Chamber and committees

Skills Development Scotland (SDS) advisers are continuing to proactively engage with school leavers, reaching out via telephone, SMS and email offering dedicated 1-2-1 transition support and planning for their next steps. SDS is continuing to work with school and Local Authority partners to ensure support is coordinated and achieves the best outcome for each pupil.

School leavers are able to access direct support over the phone and through the national online career information and advice service My World of Work. A national campaign to promote both the SDS helpline and My World of Work commenced on 13 May. Advertising ran on television, radio, online and through social media. A campaign toolkit was also circulated to school, local authorities and DYW groups, with strong engagement levels on social media platforms. The campaign ran for an initial period of 4 weeks with a further week of activity scheduled for early July.

With senior phase pupils set to receive their SQA Results on the 4 th August, SDS will offer direct support to pupils, parents and carers via the annual Results Helpline. Working in partnership with the SQA, every pupil receiving their results will receive information about the helpline – through post, text or email. SDS will also build on its annual social media campaign to ensure widespread awareness of the helpline.

SDS continues to engage with Directors of Education and schools across Scotland, planning and coordinating transition support and service delivery for the new academic year.

The Scottish Government has regular discussions with Education Scotland as well as other stakeholders part of the Covid-19 Education Recover Group regarding support required for teachers and classroom assistants to support blended learning when schooling resumes. This includes a Workforce Support workstream which has been looking at professional learning and wellbeing support for the education profession.

In May, Education Scotland launched Scotland Learns ; a resource bank of straightforward, open-ended learning activities which are challenging, and that develop children’s and young people’s independence in learning. These learning activities are designed to support learning that takes place outwith the classroom.

To support schools to deliver new models of blended learning Education Scotland has temporarily suspended all early learning and school inspections from August 2020. HM Inspectors of Education will provide bespoke support to schools and contribute, with others, to the overall recovery of the education system. The programme of support will be targeted at helping schools as they implement their plans for recovery and continuity of educational provision. Inspections will resume during school year 2020/21 when it is safe and appropriate to do so.

Education Scotland has published Learning and Teaching online: Advice for practitioners. A series of webinars have been delivered to support practitioners, including topics such as digital literacy skills, evidencing learning using i-pads, and getting the most out of GLOW. Over the month of June the scheduled webinars cover a range of curricular areas, all of which will consider the approach to blended learning to support practitioners.

In addition, Education Scotland has facilitated a series of ‘Blethers’ which have taken place during May and June with over 600 staff registered to attend. These ‘Blethers’ provide an opportunity for practitioners across Scotland to engage virtually in themed discussions. Three of these ‘Blethers’ had a specific focus on blended learning, and they were designed to bring practitioners together to share their ideas and current practice and to learn from each other.

Current Professional Learning and Leadership programmes have highlighted aspects of blended learning within current programme delivery. For example, the 200 practitioners who have engaged in the 2019/20 Teacher Leadership programme have gained experience from the blended learning model of delivery throughout the programme and the 2020/21 programme resources are being updated to include an exploration of blended learning in the classroom.

The Excellence in Headship programme, an established professional learning programme available to all headteachers in Scotland, has launched a series of ‘Headspace’ sessions where school leaders are given time and space to meet and discuss key areas.

Education Scotland has published Professional Learning Activities (PLAs) on the Education Scotland Professional Learning Resource which support the delivery of online learning, including Effective Online Learning. Further PLAs including: Using Glow to Support Learning and Teaching, Delivering Learning and Teaching Online and Family Learning – Learning at Home, will shortly be published.

Education Scotland will continue to respond proactively to professional learning requests from practitioners across the country. As part of the Scottish Government Education Recovery Group, Education Scotland has worked with all partners represented on Workstream 6: Workforce Support to publish a joint communication outlining learning opportunities:

https://education.gov.scot/education-scotland/news-and-events/survey-on-additional-support/ . This joint communication includes a survey link for Scotland’s education workforce to find out what additional training and wellbeing support is needed.

Detailed work is on-going to assess the full extent of digital exclusion amongst children and young people across Scotland. The Scottish Government is currently working closely with local authorities through SOLACE and COSLA to determine who is most in need of this kind of support, who should benefit from the first tranche of investment and to establish how we can ensure they get that support as soon as possible.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-29652 on 15 June 2020. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

The LTT programme is delivered by the University of Dundee and they are currently engaging with all those authorities in Scotland wanting to utilise this programme to address their local primary teacher workforce needs. To date 184 local authority staff have joined the programme from across Scotland and the University is planning on a further intake in January 2022.

A relaxation of restrictions on home moves is anticipated in phase 2 of the recovery plan, as set out in Scotland’s route map through and out of the crisis, published on 21 May. Restrictions will only be relaxed if the virus remains suppressed and the evidence allows us to do so. During phase 1, estate agents should continue to follow the Scottish Government guidance published on 31 March: https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19
-guidance-moving-home/ .

We have ensured that school leavers have access to support directly from a Skills Development Scotland (SDS) professional careers advisors and we have taken steps to ensure they will continue to have access to this support during these times.

SDS are operating an expanded helpline (0800 917 8000), offering individuals direct access to career support from SDS expert advisers. The helpline is specifically aimed at those whose future choices or transition from school may have been impacted.

Additionally, SDS’ online resource, My World of Work ( www.myworldofwork.co.uk ), has been updated to direct pupils and school leavers to useful information and advice during this time. There is also a section for parents and carers. Furthermore, a new portal has been developed which helps individuals develop their skills through free online courses from a wide range of training providers.

SDS are also hosting weekly Career Management Skills webinars to support school leavers with the next steps in their career journeys, along with an interim suite of resources for teachers to use with secondary pupils and school leavers.

College websites have been updated to provide information for prospective students, including school leavers about teaching arrangements and the application process. Colleges Scotland also hosted a live Facebook event to provide information to school leavers on 21 May.

Young People can also access support from their local Developing the Young Workforce (DYW) Regional Group who work in partnership with employers to support entry into the labour market. Details can be found at www.DYW.scot .

There are well established communication mechanisms in place between the UK public health agencies to notify one another where a close contact of a case is identified as a resident in another country, in order that follow up investigations can be conducted by the public health agency where the contact is resident.

Authorised post-mortem examinations are undertaken for deaths in hospitals by NHS Boards, where the cause of death is unknown, to establish the medical cause of death.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on post mortem testing of the deceased.

They are also undertaken under the direction of the Procurator Fiscal on relevant cases as part of the investigation into death. This is a matter for the Lord Advocate.