Character Scotland
David Lorimer attended this one-day event in London with keynote addresses and a choice of workshops. Following the demise of the bill to make PSHE statutory in the run-up to the election, Jan Campbell, chair of PSHE education Strategic Partners Group, observed that the association had to be pragmatic and align its priorities with those of the new coalition government. Incidentally, the acronym PSHE now includes economic education. Margaret Jones from OFSTED explained the evaluation framework for schools, which includes the pupils being aspirational, knowing precisely what they need to do and being determined to succeed. Fergus Crow spoke about PSHE education and well-being and we had a pithy statement from Eliot Payne giving a learner’s perspective. A recurring theme was the professionalisation and training of teachers, since the subject is frequently and wrongly considered peripheral. The danger would be in going to the other extreme and losing the spirit of the subject. Those looking for a way to communicate with heads were advised to do us harm innovation and transformation. You can download conference materials from
http://www.pshe-association.org.uk/
Character Education Scotland News
