Eliot StarkChief Executive

Volunteer Development East Lothian

VAS Board MemberWith responsibility for

Youth and Youth Volunteering

Pebble in the Pond

Opportunity and the Curriculum for Excellence

Policy Context

The Christie Commission

The Commission believes Scotland's public services are in need of urgent and sustained reform to meet unprecedented challenges.The pressure on budgets is intense and public spending is not expected to return to 2010 levels in real terms for 16 years. In addition, new demographic and social pressures will entail a huge increase in the demand for public services. The economic downturn will also intensify and prolong demand.Unless Scotland embraces a radical, new, collaborative culture throughout our public services, both budgets and provision will buckle under the strain.

Service Design Context

Co-production

Social Capital

Co-production

Co-production essentially describes a relationship between service provider and service user that draws on the knowledge, ability and resources of both to develop solutions to issues that are claimed to be successful, sustainable and cost-effective, changing the balance of power from the professional towards the service user. The approach is used in work with both individuals and communities.

Social Capital

The central thesis of social capital theory is that 'relationships matter'. The central idea is that 'social networks are a valuable asset'. Interaction enables people to build communities, to commit themselves to each other, and to knit the social fabric. A sense of belonging and the concrete experience of social networks (and the relationships of trust and tolerance that can be involved) can, it is argued, bring great benefits to people.

Trust between individuals thus becomes trust between strangers and trust of a broad fabric of social institutions; ultimately, it becomes a shared set of values, virtues, and expectations within society as a whole. Without this interaction, on the other hand, trust decays; at a certain point, this decay begins to manifest itself in serious social problems… The concept of social capital contends that building or rebuilding community and trust requires face-to-face encounters.

Why social capital is important

First, social capital allows citizens to resolve collective problems more easily… People often might be better off if they cooperate, with each doing her share. ...Second, social capital greases the wheels that allow communities to advance smoothly. Where people are trusting and trustworthy, and where they are subject to repeated interactions with fellow citizens, everyday business and social transactions are less costly….A third way is which social capital improves our lot is by widening our awareness of the many ways in which our fates are linked... When people lack connection to others, they are unable to test the veracity of their own views, whether in the give or take of casual conversation or in more formal deliberation. Without such an opportunity, people are more likely to be swayed by their worse impulses….The networks that constitute social capital also serve as conduits for the flow of helpful information that facilitates achieving our goals

Curriculum for Excellence

The early years of a child's life lay the foundations of skills for learning, life and work and have a major bearing on wider outcomes, including employment.

Adults working with Scotland's youngest children should recognise the impact and importance their work has, now and indeed for the rest of children's lives. 

In order for staff to be confident that they are providing the best experiences for babies and children, they need to know why it is essential that they get it right for every child in these most critical years.

Curriculum for Excellence

Curriculum for Excellence aims to achieve a transformation in education in Scotland by providing a coherent, more flexible and enriched curriculum from 3 to 18.

The curriculum includes the totality of experiences which are planned for children and young people through their education, wherever they are being educated

The curriculum 3-18

Curriculum for Excellence provides the framework for learning for all children and young people in Scotland aged 3 to 18. It includes all of the experiences which are planned for learners, wherever they are being educated.

Developing skills and attributes

The curriculum aims to ensure that all children and young people in Scotland develop the attributes, knowledge and skills they will need to flourish in life, learning and work. This is encapsulated in the four capacities – to enable each child or young person to be a successful learner, a confident individual, a responsible citizen and an effective contributor.

Achievement through learning for young people

Young people have an ongoing entitlement to develop their skills for learning, skills for life and skills for work in the setting that is best suited to their needs and aspirations.

For some young people, this will mean staying in school for S5 and S6; for others it will mean further or higher education, work-based learning, volunteering, or learning in a community or third sector setting.

Youth workers play an important role in identifying and supporting the needs of individual learners, to ensure they are given the right opportunities to learn and develop.

The totality of experiences

The curriculum includes all of the experiences which are planned for children and young people through their education, wherever they are being educated. These experiences are grouped into four categories.

Curriculum areas and subjects 

The curriculum areas are the organisers for setting out the experiences and outcomes. Each area contributes to the four capacities.

Interdisciplinary learning 

How the curriculum should include space for learning beyond subject boundaries.

Ethos and life of the school 

The starting point for learning is a positive ethos and climate of respect and trust based upon shared values across the school community.

Opportunities for personal achievement Pupils need opportunities for achievements both in the classroom and beyond, giving them a sense of satisfaction and building motivation, resilience and confidence.Added to this, because children learn through all of their experiences - in the family and community, pre-school centre, nursery and school - the curriculum aims to recognise and complement the contributions that these experiences can make

Supporting learning throughout our lives

Learning begins at birth and continues throughout our lives. Scottish Government education strategy, and the curriculum frameworks that deliver it, recognise that learning is lifelong, and are designed to help learners develop the skills they need for learning, life and work.

The pre-birth to three framework, 3-18 curriculum, and the national guidance and frameworks which support adult learning and community learning and development, which together form the curriculum in Scotland.

East Lothian Saltire Work

Senior Phase Saltire Projects

Wednesday Group – 8 period curriculum Thursday Group - – 8 period curriculum

S6 Volunteering Programme – 6 High Schools

Leadership with Young Women Group - Haddington and Dunbar clusters

Environmental Volunteering -Know Yourself Grow Your Own

Change Fund for Older People - Intergenerational project

Saltire Ambassadors

Universal service for 12 -25 year old volunteers

Current Funders of VDEL in Youth

BIG in ScotlandRank FoundationRobertson Trust

Paul Hamlyn FoundationELC Education and Children's Services

ELC Community WellbeingEast Lothian Change Fund for Older People

Group Work

Q1

Identify opportunities for developing volunteering work with children and young people in your LA

Group Work

Q2

What barriers might need to be overcome to achieve this?

Group Work

Q3

What support and training would enable the above?

Q and A

Partners in Co-production and Social Capital in East Lothian

Children, Young People and Communities in East LothianElvonSocial Enterprise in East LothianEast Lothian and National Enterprising Voluntary SectorEast Lothian Council – Education and Children's Services, Adult Social Care, Economic Development, CLD, Community Wellbeing, Local SchoolsEast Lothian Learning PartnershipEdinburgh College (formerly Jewel and Esk CollegeQueen Margaret UniversityScottish GovernmentSCVONHS LothianEast Lothian Independent SectorLocal Business SectorJob Centre +SDSLothian and Borders Police

Pebbles in the Pond