| item |
issues |
action |
| present |
Doug Cameron (Bridge of
Don Academy), Judy Palmer (Bankhead Academy), Gillian Brown (Harlaw Academy), Liz Goodall
(Torry Academy), Louise Franklin (Hazlehead Academy), Mary Thom (Kincorth Academy), Noelle
Straiton (Aberdeen Grammar School), Liz Mieklejohn (Dyce Academy), Sally Gordon (Cults
Academy), Jerry Williams (Carden School), Terry Ashton, Adviser (Guidance and Careers) |
|
| apologies |
Roger Benton, Northfield
Academy |
|
| minutes of previous
meeting |
Matters arising were
- procedures for persistent absenteeism:
- Kincorth still had no home school liaison officer after a long
gap due to the secondment of the permanent postholder
- Despite two Guidance Teachers (Chris Ryburn and
Neil Montgomery) having volunteered to be members of the Aberdeen City group set up to
review the Home school Liaison services, they had received no communication about meetings
- the Guidance team in one school did not seem to have
received the circular about confidentiality of careers information sent to schools at the
beginning of term.
|
Terry would
investigate
Terry would enquire about this
If this could not be located, they would contact Terry to provide another copy
|
| Scottish Guidance
Association (SGA) |
Liz Mieklejohn had
volunteered to be a member of the SGA committee. She spoke positively about the benefits
of membership of the SGA, and encouraged schools to joining. A school membership costs
£25 per year, but individuals can also join. Liz
outlined the types of events which have characterized the annual workshop day (the next
one is on 24 February 2001) and the huge benefits obtained from the various workshops and
from meeting Guidance Teachers from different authorities. The conference day in June (the
next one is on 9 June 2001) is equally beneficial and has one or more high profile
speakers.
The more members the SGA has, the more likely it will be to
be able to represent the views of Guidance Teachers across Scotland. |
Everyone would go beck to
Guidance teams and suggest the possibility of membership – particularly a school
membership. The membership secretary of the SGA is Alex Edwardson at Dumbarton Academy G82
2AJ tel 01389 763981. |
| Sex education |
Terry outlined the
content of draft guidance that has been circulated to schools by Learning and Teaching
Scotland for consultation. They result from the condition attached to the repeal of
Section 2A that the Scottish Executive would provide guidance to local authorities and
schools. There are four documents:
- a Guide for Parents and Carers
- Guidance for Schools and Local Authorities on consultation
with parents and carers
- Summery of National Advice
- Questionnaire
- draft circular from the Scottish Executive
Consultation runs until 22 December, and responses from
individuals and schools are welcomed. Aberdeen City will be submitting a response.
Those who had managed to read the guidance felt that we could
actively support and benefit from it. |
Each person would alert
their Guidance team to the consultation and the content of the documents. Any ideas which
schools/ Guidance teams think should be included in the Aberdeen City response should be
sent to Terry as soon as possible. |
| Craigielea and the
Acorn Project |
Douglas Marshall and Jenny
Bowman of Craigielea described the Acorn Project and referral procedure, and the success
the project seems to be having with young people who are chronic non-attenders. Links
between the project and Guidance/ careers guidance and work experience were discussed. A
leaflet was distributed |
Each person would inform
Guidance teams of the project’s work |
| The Young People’s
Counsellor |
Sandra Mojsiewicz
had recently been appointed as the Young People’s Counsellor in Northfield ASG. The
post is funded under the Excellence Fund (Alternatives to Exclusion) and Sandra is
seconded from her post as Principal Teacher (Guidance) at Bankhead Academy. Sandra described the encouraging start to the project and the
successful low-key publicity, which had been based on speaking to pupils in PSE in the
Academy and discussing her role with teachers. Word of mouth from those pupils who had met
Sandra seemed to be the most effective advertisement. The counselling is via self-referral
(sometimes assisted self-referral) and is confidential unless the pupils wishes the
involvement of others or if there is danger to the pupil or others. Confidentiality is an
important issue for pupils who believe that "teachers tell".
The service is seen as part of pupil support, but also
separate from other things that are offered; pupils seem to be able to work this out quite
satisfactorily.
Demand is high, even though the service has only operated for
six school weeks.
Sandra is also working in two Northfield ASG primary schools
(Quarryhill and Middlefield), where she started by speaking with parents, some of whom had
spoken individually to Sandra to "check her out". In primary too, if a young
person does not want counselling, then it does not continue. After six weeks the caseload
is 6 pupils in each primary school.
