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NATIONAL PRIORITIES IN EDUCATION: Performance Report 2003
VALUES AND CITIZENSHIP - NATIONAL PRIORITY 4
To work with parents to teach pupils respect for self and one another and their interdependence with other members of their neighbourhood and society and teach them the duties and responsibilities of citizenship in a democratic society
Evidence on Values and Citizenship in 2002
Schools generally regard programmes to promote values and citizenship as high priorities. All schools currently provide personal and social education and development programmes for their pupils.
School Boards provide a way of involving parents and the wider community in the running of education authority schools. In 2002, 30 83% of eligible primary, 96% of eligible secondary and 56% of eligible special schools had a School Board. In many schools, partnerships between parents and schools are strengthened through the work of voluntary parent associations and parent-teacher associations.
The Eco Schools programme was introduced to the UK in 1995 to promote the involvement of young people in addressing environmental and sustainable development challenges at local levels. 887 Scottish schools are registered with the Eco Schools programme. 649 of these are primary schools, 134 are secondaries, 23 are special schools, 67 are nursery schools and 14 are schools which are a mixture of two or more of these categories.
In 2001/2002, 96% of schools provided education on controlled drugs and this proportion was at least as high for the safe use of medicine, alcohol, tobacco and solvents. 76% of schools had clear procedures for dealing with incidents of substance abuse.
The evidence here is all of work being done, and the section on local action below describes this in more detail. We are still working on developing good outcome measures to provide further evidence on improvement in values and citizenship.
How schools rated themselves in 2002
The introduction to this report explains how schools use How good is our school? (HGIOS) in their regular self-evaluations to reach judgements on where they see themselves as standing in relation to a range of quality indicators. The schools rated themselves on the four point scale described in HGIOS; the scale runs from 1 (unsatisfactory) to 4 (very good).
Schools are asked to rate themselves on quality indicators because this is important in helping them see where they have room to improve. Authorities and schools will be continuing to build up their expertise in self-evaluation and moderation of progress with the National Priorities over the period to the end of school session 2004/2005. Some self-evaluation in this report is therefore provisional at this stage. HMIE are undertaking independent and robust external evaluation of how well Scottish schools and education authorities are delivering the National Priorities in Education and their report will be published after the end of school session 2004/2005.
Schools report on two quality indicators from How good is our school? which cover aspects of values and citizenship. For each indicator, the proportion of schools which rated themselves in each of the four categories is shown in the charts below.
How effective did schools think they were at promoting the Personal and Social Development of their pupils?
The chart below illustrates what schools thought about the provision they made for the Personal and Social Development of their pupils.
Personal and Social Development
Schools reached their judgements using evidence relating to the three themes associated with the Personal and Social Development indicator from HGIOS; their approaches to the promotion of their pupils' personal and social education, pupils' progress in developing positive attitudes and personal and social skills, and the contribution made by extra-curricular and other activities to the development of these attitudes and skills.
What did schools think about their relationships with parents?
Schools used a variety of sources of evidence, including parents' views, to reach judgements about the relationships which they had with parents and others, and the arrangements which they make to encourage parental involvement in their children's education at school. These judgements, reached through the application of the criteria associated with the Partnership with parents, the School Board and the community, are summarised in the chart which follows.
Partnership with parents, the School Board and the community
Action to develop Values and Citizenship locally
Schools across the country provide their pupils with a wide range of opportunities to work with others within the day to day operation of the school and also in the community and to develop their communication skills in these contexts. Many of these opportunities are explored too in other National Priorities. For example, Framework for Learning (National Priority 2) discusses senior pupil involvement in buddying and mentoring schemes in both primary and secondary schools. Work experience and shadowing schemes, community placements, the organisation of school events, participation in sporting and cultural activities, including outdoor pursuits, and a number of award schemes such as the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme and the Award Scheme Development and Accreditation Network (ASDAN) are explored in Learning for Life (National Priority 5) as well as featuring in this Priority.
Initiatives such as Circle Time, in wide use across the country's primary schools and in some secondary schools, are seen as contributing to the development of pupils' capacities to work with others and to be respectful of their needs.
Pupil councils, established now in most schools across the country, and other forums which allow the voice of young people to be heard are seen as making a strong contribution to the development of the core skills of working with others and communication.
Personal and Social Development
Personal and Social Development is a fundamental aspect of the education of the whole child. It is essentially concerned with the development of pupils' life skills, including self-awareness and self-esteem. PSD is an important foundation for other types of learning. Good PSD programmes encourage independence of thought, informed judgement and action, development of personal qualities and abilities and a sense of achievement and ambition. They help children and young people to cope with emotions and a variety of experiences and to develop a positive attitude to self, others and learning. Personal and social education is present as an individual subject as well as a cross-curricular activity. Much of the activity undertaken at whole school level will also be directed at promoting the Personal and Social Development of pupils.
All schools provide personal and social education and development programmes for their pupils. These have a number of common, general features which include programmes dealing with health, issues such as diet and exercise (see also National Priorities Framework for Learning and Inclusion and Equality), personal safety and sexual health in which context relationships are commonly discussed. Substance abuse is examined in such programmes. Very commonly, these course components are delivered in collaboration with community police officers, school nurses or other health service staff. These issues may also be examined in science and other courses.
