Young Inspectors’ Programme: “Because kids know what schools should be like for kids” Steph Kirkham, Development Consultant, sparqs Maxine Jolly, Senior Education Office, Education Scotland Matt Reid, Education Support Officer, Aberdeen City Council

Rationale “Because kids know what schools should be like for kids” (P6 pupil) As part of the Scottish Government’s programme we are developing a young inspectors programme. We want to engage even more with children and young people to listen to their views about how to improve Scottish education. MAXINE We are fully committed to the rights of Scotland’s children and young people to share their views about what is important to them in their lives. Having increased opportunities for them to shape improved educational experiences of all Scotland’s children and young people is central to this.

Purpose Ensuring children and young people are actively involved in on-going self-evaluation activities leading to improvement initially by:- Taking part in reciprocal visits to other schools to identify what is working well, areas for improvement and highly effective practice To promote ways that children and young people can be involved in school inspections MAXINE Feedback was given to inspectors about the views of young people about the current inspection model, and how they would like to b more involved in the process

3 authorities (Aberdeen, Glasgow and Moray) Work to date 170 children’s views 10 schools 3 authorities (Aberdeen, Glasgow and Moray) Pilot in Aberdeen MAXINE The children and young people came from a wide range of backgrounds and abilities. 170 children have put forward their ideas about the current inspection model and how they could contribute to inspections and school improvement in the future. Ten schools across three authorities (Aberdeen City, Glasgow and Moray) have been visited Work has already begun in Aberdeen to develop the programme

Work to date Planning Visits Training Reciprocal visits A pilot of 3 secondary schools and 16 primary schools has been carried out in Aberdeen. Training Planning Visits Reciprocal visits MATT – After an initial invitation to participate in the pilot was sent to LAs, we leapt at the chance to be involved at this important and innovative approach to embedding pupil voice in school improvement. During the first phase of the pilot we approached secondary schools and invited them to participate. This was a targeted approach to ensure that the schools participating were mixed in terms of context, community and also involvement with RRSA. The schools approached were all keen to participate and they worked collectively as a trio throughout the pilot. Once the schools were identified, we met together to discuss and identify a shared theme for the visits. ‘Relationships’ was agreed to be the focus for all schools. We also discussed how pupils would be selected to be involved in the pilot, training needs and practical things around travel, lunches, support etc. The invitation to participate went out to all primary schools in the city with an initial view to involve 6. However, interest was so high that we finally involved 16 in the pilot. These schools came from all parts of the city and represented a very diverse and representative group. Throughout the pilot, these schools were broken into two cohorts of schools – 8 in each. The schools were partnered for the purposes of the reciprocal visits and the schools were matched, primarily, with a view to them being quite different from one another in terms of school community, parts of the city, involvement in national awards such as RRSA (where possible) to provide them with a two quite different experiences. They were also selected so that no two schools were partnered within their own Associated Schools Group. Similar meetings took place to identify themes, training needs etc.

Representing the views of others Training Representing the views of others Respecting privacy Safeguarding Giving feedback PRIMARY example – PLAY VIDEO 0.30-1.01 Sparqs were delighted contribute to the pilot and we worked closely with Maxine and Matt and all the research we collected was used to created a unique set of materials for use within Schools. As Eve mentioned earlier, sparqs works with institutions to look at how they hear and harness the voice of their learners and a main facet of this involved equipping pupils with the skills to be critical learners and communicators to ensure that the best learning experience is on offer. One of the main ways to do this is through giving feedback, focusing on the appropriate elements and in a way that everyone understands. Therefore, the training focussed on areas including: Representing the views of others Respecting privacy Safeguarding Giving feedback Improving the learning experience Training was delivered to the whole group, allowing the schools involved in the reciprocal visits to get to know each other and begin sharing practice and building relationships ensuring our YLLs were able to meet their peers and further develop relevant skills including communication, listening, networking, presentation – preparing them for their future visits.

Training YLLs depicted the attributes of an effective young leader of learning STEPH Interactive activities encouraged YLLs to consider their roles and work together to develop their skills – this activity is the one which all YLLs particularly enjoyed. The theme being covered by the pilot was relationships and the groups came together to share the systems and mechanisms within their own schools which facilitate and support the theme. We also began to look at how we would demonstrate this during the reciprocal visit and this was picked up further at the planning visit stage.

Planning Visits MATT/STEPH Each school received a planning visit which included all 8 YLLs, the lead school contact and was facilitate by either the Education Scotland lead, Aberdeen City Council lead or spaqs. Led by the young peoples input, they highlighted the areas which they would like to showcase to their visiting school and how they would like to do that. The group had to consider what they would like to demonstrate on a school tour, what would be best placed through a focus group and what they would like to cover in a presentation/showcase session. From here, the young people and their staff worked together ahead of the visit Please see some of the tools we used to support this session.

Reciprocal visits School tour Focus Groups Group discussion Giving feedback MATT/STEPH PLAY VIDEO 2.16-3.50 During the day, YLLs gather thoughts on what they found to work well in the school and areas which could be developed around the theme. They lead a discussion with their peers from the reciprocal school to discuss their findings and suggestions. This is an example from a secondary school visit. During the visit YLLs reflect on the questions that relate to the theme, and to make note of the strengths and examples they see The day is facilitated to ensure that all children have a say during the visit and engage with their reciprocal school and staff

Reciprocal visits Giving feedback MATT/STEPH PLAY VIDEO 2.16-3.50 Following discussion with their peers and highlighting some key areas of strength and development, the visiting school feedback to SMT. The host school then work with their YLLs to implement change to improve their learning experience. Throughout the pilot, we discovered that certain methods worked better than others and found that a student facing resource was useful following the visit to further reinforce student ownership of the process .

Closing the feedback loop Working with feedback Implementing change Sharing information Closing the feedback loop Schools have begun to discuss how they will build on the visits and share the action points with the rest of the school.

Student feedback PLAY 3.50 onwards is secondary school feedback

Student feedback PLAY VIDEO 5.47-6.23

Questions Steph Kirkham, Development Consultant, sparqs Maxine Jolly, Senior Education Office, Education Scotland Matt Reid, Education Support Officer, Aberdeen City Council