Education in Orkney could well be entering an “exciting new chapter”, as its education service sets its sites on prioritising “inclusion and wellbeing”.
The local authority’s education committee met this morning and viewed the draft report the council plans to send to the Scottish Government, as part of the National Improvement Framework.
The Scottish Government first published its framework for education in 2016. These set out the government’s vision for the country’s young people and children.
Excellence through raising attainment and achieving equity was at the top of the government’s list.
The council’s report will let the government know how it is working towards the national vision.
But it also sets out how local challenges are being handled and what the council’s education department plans to do about them.
Why is Orkney schooling so dear?
The report was compiled using feedback from stakeholders and inspections by HM inspectorate.
The three main priorities for Orkney’s services, schools and nurseries going forward will be:
• Inclusion and Wellbeing
• Learning and Achievement
• Systems and Processes
Part of the report’s purpose is to set out how the council is achieving the best value for money.
As councillor Graham Bevan said, Orkney council faces many challenges when using its budget to give the county’s young people an educational experience on par with other areas.
Put simply, it costs more. Mr Bevan said the council shouldn’t be afraid of letting the government know that.
He said: “I welcome a challenge to us to explain to everyone about the cost of education in Orkney.
“Too often it is the case that we get flagged up a place where it’s very expensive to education children – which is true.
We shouldn’t apologise for the cost
“But fundamentally the provision in the classroom has to compare with everyone else in the country
“We fly teachers out to islands and we have to pay boats to go back and forth and we run a hostel – all these additional extras.
“It will be good to have them out in the open and explain that we aren’t frugal in education.
“We have a very tight budget and we have to be able to stand up and justify that.
“It’s an entitlement for Orkney pupils to get as good an education as they would get anywhere else. We should not be hiding or apologetic for that expense.”
The report to councillors shows Orkney comparing favourably to the rest of Scotland across many metrics. For example, 84.7% of residents were satisfied with the county’s schools between 2017 and 2020, versus the Scottish average of 71.8%.
However, the numbers also showed a lower percentage of pupils in secondary year three meeting expected literacy levels. The Orkney pupils had 82% while the Scottish average was 87.9%.
‘There is a period of change coming’
The council’s leader James Stockan had concerns that by raising the standards of top achievers in the county, they might risk the attainment gap getting even wider.
The council’s interim head of education, Claire Meakin said this would be solved by prioritising inclusion and wellbeing.
She said: “By prioritising individual support we’ll raise everybody’s outcome. Yes, we’ll boost those at the top and we’ll get the very best grades, as we do already.
“But by individualising and personalising support we will see everybody increase”
The council leader said, what the report says to him, is that some of the ways the education department has been doing things for years, may be about to change.
“We took certain routes for inclusion 20-odd years ago. If that’s beginning to change because there’s something better for the individual and for raising attainment and for closing the gap, that’s a really positive place for this committee to be.”
These comments were echoed by the council’s director of education, James Wylie.
He said: “The piece of work highlights an exciting new chapter. I share the view the leader is highlighting that there’s a period of change coming.”
The council is now looking to get their report to the Scottish Government by the end of this month.
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