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SECTION 10
STAFFING AND ADULT STUDENTS
Support Staff and Vocational
Co-ordinators
10.1 School/college partnership could not
be delivered successfully without the excellent work of
support staff.
Alloa Academy and Clackmannan
College Pupils from Alloa Academy attend an
alternative curriculum at Clackmannan College
and are very well supported by a support
worker. She attends the college with the pupils
and ensures they have a smooth transition into
their programme. This role has proved essential
for pupils with challenging behaviours. |
Glasgow Metropolitan College and
Glasgow City Council Council support staff meet the pupils when
they enter the College. They ensure attendance
is taken and returned to the Council by 3pm and
that the pupils are changed for their food
preparation classes. The support staff provide
an invaluable service moving between the
various class groups monitoring behaviour and
assisting the lecturing staff where
necessary. |
10.2 There are many examples across the
country where local authorities employ staff to work
directly in colleges with pupils who are undertaking
school/college activities, e.g. there are vocational
co-ordinators with City Vision colleges and in Midlothian
local authority. The role of the vocational co-ordinator
acts as the interface between the college, the school and
the pupils and support the pupil in college. In other
arrangements college staff are contracted to act as
vocational co-ordinators to ensure seamless support from
school to college.
10.3 Local authorities, schools and
colleges which deploy vocational co-ordinators emphasise
they have a very positive role in developing school/college
partnership and plan to develop their role further in the
future.
10.4 One vocational co-ordinator working
in Renfrewshire Council as part of the City Vision project
has outlined her main duties and responsibilities for
pupils at Reid Kerr College in
Annex H.
10.5 This role has proved highly effective
in helping pupils settle in to college. The vocational
co-ordinator is involved in marketing and selection
procedures, including liaising with pupils and their
parents or carers. In other local authorities and colleges,
'transition co-ordinators' perform similar roles to those
of the vocational co-ordinator.
Lauder College,
Dunfermline Lauder College has developed a pilot
programme with Transition Co-ordinators. The
co-ordinators are lecturers who have been
allocated time to help school leavers make the
transition from school to college. Principally
engaged with pupils who will leave school in
December, the Transition Co-ordinator visits
schools to talk to pupils and support them from
their initial interest in college courses
through to the application process and into
assisting the pupil meet curricular targets
using a student centred approach. |
10.6 One of the main advantages in
deploying these staff members is to relieve the
administrative burden on lecturers. The co-ordinators
collect and pass on attendance data to schools and monitor
the behaviour of the pupil while at college. They have
information on individual pupils from the school and help
ensure pupils feel secure when commencing their course.
10.7 A significant amount of work is
involved in dealing with employers and preparing practical
work placements. Using the Careers Scotland network for
example,
co-ordinators are able to organise work experience
placements for pupils.
10.8 Given the success of the role of the
vocational co-ordinator thus far, partners may wish to
consider exploring funding streams to help finance similar
positions.
College Staff Teaching School Pupils
10.9 As we explain in the accompanying
strategy for school and college partnership, we will
establish by October 2005 a Working Group with membership
that reflects its remit to consider matters concerning the
qualifications of non-schoolteachers who teach pupils to
report to Ministers by February 2007 - ahead of the planned
introduction nationally of the skills for work courses in
August that year.
10.10 College and school staff in each
others' establishment should support the ethos and
environment of the partner institution.
In School
10.11 In the meantime, as a temporary
measure pending the outcome of the review, we have asked
the General Teaching Council for Scotland (
GTCS) to confirm by summer 2005 that
college staff registered with the
GTCS (or with conditional registration)
who have or are working towards a teaching qualification in
further education (
TQ(
FE)) within an appropriate timeframe,
should be able to teach pupils in
S3 and above in schools. College staff
not meeting these criteria would be able to teach pupils in
schools if a schoolteacher is present in the classroom.
In College
10.12 As well as expertise in their
subject area, college staff who teach pupils in college
should possess or be working towards an appropriate
teaching qualification, or have other means to demonstrate
that they can teach to the requisite standard. Relevant
college staff should also be encouraged to consider
studying for the new professional development award or
units for the teaching of under 16 year olds.
