BETTER BEHAVIOUR: PROMOTING POSITIVE BEHAVIOUR IN SCOTTISH SCHOOLS
Bringing Chalk-Face Experience into the Scottish Executive
Who better to drive forward those officially titled 'Working Groups' than those hard at the real work in education on a daily basis? Three development officers seconded from local authorities are each working with colleagues drawn from schools and authorities to explore key discipline issues, with plans to share findings and interesting practice later this year.
Outside the classroom door - positive behaviour in corridors, playgrounds and on the way to school
Judi Rowe is responsible for day-to-day management of the Pupil Support and Reintegration Service in Midlothian. However, her part-time secondment to the Scottish Executive is allowing her to lend her skills and experience to a Working Group which is hoping to provide practical information for schools on effective strategies for managing behaviour outside the classroom.
Judi has already made several visits to schools around Scotland, exploring different approaches being taken, and is planning further focus groups with teachers to hear their views on what works and what does not.
Communicating with Parents - the hard to reach and the hard to tell
Yvonne Wright manages Clackmannanshire Student Support Service and has spent considerable time in her career developing effective communication with parents when children are troubled or in trouble. As another part-time secondee to the Executive, Yvonne faces the daunting task of exploring with the Working Group the diverse range of parents which schools find 'hard-to-reach', and what approaches may be successful in developing effective home-school relationships. However, in the process, the group has recognised that in the area of discipline, no matter how involved the parent, there is some communication required from the teacher that is hard to tell - or which parents will not want to hear.
Yvonne is gathering information from colleagues around Scotland on their practice and their views, and Clackmannanshire authority is also benefiting from Yvonne's secondment by making best use of study visits taking a look at programmes that help to develop 'family friendly schools'.
Reflection on Progress in Pupil Participation
The involvement of pupils in pupil councils, or other mechanisms for them to participate in the life and decision making of a school, has become well established in the last 5 years. It is one of the recommendations of Better Behaviour - Better Learning that seems to be universally implemented. Some authorities are taking school-level pupil participation a stage further and developing authority-wide structures for pupils. There are also many excellent examples of schools developing peer support systems such as buddying or mentoring.
Joan Mowat has joined the Scottish Executive from Vale of Leven Academy, on secondment for a term to draw together information on the progress that has been made on pupil participation and peer support and to conduct some critical reflection with practitioners on the quality and depth of pupils' involvement.