Languages. For the last couple of years, the department has run a Culture Project for first year pupils. When Kim began to use Glow earlier this year, she was hopeful that it would deliver a simple solution to these logistical problems.
Cabinet Secretary Glow Futures announcement
On Thursday 8 September, Michael Russell MSP, the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning, made a significant announcement on the future of ICT in schools, including how Glow will be developed after September 2012. You can watch the full announcement on the Engage for Education blog, contribute to the Wiki at eduscotict.pbworks.com or email your comments to glowenquiries@educationscotland.gov.uk.
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