Professional Learning Award for Organisations
This award celebrates Organisations which support and promote teacher professional learning. The GTCS award identifies organisations which aim through their work:
"to develop and enhance teachers' knowledge, expertise and skill; develop their professionalism, and to impact positively on learning experiences and outcomes of children and young people" (GTCS Professional Learning Model 2017).
The GTCS Professional Learning Model provides coherent guidance on what high quality, effective professional learning looks like. It identifies the core purposes and principles of learning and offers strategic guidance for teachers and leaders on how to support, structure and plan for professional learning. It requires teachers' learning to be:
- Purposeful and focussed on outcomes and impact
- Aligned to the needs of the children and young people and their context
- Sustained and high quality
- Flexible and diverse
- Relevant and meaningful for the individual
- Develop knowledge and expertise, enhance practices, build on strengths and pursue interests
Application for the Professional Learning Award
Successful Organisations are provided with the GTCS quality mark for professional learning to use to promote their work. Teachers and leaders can be confident that organisations holding this quality mark have been through a rigorous application process and demonstrated that the key features of high quality, effective professional learning are embedded into the principles of programme design and the programmes on offer.
The Organisation is required to demonstrate how they support professional learning for teachers in order to assess its suitability for the award.
GTCS Scotland requires a number of key features from the Professional Learning Model to be demonstrated as part of the application process for the award. The Professional Learning Award for Organisations application form should be completes and submitted to education.support@gtcs.org.uk
Professional Learning Award for Organisations Panel dates
Panels are held in GTC Scotland's offices six times a year and full details can be found tin the Application Guidance. Panel dates are as follows and panel availability is limited to three organisation per session, so it is advisable to book in advance.
- 2 October 2018
- 15 November 2018
Professional Learning Award Organisations
2018
Dyslexia Scotland
Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
Scotland's Enterprising Schools
Scottish Film Education
Tapestry Partnership
The Scottish Schools Education Research Centre (SSERC)
SSERC, formally constituted as a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee and a registered Scottish Charity set up for the benefit of Scottish Education, is wholly owned by the 32 Scottish Local Authorities.
SSERC offers a broad portfolio of services, principally in support of the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) areas of the curriculum and these can be broken down into three main stands of activity:
- Provision of Career Long Professional Learning (CLPL) for early years, primary and secondary teachers and school and college technicians
- An Advisory Service
- Lead coordination role, on behalf of STEM Learning, for STEM Ambassadors in Scotland and wider STEM engagement activities.
Career Long Professional Learning
SSERC works with a range of partners, including the Scottish Government, National STEM Learning Centre, The Primary Science Teaching Trust, and others to deliver a programme of experiential CLPL for early years, primary and secondary teachers, student teachers and technicians focussing on STEM.
SSERC’s CLPL portfolio includes:
- Courses for probationer and newly qualified teachers
- Subject specific courses for teachers in primary and secondary sectors
- Transition courses to promote enhanced interaction between primary and secondary practitioners
- The annual Scottish Universities Science School
- Health and Safety courses for teachers and technicians
- Design and manufacturing courses for technology teachers
- Courses targeted at science and technology support staff (many of these courses are levelled and credit-rated by SQA within the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework)
- Leadership courses for Curriculum Leaders and Heads of Faculty
- The annual SSERC Science and Technology Conference
Advisory Service
SSERC believes that health and safety legislation should not be a barrier to the provision of valuable learning experiences for young people and we offer a range of training courses and guidance materials which discourage bureaucratic and over complex methods of risk management.
SSERC’s range of services includes:
- Specialist Health & Safety advice
- Access to specialist advisors in Primary Science, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Technology, Technician Services and Health and Safety
- Guidance and compliance advice for Radiological Health & Safety legislation through our Radiation Protection Adviser
- Curriculum support materials, Health & Safety advice and resources e.g. exemplar Risk Assessments for both specific subject and whole school activities
- Recommendations on equipment and design of specialist accommodation.
- Apparatus testing for safety, performance and conformance with standards.
