Curriculum development in further education

This chapter outlines the development of the further education curriculum post-1945 in Scotland and examines somes issues, specifically: modes of learning; staff development and curriculum development; and support for students

Fibonacci and the golden section

It is clear that a number of things need to happen if educational experience, and therefore attainment, are to improve and the Scottish Government report Looked After Children: We Can and Must Do Better4 has established a clear agenda for eight working groups with a very simple message: 'The problems are deep rooted and difficult but not impossible to deal with.

Multi-agency working

This chapter, therefore, examines the case for a strategic approach to joined-up services by reviewing the development and operation of multi-agency working in Scottish education, and considers the professional imperatives for collaboration between agencies, and the barriers which present significant challenges to action. The chapter begins by outlining the policy context in relation to making Scotland a fairer society through improving educational experience generally, and then discusses more particularly the emerging practice issues for multi-agency working by considering the case study of one significantly disadvantaged group: children and young people who are 'looked after' by local authorities

Can Scotland achieve more for looked after children?

The Learning with Care report (HMI and SWSI, 2001) made seven criticisms in relation to the provision of education for looked after children in Scotland. The most recent report, Looked after children and young people: We can and must do better (Scottish Executive, 2007), contains 19 actions for improvement. This paper examines whether the distinctiveness of the Scottish political landscape has the potential to lead to improvements in tackling the deficits in the educational experience and attainment of looked after children and young people clearly acknowledged by the authors of both reports. The paper considers the recent history of political concern and asks whether things are getting better, concluding that while there is only limited improvement, the climate is more supportive and more emphatic in its expectations of the young people and the professionals who support them

Multi agency working

The theme of this chapter is 'joined-up' working, the concept of professionals collaborating to provide effective services for the most vulnerable children and their families. It considers the professional imperatives for collaboration between agencies and the barriers which present significant challenges to action. The chapter begins with an outline of the policy context. This is followed by a discussion of multi-agency working in the school context and the implications for practice in the more specific context of children and young people who are 'looked after' by local authorities

Developing quality indicators for learning with care

As part of its response to the report, the Scottish Executive commissioned work to develop training and other support materials aimed at improving educational outcomes for looked after children and young people. The project was undertaken by a partnership led by the Scottish Institute for Residential Child Care (SIRCC), and including the British Association for Adoption and Fostering, Save the Children, Who Cares? Scotland and the Faculty of Education in the University of Strathclyde. The products of the project included a training pack (Hudson et al., 2003), an information booklet (Connelly, McKay and O'Hagan, 2003) and an independent report prepared by Who Cares? Scotland and Save the Children (Ritchie, 2003). The project team was also asked to undertake the development of quality indicators in response to Recommendation 7 in the Learning With Care report: 'As part of their quality assurance procedures local authorities should undertake an audit of their residential units to assess how far they are educationally rich environments and, where shortcomings are found, make plans to take appropriate action' (ibid., p.7)

Supporting looked after children in education

This chapter, aimed principally at teachers and managers in education services, outlines the context and practice issues in relation to looked after children in education in Scotland. The chapter is structured around these headings: the context; looked after children in education; readiness to learn; support at school; joint working

Still room for improvement? The educational experiences of looked after children in Scotland

In this chapter Kirstie Maclean and Graham Connelly present an analysis of joined-up thinking in Scotland from both social services and education perspectives

Residential child care : between home and family

Government statistics show that around 1,700 Scottish children and young people are in residential care at any one point in time. In addition several hundred others, including those with significant learning, physical and communication disabilities, receive regular periods of respite care in residential units. Residential child care has also been the focus of a considered amount of government policy-making. There have been changes in the average size and location of residential units, changes in staffing structures and repeated attempts to better train the workforce. Residential care has also been the focus of considerable regulation and scrutiny, much of it in response to scandals associated with abuse; both contemporary and ‘historic’. Scotland’s residential care services are strongly supported by central government policy and the government continues to play a major role, particularly for the most disadvantaged or ‘troubled and troublesome’ children. The sector is noteworthy in that Scotland does not have a separate juvenile justice ‘detention’ sector and it only has a tiny in-patient child and adolescent mental health service. Another notable characteristic of the Scottish children’s homes sector is that a significant number remain under local authority control. Meanwhile there has been a steady decline in voluntary sector provision and a steady growth, from a low base, of private provision. This is the first dedicated study of the Scottish children’s residential care sector. Throughout appropriate comparisons are made to parallel provision elsewhere in the UK and in Europe. The result is a text of great interest and utility to all those working, training to work or formulating practice and policy for the children’s residential care sector in Scotland

Looked after children : observations of teacher education students on placement in secondary students

This collection of accounts is the work of students of the Professional Graduate Diploma in Education Secondary(PGDE) -a one-year teacher education programme for graduates intending to become teachers in secondary schools. These students were taking an elective module on the education of looked after children. The module was presented on either side of a full-time period of placement in secondary schools during February and March 2008. The placement provided an ideal opportunity for the students to find out more about looked after children from the school perspective. There is a series of 22 accounts representing students' observations while on placement in different schools