The Personal and Social Development of pupils is supported also in the context of the informal curriculum of schools and through their programmes of study support, sporting and cultural activities (more about these in the chapter Learning for Life). The outdoor education programmes operated by schools and education authorities make important contributions here too. The central thrust of these activities is described with increasing frequency as being directed towards raising and/or sustaining the self-esteem of young people, towards supporting the development of their 'emotional intelligence'.
The Eco Schools programme
Schools across Scotland are involved in promoting environmental awareness amongst their pupils. Increasing numbers are taking part in the Eco Schools programme. This is an international project which arose from needs identified at the 1992 Earth Summit. The management of the programme in Scotland is undertaken through Keep Scotland Beautiful (Environmental Campaigns Scotland). A full-time Development Oficer was appointed in April 2002.
111 Scottish schools have a Bronze Award, 38 have Silver Awards, 58 have been awarded their first, 12 their second and 6 their third Green Flags. The award of a Green Flag is time-limited; schools have to re-apply from time to time to keep their Green Flag. After a certain number of successful re-applications schools (3 at present) can be awarded a Green Flag on a permanent basis.
The Eco Schools programme is democratic and participatory and provides opportunities for young people to engage in school and community action to promote sustainability, to engage in and experience active citizenship.
Schools involved in programmes such as these report greater levels of involvement in the life of the school on the part of parents and the community as a whole, better relationships between the school and parents' groups and between pupils and teachers. There were also more predictable gains, for example measurable reductions in levels of energy and water use and litter in school grounds and neighbouring properties. There is also evidence that improvements in school grounds can lead to improved behaviour in the playground, reductions in bullying and improvements in pupils' attitudes to learning.
Working with parents
Schools and local authorities make widespread use of parent surveys. Many authorities consult with parents through focus groups and panels of one kind or another. Regular meetings are held with members of School Boards; training is available to Board members. Schools and authorities use leaflets, newsletters and other written communications to keep parents informed about their work. Many schools run curriculum workshops for parents, for example on drug education. Most authorities provide parents with materials and resources to help them support the development of their children's literacy and numeracy, particularly at the early stages.
All authorities are working in partnership with parents to support their children's learning in a variety of ways. Very often their approaches, undertaken in the context of community learning plans, emphasise adult literacy and numeracy and the development of IT literacy as well.
Parenting classes are run in many authorities. These are offered very often in the context of the work done in Family Centres or under the auspices of Integrated Community Schools programmes. Involving parents and families in a child's education is a key element of the Integrated Community Schools 31 programme.
Working with the wider community
There are many examples across the country of local authorities and schools working in partnership with other bodies, e.g. charitable, voluntary and business organisations, in the establishment of enhanced provision for young people, very often those who are most vulnerable.
Local authorities have produced guidance for schools on citizenship; some have produced examples of good practice in the promotion of citizenship. Over time local indicators will be replaced with a national indicator and there will be a greater opportunity to assess how education for citizenship is being developed in schools.
Locally, citizenship, in its broadest sense, is promoted through a wide range of activity. In addition to involving young people in pupil councils and a range of youth forums (mentioned earlier), this includes encouraging them to become involved in fund-raising events for local and international charities and engaging them in international programmes and exchanges, such as the Comenius Programme. Pupils are also being encouraged to take part in local volunteering schemes, and to produce materials that can be used in their communities and community safety programmes.
National frameworks and programmes to develop Values and Citizenship
Nationally, the promotion of citizenship is being supported by developments deriving from the publication of 'Education for Citizenship in Scotland' by Learning and Teaching Scotland (LT Scotland) in 2002. Audit materials have been produced by LT Scotland to support schools and local authorities in assessing the current range of their work on citizenship. 32 HMIE is developing a citizenship component in its Taking a Closer Look at... series. HMIE has also produced a self-evaluation guide to the quality of International Education in schools. 33
There is a national Values Award Scheme and evidence of increasing interest generally in values education.
Working with parents
Nationally the involvement of parents in their children's education is supported and encouraged in a variety of ways. The Integrated Community Schools programme has the promotion of this involvement as a core purpose. Early Intervention programmes have recognised the significance of engaging parents in the promotion of early literacy and numeracy and many of the programmes use home-link workers and/or family learning co-ordinators to do this. The Home Reading Initiative assists parents and carers in undertaking home reading activities.
A website called 'Parentzone' 34 provides parents with a wide range of clear and succinct information, with links to useful organisations and publications for more detail. Parentzone covers issues that affect parents during different stages of their children's education and offers advice to help parents actively support their children as they move through school.
Almost all secondary schools and most primary schools have School Boards. Boards enable parents to be involved in the running of their children's school through partnership with staff and the local community. School Boards have an important role in finding out parents' views about issues affecting their schools and supporting those managing them to improve the quality of education provided. Parent associations and parent-teacher associations also promote partnerships between parents and teachers in helping to support the school community and its work.
The importance of the role which parents, as genuine partners in the educational enterprise, are given is reflected, for example, in the production of school development plans under the terms of the Standards in Scotland's Schools etc. Act 2000.
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