East Renfrewshire: Confident to Earn

What is this?

Confident to Earn is an initiative to create curriculum materials that unite the areas of citizenship, creativity and enterprise. The curriculum materials will educate young people and encourage them to develop their views to take positive risks in tackling their own employability and employment. There will be a curriculum package for primary schools and curriculum inserts for secondary schools on philosophical enquiry based on enterprise.

FLaT involvement?

FLaT support is provided to extend philosophical enquiry methods and to create new curriculum materials for primary schools.

Links with National Priorities?

1. Achievement & Attainment;
2. Framework for Learning;
3. Inclusion and Equality;
4. Values and Citizenship;
5. Learning for Life.

Project aims?

To develop higher academic performance and higher attainment by pupils becoming more autonomous and conscientious thinkers
To create pupils that are more creative, especially in creative thinking
To promote a more enterprising culture within schools through developing listening skills and expertise in questioning analysis of potential
To provide for better citizens by cultivating social and intellectual conscience
To provide new curriculum design materials which are relevant to the 21st century
To share these materials with other schools
To provide a prototype for creative creativity enterprising citizenship
To develop risk taking strategies which are positive and which are within the fabric of schools

Project outcomes?

Attainment will be raised especially the performance of boys in external examinations because of their involvement in enterprise activity
Staff in schools would have significant development and be able to contribute to their continuing professional profiles
There would be a significant contribution to the ethos of achievement and fairness in educational establishments
The quality of learning and teaching will be improved
Schools will be more inclusive in that the curriculum which is the key to inclusion will be broadened
Citizenship, values and citizen skills will be taught in the curriculum
Parents will have a better understanding of what school is for
Pupils will be motivated to attend school
Attainment of pupils with additional support needs will be improved Self-discipline of pupils and social gains will take place
There will be a major contribution to regeneration and to supporting pupils in areas of deprivation
The risk taking element will encourage enterprise of pupils living in lower socio-economic areas
Pupils will be more creative and more inventive and have more positive attitudes to enterprise activities

Timescale?

The project started in January 2005 and will continue until December 2006.

Level of Support?

FLaT support is a grant of £160,000 plus the costs of external evaluation

Who are the evaluation team?

Not yet appointed

Contact person:

Stuart Allison, Head of Education Services (Children and Young People), East Renfrewshire Council, Education Department, 211 Main Street, Barrhead G78 1SY. Tel: 0141 577 3252. Email: Stuart.Allison@eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk

Project Resources

‘Thinking Adventures’ provides a 10 lesson course which develops pupils’ listening and talking skills, collaboration skills, reasoning skills, communication skills and their philosophical understanding. The core element of the course is provided by extracts from ‘John’s Story’ – a philosophical story which presents readers with a range of recognisable social, moral and intellectual paradoxes and dilemmas which young teenagers might face in their everyday life. The exercises and activities in each lesson are structured stage by stage to develop pupils’ abilities to think about and solve such dilemmas, to collaborate with others, and to become confident, active, effective, moral citizens, who respect others and have the tools to create their own futures.

The ‘ Teachers Guide to Thinking Adventures’ provides a step by step guide in how to implement ‘Thinking Adventures’.

PDF: Teacher's Guide to Thinking Adventures (1.2 MB)

PDF File: Thinking Adventures (850 KB)