Want to know more about Education in Scotland, have questions about Curriculum for Excellence, class sizes, School Estates, teachers, training, education spending and so on?

Popular links:

  • You can find out more at the Scottish Government website in our new Face the Facts section.
  • The CfE Communications Toolkit provides a range of user-friendly materials and resources to help explain what Curriculum for Excellence means at different stages and in different settings. It includes short films of CfE in action, factfiles on specific areas which are new or changing, a Q&A on implementation of the new curriculum as well as other ready made and do it yourself resources. New materials are added regularly.
  • The Building the Curriculum series also provides advice, guidance and policy for different aspects of Curriculum for Excellence, including assessment, early years and skills for learning. 
  • Excellence Groups were established to consider what makes for excellence in subjects, and in skills development, across learning. The Groups have met a number of times since summer 2010, and have now prepared their final reports. There are 15 reports on subjects and curriculum areas, alongside an overarching report on health and wellbeing, and a report on Higher Order Skills. Find out more at: www.scotland.gov.uk/excellencegroups
  • The HM Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) and Learning and Teaching Scotland (LTS) are to be brought together into a new executive agency. Here is a link to the purpose and remit of the new agency.

 Do you have a useful link you’d like to share with the Engage for Education Community? Contact us to submit your suggestions.

Here’s a few to get you started:

  • Curriculum for Excellence in action Read in their own words how teachers and schools are bringing learning to life and putting Curriculum for Excellence into action across the country
  • Glow is the world’s first national intranet for education
  • Learndirect Scotland Scotland’s learning gateway
  • Learning Teaching Scotland Information, guidance and CPD resources to improve learning in Scotland
  • Parentzone Information about education in Scotland for parents of children aged 3 to 18, including ideas on how to support your child’s learning
  • Scottish Government The devolved government for Scotland is responsible for most of the issues of day-to-day concern to the people of Scotland, including health, education, justice, rural affairs, and transport.
  • Young ScotScottish youth information – for 11 – 26 year olds
  • Scottish Schools Onlineis a searchable directory of all schools in Scotland, including independent schools
  • Respectme is Scotland’s Anti-Bullying Service
  • CPD Find a database of CPD opportunities from providers all over Scotland and beyond
  • scotedublogsThis site exists to help educational bloggers across Scotland to find each other and to talk to each other
  • Skills Development Scotland helping people and organisations learn, develop and utilise their skills to greater effect
  • Scottish Funding Council The Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council (SFC) is the national, strategic body that is responsible for funding teaching and learning provision, research and other activities in Scotland’s 43 colleges and 20 universities and higher education institutions
  • Scottish ChildcareProvides free, impartial information on childcare and pre-school education services throughout Scotland
  • The Scottish Education Awards celebrate the hard work and success which takes place in Scottish education
  • Scottish Schools Education portal: Children and young people’s educational experience should open the doors to opportunities which enable children to become successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors to society
  • The Scottish Futures Trust is the independent company responsible for improving value for money in public infrastructure investment projects such as schools, transport, health and regeneration. The main functions of SFT are to improve the value for money of the billions of pounds spent each year by public sector bodies and finding new ways to raise affordable finance in today’s tight financial environment
  • Student Awards Agency for Scotland Student Support helps to deliver a Smarter Scotland – providing free education based on ability to learn, not ability to pay. Use this site if your home is in Scotland and you want support for fees and living costs for a higher education course
  • Choices for Life aims to help children make the right choices, encouraging them to be positive with a healthy lifestyle and helping them to resist negative peer pressure.
  • Engage (in the visual arts) is a membership organisation representing gallery, art and education professionals in the UK and in 15 countries worldwide.
  • YouthLink Scotland is the national agency for youth work. It is a membership organisation and is in the unique position of representing the interests and aspirations of the whole of the sector both voluntary and statutory.
  • www.sccyp.org.uk Scotland’s Commissioner for Children and Young People promotes and safeguards children’s rights in Scotland. This is the Commissioner’s corporate information website.
  • www.youngpeople.sccyp.org.uk A website for young people which is about their rights, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the role of Scotland’s Commissioner for Children and Young People.  It is a way for young people to directly engage with the Commissioner and his team about the issues that affect their lives.
  • www.arightblether.co.uk A national consultation of children and young people in Scotland led by Scotland’s Children’s Commissioner. You can sign up to participate on the website, access free resources and get more information on the different elements of the consultation.
  • www.sppa.org.ukThe Scottish Pre-school Play Association (SPPA) is Scotland’s largest voluntary sector provider of direct support services to community led childcare organisations. SPPA delivers essential support and guidance to providers of pre-school education and childcare services, including all-day care groups, playgroups, parent and toddler groups and under-fives groups. Member groups operate throughout mainland Scotland and the Islands.
  • www.artlinkedinburgh.co.uk Artlink works hard to increase opportunities for individuals who experience disadvantage or disability to take part in the arts in Edinburgh and the Lothian region.
  • Children’s Panel Sometimes children get into situations that are too difficult for them to deal with on their own. Children’s Panel members work with the child, parents or carers and professionals to make decisions which are in the best interests of the child.
  • AHDS is a modern forward thinking union working for heads, deputes and principal teachers from around Scotland ’s Primary, Early Years and ASN schools.  To find out more about how we represent your interests and support you visit: www.ahds.org.uk
  • Itchy Coo is an imprint which publishes bestselling books in Scots for children and young people. It is also an education project which works with pupils and teachers to develop their Scots reading and writing skills. Itchy Coo also promotes Scots to the wider public through liaison with the Scottish Parliament, national organisations and at international level. Our aim is to encourage better understanding and greater acceptance of the Scots Language in education and in all aspects of Scottish life.
  • Show Racism the Red Card is an UK wide anti-racist charity, which was established in January 1996. The aim of our organisation is to produce anti-racist educational resources, which harness the high profile of professional footballers to combat racism.
  • Support for becoming a Sustainable School: Seeds for learning and Global Citizenship

