The Scottish Government

Disability Working Group

Satellite Group 3 - Consultation and communication; education and training; citizenship and public attitudes

Potential draft recommendations on education and training

These proposals represent the papers and areas discussed to date. Proposed actions should not be taken as full recommendations at this stage and should be subject to discussion, amendment and change.

We should discuss each in detail as follows:

Potential recommendation - Does the recommendation reflect the will of the subgroup? Is it easy to understand? Is it specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timed?

Priority - A realistic assessment of prioritisation (High/Medium/Low)

Who needs to do it? - Who should be the lead agency responsible for delivery? Are there any relevant partners? It may be that more than one body needs to act, e.g. the Scottish Executive needs to do something and local authorities need to do something. It may be that different parts of the Executive need to do different things. The more specific it is to possible to be about who needs to do what the better.

How might it be done? - Are there any specific actions which must be taken to deliver this recommendation? Any ideas about how it should proceed.

How long should this take? - What is the realistic assessment of the timescale for delivery? Are there any dates when this MUST be delivered by? It may be that some recommendations need to be implemented before others can be, or that actions need to happen in a certain order, or that different actions need to happen simultaneously.

What is already being done? - Is all or part of this work already being done somewhere?

How will we measure success? - How will we all know when this recommendation has been delivered. How will we know if delivery has been successful? What evidence is there of need for this recommendation to be delivered? What evidence or research needs to be done?

What is the likely impact of this recommendation on poverty, sustainability and other equality groups? - Will this be beneficial to our aim of reducing poverty and promoting sustainability? Will there be a negative or positive impact on other equality groups? Will there be benefit in working with other equality groups. It is important to consider and highlight wider equality issues including for particular groups of disabled people in terms of impairment type, ethnicity, gender, age, location (rural / remote / urban), etc. For more info try:

www.scotland.gov.uk/topics/people/equalityhttp://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/People/Social-Inclusion

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Environment/17108/7365

Group 3 Potential Draft Recommendations on Education and Training

General Principles

In discussion on 23 June, the group decided to focus its August meeting on consultation and communication and its September meeting on education and training.

Discussion of education and training issues on 23 June covered:

• The extent of disability awareness amongst staff in educational institutions. There was concern that disability was often seen as the responsibility of one person in the institution rather than the responsibility of all staff. It was considered that HMIE might have a role in assessing staff awareness of disability across schools and further and higher education institutions.
• Disability equality training within schools and further and higher education institutions was also considered important, particularly when targeted at head teachers and those in a position to set the tone for the institution.
• Disability equality training across the wider public sector was also important and linked to the introduction of the new disability equality duty.
• The importance of transitional arrangements from school to post school. The group was concerned that at this key time disabled young people were often not seen as citizens and failed to get the support they needed. The 'Partnership Matters' approach was beginning to address this and widening access to further education was also a key priority for the Executive and a consultation on this had just been launched.

Next stages

A final report needs to be agreed in the timescale of two weeks after the final meeting in October. So a view needs to be taken about draft recommendations at this stage. There may also need to be some email contact as these are being drawn together.

Areas for potential recommendations

Linking to activities to promote disability awareness amongst staff in educational institutions

• A review of Initial Teacher Education (ITE) Stage 2 has recently been published. It recommended a number of actions to be undertaken by all stakeholders - Executive, local authorities, teacher education institutions and General Teaching Council for Scotland.
• The areas where new teachers feel most exposed include the very areas of teaching which are the most challenging and stretching to all in the profession - matters relating to pupil behaviour and dealing with additional support needs/disabilities. Teachers need to be able to maintain and enhance their professional skills in these areas on a regular basis. In that regard, the needs of newly qualified teachers are therefore not unique. However, it was recognised that there is more work that can be done in relation to new teachers to make sure they are better supported in these important areas of teaching, through ensuring a better structure of professional learning and development, through ITE and Induction into further CPD in their early years in the profession.
• Education Minister wants the National Continuing Professional Development Team to work with stakeholders to develop a CPD framework to guide new teachers during the early years of their career - to be available by autumn 2006.
• How might the Disability Working Group engage with this process?

Transitional arrangements

• The importance of transitional arrangements from school to post school has been acknowledged. The 'Partnership Matters' approach was beginning to address this and widening access to further education is also a key priority for the Executive. Is there further work that could usefully be developed?

Engagement with audit and inspection bodies

• HMIE will itself be subject to the duty to promote equality for disabled people. It will have a key role in taking forward equality of opportunity for disabled young people. Can the Disability Working Group assist HMIE's considerations?

Involving disabled people

• Are there issues about consulting with and involving disabled young people that need to considered in the context of education, training and transitions from school to post school. Consultation and communication have already been considered but there may be scope for looking specifically at involving or consulting young disabled people.

Disability equality training

• This is a key area and one where activity is beginning to take shape - for example through the Scottish Parliament's inquiry. Particular sectors are also developing work, including the NHS and the teaching profession. Is there further work that could usefully be taken forward through the Disability Working Group?