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Useful LinksBackchat Newsletter - Issue 71 - February 2003
In this issue
- National Debate - the response
- First Aid Courses
- Grounds for Learning - conference
- Report Cards - parents' views
- Fundraising ideas wanted
- Anti-bullying Net-work: information
- Your questions answered
National Debate - Executive's Response
The Executive has now counted and analysed the 1500 responses to the national debate and made its own response. You can read the full version on www.scotland.gov.uk/nationaldebate/ (the Scottish Executive website). However, they have also provided a summary of the key priorities and we reprint these below, verbatim, with apologies for the rather pompous language!
Increase pupil choice by reviewing the school curriculum to suit 21st century needs and to reduce substantially the current overload in the 5-14 curriculum. We will establish which subjects might form a well-balanced core around which pupils will have expanded access to choices such as vocational training.
Simplify and reduce the amount of assessment to cut down the number of tests and exams and the amount of time spent on them. We have started this work, but we will look at more radical options such as only sitting exams when pupils leave school instead of every year from S4.
Bring forward proposals to reduce class sizes and improve pupil/teacher ratios at critical stages such as P7, S1 and S2, particularly in Maths and English, and have more learning in small groups. We must make sure that pupils will benefit from falling school rolls over the next decade.
Tackle discipline problems and bullying by fully implementing the recommendations of the Discipline Task Group, reviewing their impact and taking further action where necessary.
Improve school buildings to create a school estate in which all schools have the right facilities, are well designed, well built and provide a flexible environment which continues to meet future needs.
Give more control over budgets to head teachers so that the people closest to the children can decide how best to use resources. Introduce greater flexibility for schools and education authorities through local agreements for excellence.
Have teachers work across primary and secondary schools. We will act to make sure this flexibility is being used to deliver the best education for pupils and help them make the transition from primary to secondary.
Involve parents more in their children's education by providing new national guidelines giving parents access and by reviewing and reforming the role of School Boards and Parent Teacher Associations.
Strengthen the role of inspection by delivering clearer and more frequent reports to parents and focusing more directly on schools which need to improve. Consider what additional powers may be required to ensure underperformance is tackled.
Comment
When the national debate was launched, there was a lot of talk about making schools
fit for the 21st century and even of doing away with schools as such and replacing them by distance learning and computers.
Not surprisingly, the feedback was more sensible. It welcomed the bits of the education system that work well - and schools, teachers and classes come high up that list - but suggested where there was need for improvement.
The Executive has responded on equally sensible lines. Many of the proposed actions are already underway (e.g. new school buildings) or under active consideration (e.g. changes to the 5-14 assessment). The proposal that youngsters sit external exams only when they leave school, rather than every year from S4 as at present, is an idea that has been around for at least 10 years. We're pleased that the Executive has responded to what people told us - reduce the amount of assessment and give more time for activities like sport, art, drama and music. Let's see if the good words now get put into real action.
Have you ever worried that, if you came across a sick child or adult, you wouldn't know what to do and would stand there like a useless lump? For everyone who's ever felt like that and always meant to take a first aid course, we bring you news about a First Aid for Life course that can come to you.
Bagstraining will bring a first aid course to you. It lasts three hours and covers bleeding, choking, poisoning, burns, heart attack, unconscious casualty and resuscitation. There has to be a minimum of ten participants (so get the PTA together) and it will cost £10 each if you live in the central belt -slightly more further a field, to cover travel costs - but surely worth it.
For more information , phone 0131-333 4597 or
email bags@btconnect.com
Many PTAs are keen to improve the school environment. For some, it's a matter of painting children's games on the play ground, but others are more ambitious and start gardens, set up wild areas
and so on.
Grounds for Learning is a national organisation which is keen to support this work and can sometimes offer grants as well as ideas. They are running a conference on Friday 28th March on the theme of a Breath of Fresh Air.
The aim of the event is "to provide ideas and inspiration on using the outdoor space beyond the classroom for creativity, learning and fun". It will be a hands-on, outdoor activities event (so go properly dressed) with a series of workshops, with such tempting titles as "wee green fingers" and "creative dance".
The event will take place at the Grounds for Learning conference centre at Battleby, Perth. It lasts all day with registration at 9.30 am and an end time of 4.00 pm. The cost is £65, but the good news is that
Conference application forms are available from Grounds for Learning, tel: 01786 445922 or email gflscotland@stir.ac.uk
Jennifer Stewart, a parent member of the Executive's Advisory Group on Assessment finds parents give the current 5 -14 report a low mark!