Public Consultation by the Health and Safety Executive on an online classroom risk assessment tool 

The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) launched on 22 November 2010 a consultation on the new online classroom risk assessment tool. The HSE has worked in collaboration with all Government partners in the UK to develop this tool which will enable teachers to produce a tailored risk assessment on their own classroom, highlighting hazards and how you control them. This consultation seeks views on whether the tool is useful and will assist teachers. 
The Consultation runs until 4 February 2011 and you can learn more about the consultation on HSE’s website.  

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) opportunities in education:

  • CPDFind is an online catalogue with a variety of CPD opportunities from a wide source of CPD providers. Find out more at What is CPDFind?
  • CPDReflect is an online toolkit to help teachers and other educators to reflect on their practice, maintain a CPD portfolio and share with other CPDReflect users. The toolkit consists of several separate, but linked, tools.
  • CPD Blogs: Meet the National CPD Team and visit CPDAnswers
  • Glow cookbooks – discover how Glow can enhance teaching and learning.
  • There are more CPD areas on Glow. Log in for your for communities – CPDStepin, CPDCentral and great resources and events – National Staffroom, CPDMeets, Challenge based CPD.

Dyslexia and Learning Support:

  • Dyslexia Scotland Empowering people with dyslexia to reach their full potential.
  • The Assessing Dyslexia Toolkit for Teachers. Toolkit Launch information.
  • Guidance and Training Teachers: Dyslexia is the additional support need you are most likely to encounter.
    The earlier you identify this need, the better.
  • Starting Out Parents: with the proper guidance, you and your child can develop strategies for dealing with dyslexia.
  • MyStudyBar is a free portable suite of applications which can help overcome problems that students commonly experience with studying, reading and writing. MyStudyBar is simple to use, handy and effective and provides comprehensive learning support which can be accessed from the desktop, a network or even from a USB pendrive, providing independence to the learner.
  • Heather is a high quality computer voice which is available to download for free by Scottish colleges and their students. Schools in Scotland can also download the voice. Heather is increasingly acknowledged as the synthetic voice of choice which, when installed on a college network or a personal computer or laptop, will work with most text-to-speech programs – and is the perfect complement to MyStudyBar.