Programme overview

Newsletters

Issue 1

Issue 2

Issue 3

Issue 4

Issue 5

Symposium report: proposals for workforce reform (pdf)

Stirling seminar

Aberdeen seminar

Glasgow seminar

Conference

EU workforce programme

 
Working it out

Help shape the future of Scotland's children's sector workforce.

How far have we come in achieving the long-term vision of children's services as a single unitary system, with the child firmly at its centre?

As part of a programme (to April 2010) Children in Scotland is inviting the children's sector workforce, employers, planners, universities, colleges and other stakeholders to join us in debate about future workforce development.

The programme encompasses:

• A series of newsletters that explore developments in the children's sector workforce, encourage debate and share good practice

  Issue one November 2008

  Identifies key challenges for the workforce including the need for an overarching framework to organise workforce development right across the children's sector. Contributors highlight the need for core skills and competencies, and a shared conceptual thinking about children and childhood across the sector.

  Issue two March 2009

  Working it out seminars have revealed an appetite for ambitious change to create a simple and coherent qualification framework for the children's sector and a workforce that is more flexible, with a better understanding of how to work with children in a holistic way. This issue also examines what the Early Years Framework might mean for those working with children, families and communities.

  Issue three July 2009

  A series of proposals for future reform of the children’s sector workforce have emerged from a recent symposium, which brought together key stakeholders across the Scottish children’s sector.

  Issue four November 2009

  A look at the programme so far; issues raised, areas of debate embarked on, and issues for the future. There is a look at the implications of Curriculum for Excellence on the wider workforce, and about how the General Teaching Council for Scotland aims to develop its role, as 'education' becomes a broader term. The issue takes a look at the relationship between schools and out of school care, and about the role of playgroups. There is debate about future regulation of the children's sector workforce, a look at examples of successful pedagogy pilots, and at graduate training for professionals which utilises a common core curriculum prior to specialism.

  Issue five April 2010

  In this issue, a chance to think about the way ahead. There is a look at the implications of going forward with a Scottish pedagogy model, and an honest examination from professionals as to the advantages and challenges in making this work. The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework provide practical advice and support for employers and staff to ensure that all learning – formal or otherwise – is recognised, and can be easily compared. There is also help from Skills Development Scotland for those who seek flexibility within their existing career. The importance of dance pedagogy is explored by the Scottish Arts Council, and there is a look at how professional development and the early childhood pedagogy model are being revised and updated in Italy, while retaining their fundamental structure. And, find out how Quarriers deal with the difficulties of working in a sector where the lack of one coherent framework results in staff not being equally rewarded, despite carrying out similar roles, and what their suggested way forward is.

   

• Seminars in Stirling, Aberdeen and Glasgow focusing on different parts of the workforce
• A major conference on 4 March 2009 exploring workforce development at national and international level
• Articles exploring workforce development in the Children in Scotland monthly magazine.

This programme of work builds on ideas put forward in the book Working it out: developing the children's sector workforce.