STEM Ambassador Programme Liaison Lead in Scotland
SSERC works in partnership with the three Scottish STEM Ambassador Hubs to ensure a seamless offering to support the education community.
STEM Ambassadors work with young people to bring STEM subjects alive through real life experiences. They are volunteers representing a vast range of STEM-related jobs across the UK. Our Ambassadors include apprentices, zoologists, set designers, climate change scientists, engineers, farmers, geologists, nuclear physicists and architects. They help to open the doors to a world of opportunities and possibilities which come from pursuing STEM subjects and careers. STEM Ambassadors work with young people to bring STEM subjects alive through real life experiences.
Tapestry Partnership
"Weaving the threads of education"
Tapestry is one of Scotland's key providers of Quality Career-Long Professional Learning. All of our programmes for teachers have been presented to the General Teaching Council for Scotland for Professional Recognition and are benchmarked at SCQF Level 11.
Tapestry works in partnership with Scotland's local authorities and schools to complement existing good practice and develop programmes of study which are collaborative in nature and build a "whole-school approach". Some 30 of Scotland's local authorities have worked with Tapestry in the progression of programmes and all local authorities have attended Tapestry National Conferences to learn from educational world-leaders such as Professors Jerome Bruner, Howard Gardner, David Perkins and Sir Tim Brighouse.
"Tapestry is a change agent, a positive force for effective innovation and creativity in education and platform for world leading new ideas in Scottish schools" = Dr Keir Bloomer
All Tapestry programmes have Key Advisors, who are either nationally or internationally recognised leaders in the field, for example Professor Dylan Wiliam and Mark Church from Project Zero at Harvard University. Professor Graham Donaldson will be the Key Advisor in a new programme which is planned for 2019. All programmes have a proven research basis and each programme is written to meet the specific needs of a local authority or school.
Tapestry offers the following Leading Learning programmes - Improving Teacher Professional Judgement, Improving Pedagogy, Making Thinking Visible and Leading Learning in the School - Through the Lens of Middle Leadership. These programmes for teachers carry GTCS Professional Recognition. In addition, Tapestry offers programmes for all those who work with children and young people e.g. Music Instructors, Early Years Workers, Support for Learning Workers/Assistants and Community Learning and Development Officers/ Workers.
An important part of Tapestry's mission is to ensure that there is a collaborative approach to the planning and delivery of each programme. Initial strategic preparation takes place to ensure that a meaningful partnership takes place. All programmes are evaluated by the participants and there are qualitative and quantitative Interim and Final Evaluations produced for each local authority or school. These evaluations demonstrate the impact of the programmes on classroom practice and involve the teacher's voice, the whole school approach and above all, the voiced of the pupils. These evaluations also shape the continuous and ongoing improvement of all Tapestry programmes.
Tapestry is honoured to be a recipient of the GTCS Professional Learning Award for Organisations and will constantly strive to develop in its practice.
Dyslexia Scotland
Dyslexia Scotland is a national Scottish charity which aims to inspire and enable people with dyslexia, regardless of age and ability, to reach their potential in education, employment and life. It provides information, advice, training and support for people with dyslexia and those who support them in their life, learning and work.
Our Strategic Aims and Strategic Plan for 2018 – 2021 can be found here
As part of our second strategic aim, ‘To influence and achieve national and local positive change’, we work closely with partners such as the Scottish Government, Education Scotland, GTCS, CLD Standards for Scotland. For example, we are a key partner in a national collaborative working group taking forward the 5 interlinked recommendations of a 2014 Education Scotland review, ‘Making Sense: Education for children and young people with dyslexia in Scotland’
Our Professional learning programmes for teachers include:
Dyslexia and Inclusive practice pilot
A group of 30 teachers are taking part in a year-long Professional Recognition pilot. Run in partnership with GTCS, the Scottish Government and Education Scotland, this pilot aims to develop, implement and oversee a cohort of teaching professionals in Scotland to identify and support learners with dyslexia. The pilot participants are required to carry out action research projects as part of the programme. This pilot runs until October 2018, after which the programme will be reviewed.