I was recently asked to give a presentation to the Scottish Executive's Assessment Group on what parents think of the 5 -14 report. I know what I think, but it would have been irresponsible simply to put forward my ideas, so I set about doing my own research amongst parents in Aberdeen.
The starting point was that parents still find the A to F levels confusing. "Working towards level F" sounds more like a statement of failure than one of attainment. The level names should be changed.
Many parents criticised the reports for not telling them anything useful about how their child was getting on. They said that the reports repeat information you already have, and give no sense of how well your child is doing in the class - top, middle or bottom. I know comparisons can be unhelpful, but surely not in those general terms. Then there's all that obscure official language. Parents don't want to have to read between the lines to work out what the problems are and they certainly don't want any surprises at the end of the academic year. Parents also don't want reports that are unrelentingly positive, when a little criticism would be more helpful. If my child is hopeless at spelling, I don't want only to be told that her handwriting is very clear. I need to know about the spelling too.
Of course what parents want - and have always wanted - is an open door policy with easy access to teachers throughout the year. I realise this has to be managed in some way so that parents are not in and out of the school at all times and disrupting lessons, but there has to be something better - and more immediate - than the formal parent teacher interview.
And wouldn't it be nice if report cards could come direct to parents instead of carried by pupil messengers with varying degrees of reliability and enthusiasm? Some parents said their children were very anxious as they handed the reports over, whilst others reported that their children had already opened them on the way home.
Some parents commented that they want more uniformity of report cards. I found that there were considerable variations between authorities. Here in Aberdeen, for example, we've just had new report cards which leave very little space for general comments - the part of the report parents value most.
Report cards are for giving messages to parents on how their children are doing. They are not a formal record of what has been taught. So reports should give parents the information they find helpful, not the information that the school wants to record.
If you have views on the current report card, we'd be really pleased to hear from you - write, phone or email using the contact information.
Our fundraising leaflet has lots of ideas on how to raise money - but we want to update it and put in new suggestions. If you've had a successful event which we could add, please let us know so that we can include it and pass it on to other groups
Once again we're pleased to send you a copy of the Anti-Bullying Network's newsletter which carries information on the different ways schools tackle bullying.
We're also pleased to send you an application form for the ABN's conference on Bullying at School. This is billed as an "Information and discussion day for parents and other adults in school".
The date is Sat. 8th March,
time is 10.00 am - 3.30 pm
the venue is the Beardmore Conference Hotel, Beardmore Street, Clydebank. (next to the HCI Medical Centre).
The keynote speaker is Dr Brendan Byrne who is absolutely fantastic. A father of three, he's been a teacher, head teacher and school counsellor. He's well able to talk about how bullying affects young people and how parents can help.
The cost of the conference is £10 which includes lunch.
What authority does the head teacher have over the PTA? Do we have to do as she tells us?
The PTA is an independent voluntary group which sits quite outside the authority chain of local council, school and head teacher. Proof of this is the fact that the PTA needs its own public liability insurance and is not covered by the council. The PTA's legal link to the head teacher is the same as any other group or club that uses the school premises. The PTA's link to the school comes from its membership - usually all the parents and teachers/staff at the school - and its objective - it's there to support the school, improve home school links etc. When staff sit on the PTA, they do so as members of the PTA, not as employees of the education department. If they suffer an injury when on PTA business, their claim is against the PTA, not the authority.
Of course, independence doesn't mean that the PTA can then do whatever it likes - paint the school red because it likes the colour. It has to work in partnership with the school and with the head teacher in his/her capacity as head of the school. So, if the head teacher wants the PTA to buy something, she/he can make the request, but it is for the PTA to decide. On the other hand, if the PTA wants to paint games on the playground, they can propose that but it is for the head teacher and school to agree.
I've just been made chairperson of our PTA, and I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do.
The Chairperson is responsible for making sure the meetings run smoothly and cover the necessary business. This means that you draw up the agenda, in consultation with the Secretary, and ensure that all important items are included. The order of the agenda is important. Items which you want people to discuss should go near the beginning. Items which are not really for discussion should go nearer the end.
At the meeting you have to keep an eye on the time to make sure that you discuss issues properly, reach decisions and get through the agenda. This may mean you sometimes have to stop people chatting and get them re-focused on the business. If there is strong disagreement over something, become all formal and take a vote. Sometimes the minority have the loudest voice and crowd out the views of the majority.
After the meeting, the Secretary should give you draft minutes to check before they are sent out to anyone else. If they don't quite reflect the meeting, you can change them, but any other changes should wait for the next committee meeting.
Good luck!