Scottish Educational Landscape Early Years Research Conference 2013 University of Strathclyde Graeme Logan Assistant Director

Overview Policy landscape Early years policy developments Inspection evidence on early years Challenges and next steps

Programme for Government 13/14 Bankruptcy Consolidation Bill Budget Bill Community Empowerment and Renewal Bill Conclusion of Contracts Bill Courts Reform Bill Damages Bill Food Standards Scotland Bill Housing Bill Licensing Bill Mental Health Bill RCAHMS and Historic Scotland Merger Bill Revenue Scotland and Tax Powers Bill Scottish Welfare Fund Bill

Education policy landscape Curriculum for Excellence Children and Young People’s Bill Post-16 Education (Scotland) Reform Bill New statutory regulations for CLD (Sept 13) Public Sector reform Opportunities for all/ developing workforce Welfare reform Career-long professional learning

Corporate plan – our four pillars A decisive shift towards prevention A greater focus on ‘place’ to drive partnership, collaboration and local delivery Investing in people who deliver services through enhanced workforce development and effective leadership A more transparent public service culture which improves standards of performance

Moving from continuing professional development to the concept of career long professional learning TEACHING SCOTLAND’S FUTURE

Policy into Practice

#bestplacetogrowup

Early years focus Family learning National Play Strategy

Early Years Collaborative Improvement methodology Community Planning Partnerships Improving outcomes for under 3s Supporting children to meet developmental milestones

Pre-schools since April 2008 – June centres

Inspection evidence Sept 2012 until June 2013 Strengths Happy, motivated, confident children Staff Relationships Ethos Leadership

ASPECTS for DEVELOPMENT Literacy and numeracy Curriculum Self – evaluation Monitoring Assessing Tracking Children involved in their own learning

Does our approaches to assessment children’s learning, progress and achievement ? prove or improve prove or improve

Tracking Your analysis and intervention to help every child make the best possible progress, based on a range of assessment evidence.

Impact of systems and approaches Underachievement is immediately challenged, achievement is immediately celebrated.

Professional Dialogue What does CfE mean for you in your establishment? What have been the major changes/ improvements for children so far? What is you plan to continue with implementation?

Key messages – self evaluation Looking inwards, looking outwards, looking forwards Smart, streamlined coherent approach which tells the story of the centre in a clear and evaluative way Don’t spend all your time on the process of gathering and collating information Keep evidence proportionate, impact-based, focused Often the best sources of evidence are learning in action and talking with young people and staff Discuss and moderate content, standards and expectations within CfE levels at every opportunity

Key messages – strong practice is often… Precise, focused Forensic in the analysis of children’s progress Practice-based rather than just paper-based Able to generate specific strengths and areas for improvement, for example in relation to ‘active learning’ Prioritises time and energy on learner experiences and outcomes

What are some of the features of excellence in centres? High quality leadership A community of learning and learners Staff who listen to children and act on what they see and hear

One example: the 5 C’s Control (is she in charge) Clarity (is she sure of her ground) Coherence (can I align my aspirations with hers) Concern (does she understand the challenges I face) Consistency (will she adopt the behaviours she espouses?)

Learning leadership from children It’s more fun to colour outside the lines Ask ‘Why?’ until you understand. Make up the rules as you go along. It doesn’t matter who started it. You sometimes have to take tests before you finish studying. If you want a kitten, start out asking for a horse. Keep knocking till someone opens the door. You can’t ask to start over when your losing.

Excellence is the result of: caring more than others think is wise; risking more than others think is safe; dreaming more than others think is practical; and expecting more than others think is possible.