6. How well do staff work with others to support the learning of children, young people and adults?

• Leadership of a partnership needs to be shared, with collective responsibility for the effectiveness of the partnership.
• Curriculum for Excellence expects that partners will together plan appropriate learning and teaching to meet the challenges young people will encounter. Partners should include all those who can contribute to delivery of the experiences and outcomes. It includes, for example, further education colleges, Skills Development Scotland, youth work staff, health professionals, community police, voluntary sector providers, training providers, children’s services partnerships, parents, employers and community learning providers. Learners themselves are key partners in their own learning.
• Better partnership working is needed across statutory and community/ voluntary sectors to share and access services for children and families. To develop this approach, strategic integrated working will have to increase with the community and voluntary sector, and community police, building on the GIRFEC practice approach.
• Staff need to fully involve health, educational psychological services and social work services in implementing the Additional Support for Learning Act. Other agencies, particularly the voluntary sector, need to involve parents and provide them and their children with more information about their rights under the new legislation and about the different plans and programmes being used. Agreements are needed with independent providers about drawing up and using coordinated support plans (CSPs) effectively for children and young people in residential schools or secure accommodation.

• Partners planning to ensure a shared understanding of everyone’s roles in supporting children and young people so that partnerships are successful both operationally and strategically, and are sustainable.
• In establishments and services, a key professional ensures that information is gathered and shared with due regard to confidentiality. Communication protocols and clear information is used effectively to support children and families.
• Establishments and services have staged intervention processes to ensure timely and effective intervention for the child or young person by all relevant agencies working together.

Where HMIE has identified good practice in almost any area of education, effective partnership working has been at its heart.

We know that many effective partnerships exist. In the best practice, these are supported by clear protocols for data sharing and for the frequency, structure and purpose of meetings. They are further supported by procedures to evaluate the impact of the partnership. In these circumstances partnerships thrive and are effective. However, too often partnerships which are successful at an operational level depend on the personalities of the people on the ground, and on personal networking skills. These can become less effective when key staff leave. Obviously, the learner is a key partner in his or her own learning, and this is increasingly being recognised.

The development of the Early Years Framework has given a significant focus to joint working across early years, support services and other professionals, in how to improve the way children’s needs are met at the earliest possible stage. The impact on coordinating effective, early support for children, young people and their families is clear. It leads to better learning, fewer absences and exclusions, and better mutual understanding. Likewise, partnership working between community learning and development, colleges and the voluntary sector have improved outcomes for adult learners. The implementation of the Parental Involvement Act 2006 has led to many schools adopting more flexible and relevant approaches to working with parents. However, there are still groups of parents who find it hard to engage with establishments for various reasons.

Partnership working needs to improve through more training, and better accountability and leadership. It is still rare to find joint training so that staff in all agencies understand clearly what each other do and how they can work together. Partners need to take joint responsibility for positive outcomes for learners. Weaknesses identified in many Child Protection inspections often arise through partners not taking a joint responsibility for leadership of effective partnerships.

Getting it Right for Every Child places a clear obligation on all partners to support individual children and young people. It gives more accountability for the team round the young person through the role of the lead professional. Better outcomes for children and young people needing protection are strongly linked to effective partnerships and joint working.

As partners develop Curriculum for Excellence, each has to be clear on how their work links together to deliver a coherent learning experience for all children and young people.

Below are links to video clips from Journey to Excellence and other good practice resources. Each clip will lead you to related clips. Feel free to explore as much as you have time for, but do try to look at clips from areas you may not be entirely familiar with.

1. To what extent do all staff within my establishment or service seek creative ways of working together to benefit pupils, particularly as Curriculum for Excellence is implemented? Which partners should be involved but aren’t? Are there partners about whom I know very little? Are there potential partners around, but I simply don’t know what they could contribute?

2. How do I ensure that children and young people experience coherent and progressive curricular programmes, consistent learning approaches and appropriate levels of challenge when they transfer from one establishment or service to another? Which transitions are strongest, and where do weaknesses lie? Where young people are partly, or wholly, educated in offsite provision, is someone maintaining an overview of their progress and giving appropriate personal support?

3. How good is the understanding of the individual and shared roles of my partners and me in ensuring that children are safe, healthy, active, nurtured, achieving, respected, responsible and included? Do we have clear protocols for partnership working that we are all signed up to, or ideas to improve these? Are there good communication networks amongst partners, or are some hard to reach? Are all my partners fully committed to improving outcomes for all learners, or is it a low priority for some? How well do I and my colleagues understand the principles and practice of Girfec?

4. How well do I involve the children and young people and their parents (including corporate parents and carers) as partners, especially those who are disengaged and disaffected? Are parents and carers engaged quickly enough when intervention is required? How well are we supporting the learning of parents? How well do we help parents to understand any particular needs their children may have? Do the leaders of my establishment or service help contacts with parents through setting the right tone and encouraging openness?