Solution oriented applications have been in use in Scottish councils for around 20 years. They are now widely used across the country within educational and social services as effective and focused ways of identifying positive outcomes to complex and challenging issues.
Training in solution oriented practice is available at council level, often through psychological services, and there have been two national developments: Towards Solution Oriented Children's Services (TSOCS) and the Solution Oriented Schools (SOS) programme.
Curriculum for Excellence cannot be achieved without good relationships and positive behaviour. All of the national approaches aim to assist schools and councils to create and maintain, calm peaceful and inclusive learning environments. The solution oriented approach is well positioned to offer this assistance in its potential to increase responsibility, encourage respect, and improve relationships within learning communities.
The increasing influence of solution oriented practice in schools is evidenced, firstly, in the Behaviour in Scottish Schools Research of 2010 where, for example, 79% of secondary headteachers who responded indicated that they frequently or sometimes used solution oriented practice in their schools as part of a wide range of support for children and young people. Secondly, the revised Scottish Government guidance on exclusion from school, Included, Engaged and Involved Part 2, currently out for consultation, encourages consideration of solution oriented processes in pre-exclusion and re-admission meetings.
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