Protection of Children (Scotland) Act 2003 and
Disclosure Checks for College Staff and
Students
10.13 The Protection of Children
(Scotland) Act 2003
27 generally came into force on 10 January 2005. The Act
plugs a gap in existing safeguards for children which
allows some unsuitable people to move from one child care
post to another without detection and provides for Scottish
Ministers to keep the Disqualified from Working with
Children List (
DWCL). Electronic links to the Act along
with related regulations and guidance can be accessed via
the Scottish Executive child protection website at
www.scotland.gov.uk/childprotection
. Hard copies of the guidance can be obtained by contacting
the
DWCL team on 0131 244 1567.
10.14 While there is at present no legal
duty to require the disclosure of existing staff in
colleges, as a matter of best practice colleges must not
place staff without an Enhanced Disclosure in a position
which involves regularly caring for, training, supervising
or being in sole charge of pupils or student under 18 years
of age or vulnerable adults. Furthermore, it is best
practice that all staff in a college should be actively
encouraged to undergo voluntary Standard, or where
appropriate, Enhanced Disclosure, subject to the rights of
the individual employee concerned, in particular any
employment rights.
The statutory Code of Practice on
Disclosures28requires that the recipient of Disclosure
information does not unfairly discriminate against the
individual on the basis of conviction or other
details.
10.15 The regularity of the Enhanced or
Standard Disclosure check for college staff should be every
three years. This reflects the general practice of other
public service bodies.
10.16 During the intervening three year
period between an earlier and a new Enhanced or Standard
Disclosure Scotland check, it may be possible for a college
to establish a voluntary agreement between the member of
staff and the college, so that college management would be
notified of any criminal convictions which occurred in the
intervening period between Disclosure checks.
10.17 The capacity of Disclosure Scotland
to process every member of staff in colleges at the same
time is limited. Colleges should therefore plan and prepare
systematic schedules with Disclosure Scotland to help
prepare staff to complete the process smoothly. A staged
approach over a period of two years from August 2005 to
August 2007 should be sufficient to ensure all college
staff undergo the voluntary Disclosure process. The regular
three year check on college staff would commence from the
date an initial Disclosure check took place between August
2005 and August 2007.
10.18 Adult learners do not require to undergo Disclosure
as a result of the 2003 Act just because they are learning
alongside under 18 year olds. Enhanced or Standard
Disclosure checks of adult learners can only be made by law
if they are studying for entry into one of the excepted
professions listed in the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act
1974 (Exclusions and Exceptions) (Scotland) Order (
SSI 2003/231)29or are in a child care position as defined by the
2003 Act e.g. mentoring a student who is under
18.
North Lanarkshire Council The education authority in North Lanarkshire
has completed a pilot on introducing Disclosure
Scotland procedures for teaching staff on the
basis of a three year cycle of Disclosure
checks. The authority has now adopted this
cycle of Disclosure review as a policy and has
introduced arrangements with staff trained to
help applicants and ensure the process runs
smoothly. |
10.19 Disclosures are only a part of
effective recruitment measures. A clear Disclosure does not
in itself confirm that a person is suitable to work in a
school or college.
It is important for schools and colleges to follow
other rigorous recruitment and employment practices
including interviews, taking up references, checking
qualifications, supervising staff during probation and
monitoring performance on an ongoing basis.
Glasgow Vocational
Programme Glasgow's Vocational Programme provides a
Training Charter for every pupil on vocational
programmes. The Charter details the rights and
responsibilities of the pupil but also includes
a section on Disclosure Scotland. It stipulates
that
"all staff employed by the programme are
regarded as 'excepted' which means they are NOT
entitled to withhold information on any
criminal conviction on the grounds it is
'spent' or forgotten. All staff…will therefore
be vetted using the procedures within
Disclosure Scotland". |
Falkirk College The College has produced a clear set of
principles and procedures on child protection
issues. Staff are made aware of what issues
might arise, what their obligations are in
respect of child protection, who to contact and
what to do if a child protection issue
occurs. |
Scottish Executive Education
Department
Scottish Executive Enterprise,
Transport and Lifelong Learning
Department
May 2005
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