Our friends and colleagues in Clackmannanshire and Stirling may or may not be aware that the current council has, with reluctance, been unable to renew their invitation for us to run ‘Designing for Learning’ courses in the next session.

However, after receiving a number of enquiries, we wish to make it clear that we are still available to design and facilitate events for schools and settings who feel they would continue to benefit from our training - both as individual establishments and as part of collaborative clusters/learning communities.

We have experienced a fantastic six years working alongside educators and leaders in both local authorities and it is our heartfelt desire to maintain progress and the professional relationships we have nurtured.

We are already looking forward to working with those who contacted us on our last visit and are also in discussion with others who are proactively exploring alternative funding options. We will keep people informed of future developments and opportunities as they occur.
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Finally, we would like to wish all Scottish educators an enjoyable summer vacation, which, we believe, begins this week!
Lynne and Andrew

A privilege to be invited along to the RSA Creative Collaboration/NAHT event in Cardiff Bay this afternoon. Keynote by Processor Graham Donaldson, schools sharing practice in a #speedlearning carousel...and sweets handed out by Andrew, of course! If anyone is interested in downloading our 'Big Picture' overview of 'A Curriculum for Wales' (127-ish pages on 2 sides), visit our 'Training Events in Wales' page. It seemed popular today. 😀

In response to numerous requests, we are delighted to announce 3 new training events for teachers and educators in Stirling/Clackmannanshire. These have been designed to complement the current  'Designing for Learning Step 1 and 2' Information is available to download below. If you currently work in Stirling/Clackmannanshire and are interested in booking a place, please contact Shona Wallace.

If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to contact us via email.

Always great to be back in Scotland. Thoroughly enjoyed facilitating our first event for the College Development Network. Representatives from colleges across Scotland engaged fully in the discussions focused on 'giving and receiving feedback' - thank you to all involved.

...day 2 with Cohort 10 in Stirling/Clacks.

Andrew had fun working out a novel way to mix up the two groups...which included post-it's inside his waistcoat. Never mind the Lynne-line that attempted to put a stop to my wandering whilst talking! ;-)

…for all involved. 

This week is going to be full of learning for us…and potentially quite challenging. We are preparing ourselves for some uncomfortable moments. 

If you are reading this and know that we are working with you this week, you have no need to worry. The 'learning' is more to do with our peripheral tasks! 

For those of you who have watched with interest during training events as Andrew organises the resource boxes and bans me (Lynne) from even going near them...this week I get to learn! The question is 'who is likely to be more uncomfortable?'.

Andrew is recovering from recent surgery and has been advised not to lift/carry anything for 3 months. We have needed to react positively to this news and reassess how we prepare for events. It has left us reflecting in a very real way on the emotions that occur during moments of new learning - however insignificant the learning may seem to others. 

Learning can definitely be uncomfortable - for all involved. Whether you are the perceived 'teacher' or the 'learner' in the task. In fact, more often than not, the 'teacher' can be equally uncomfortable during new learning situations - the moment when you relinquish control, take that risk and trust your learners to take ownership. Sometimes the most difficult task is knowing when NOT to step in.

So - this week we head to East Sussex. I will be carrying boxes, organising resources and ensuring everything is packed away in the correct place. These tasks are not usually high on my list of priorities. They are not within my preferred skill-set. Yet, I am motivated to learn and to achieve success. 

Motivation and relevance is key to new learning. I'm also pretty sure that I will be needing some 'gentle' guidance, support and recognition of progress this week. And, who knows, I may even develop some muscles as a by-product of my new learning. ;-) 

We shall let the photos tell the story…(you can either read the captions, or create the 2 weeks from the picture prompts alone!)