Sandra has also spent time talking to various support
agencies, including Child and Family Psychiatry, the Lowit Unit and the IT team.
Sandra made the point that in schools most problems are
rooted in personal issues, and yet schools and Guidance Teachers often deal with the
secondary problems which are more evident and do not often have time to deal with the
primary problem.
The project is being evaluated through the Education
department Psychology Service. |
Each person would
inform Guidance teams of Sandra’s work. The group
invited Sandra to the next Aberdeen Guidance Network meeting to discuss the project again. |
| Guidance policy/
handbook development in Aberdeen |
Terry outlined the
progress made by the Working Group on Guidance/PSE. The group aims to produce a revised
policy/handbook on Guidance during 2001, and has embarked on an extensive consultation
exercise. This began with consultation with young
people through the Student Forum and from the Forum to pupil councils and others in
individual schools. Several primary and secondary schools were also involved in
consultations with class groups of young people carried out and analysed by Rochelle
Maxwell of Cults Academy (unfortunately for the group, Rochelle has now left to live
elsewhere). These consultations were extremely valuable and expertly carried out by
Rochelle.
Consultation with parents has begun with the Parents Forum
and a request for its members to consult with parent bodies in individual schools.
Over the next week or two, a document (circulated at the
meeting) will be distributed to schools and other agencies and organisations with an
interest, to ask for views about Guidance/pastoral care/PSE.
The group’s strategy has been to produce a very
open-ended questionnaire, with a supporting document about the background, rather than to
produce even a draft policy/handbook first.
The Aberdeen Guidance Network members approved this course of
action and noted positively its difference from most other consultation exercises. |
Each person would
inform Guidance teams of the progress with this development and encourage Guidance
Teachers and others to respond to the consultation. They
noted that respondents did not need to answer the whole questionnaire, but simply the
questions they felt they wished to comment upon. |
| Drugs education and
drugs incidents |
Details of the
national drugs strategy and that of Aberdeen Drugs Action team were briefly outlined and
related to the training plan for the Education Department in this area. The group was also alerted to the Scottish Executive’s pack on
Drugs Incidents in Schools, which is just about to be distributed to schools. The tone of
the pack complements very well Aberdeen City’s own policy on Dealing with Drugs
Incidents in Schools, and the two should be read/discussed together.
[Terry forgot to mention also that there is a small group
working on a small booklet for schools about organising drugs awareness evening for
parents – more about this later] |
The group would encourage
Guidance teams to study the pack when it arrived. |
| Action plan for
Aberdeen Guidance Network |
The group discussed
how the 12 development days (6 for Higher Still and 6 for 5-14) allocated to the group
should be used. It was decided that what was really needed in Guidance at the moment in
relation to both Higher Still and 5-14 was a collection of good practice in monitoring
pupil progress through Guidance. It was decided that
the group’s development plan should focus on finding out and publishing as much good
practice as could be gleaned from the authority and around Scotland in a 12 day
secondment, and that a case should be made for combining the Higher Still and 5-14
allocation of days as the issue was relevant throughout secondary school (and indeed in
primary too). |
The group members would
consider whether they wished to be involved in this project, or whether others in their
school might be interested. Terry would write to school Guidance teams with details of the
task required and those interested would contact him as soon as possible. Terry would also
compile and submit an appropriate development plan. more details |
| Progress File |
There was a brief
discussion about Progress File, which all schools should now be doing instead of the
old-style National Record of Achievement. The main points made in the discussion were
- the new format of the final product is not as
professional-looking as the old NRA
- Some people found the pupil booklets of limited use and had
modified materials and developed their own – an entirely satisfactory approach.
- The focus on the process rather than solely on the product was
welcomed.
|
|
| AOCB |
- The issue of confidentiality was raised, and in particular the
issue of transfer of information – not just within the authority but also when pupils
moved form/to schools in other authorities. It was noted that the Confidentiality Working
Group was still part way through its work. The Aberdeen Guidance Network eagerly awaits
the results of their work.
- There was a suggestion that an inservice should be arranged
about electronic UCAS
- There would be no Guidance inservice on the 17 November, but
on 21 February there will be an important inservice about Education for Work – a
national priority area.
|
Terry would investigate the possibility of this, maybe on one of the February inservice
days
|
