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www.educationscotland.gov.uk

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Tackling Bureaucracy – Reporting and Profiling
George Sinclair (Education Scotland) and Robert Hair (AHDS and The Moray Council)
Transforming lives through learning

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Assessment – Key Messages
1. Is integral to learning and teaching
- involves all stakeholders, most importantly the learner
- is ongoing, periodic, at times of transition
1. Builds capacity in practitioners to make professional
judgements underpinned by professional dialogue
- assessment requires a variety of approaches generating
a body of quality evidence
- assessment and moderation are integral to each other
1. Is holistic and informative
- has many purposes, the most important of which is to
support the learner journey
- goes beyond KU alone to include skills, attributes and capabilities
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4.
Profile Written report to parents
Written by young person in partnership with
the school.
Transforming lives through learning
Written by teacher(s)/staff.
At least at P7 and S3 At least once per year.
Provides information on successes in
learning and a reflective summary statement
of achievements, including achievements
beyond school and other awards
Provides clear information and feedback on their
child’s progress and how well he/she is doing
against agreed expectations.
Provides a way for young people to explain
and share their achievements with a range
of people, including parents, teachers and,
at future dates, ongoing education staff and
prospective employers.
Provides an agenda for discussion between
learners and those teaching and supporting them.
The learner has ownership of the profile and
it contains the information that they choose
to share with others
Informs parents of what their child needs to do to
improve and suggesting how parents might help.
Contributes directly to the learning process
by giving each learner an important context
for applying their skills, including literacy.
Young people do not usually provide content
directly for the report.

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Advice and Guidance
Focus remains on improving outcomes for young people through
appropriately supported discussions.
The relationship with an adult who knows the student well is the key to
effective profiling.
Regular dialogue between learners and practitioners should help each
learner to evaluate her/his own achievements,
The process of profiling can be a powerful motivating influence giving
individuals a real sense of personal ownership of their own learning.
Most young people are likely to need guidance to develop their skills in
bringing together the learner statement.
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The format of the profile
The profile needs to be manageable and straightforward in design,
It should not be formulaic and predictable - needs to reflect the
uniqueness of each individual.
Designed locally and will probably have a consistent format for
schools or groups of schools.
No national template.
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Reporting to Parents
Key Messages
• Part of a culture of working with parents
• Involves the practitioner, parent and learner
• An on-going process
• Process must be manageable
• Takes account of achievements outwith the classroom
• Needs to influence future learning
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8.
Original advice in BtC5
• Reporting is able to provide parents with regular information about
their child’s strength and development needs, an opportunity to
discuss with their children their progress….a chance to give their
views on their children’s progress.
• It also allows staff to respond, helping parents to understand how
they can support their children…
• Learners themselves should be in a good position to contribute to
discussions (From BtC5, 2010. Page 43)
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Advice from the National Parent Forum
Curriculum for Excellence is as much about culture change as change in
practices.
• All with a stake in education need to consider how they can actively create
an environment of real partnerships involving learners, parents and
educators.
• Developing real partnerships involves sharing and communicating regularly
in a spirit of mutual trust, where everyone is learning together.
• Learners are a living report card and own and need to understand their
learning and how to talk about it.
• Partnerships should be based on equity and meeting and supporting the
needs of all learners
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Involving parents and learners
‘Few would disagree that parents are crucial partners in children’s learning. We
also know that one of the keys to success of Curriculum for Excellence will
be how we harness and maximise the true involvement of parents.’ (National
Parent Forum 2014)
‘Children and young people need to be supported to understand their learning,
their strengths and what they need to do to improve. This process should
enable them to talk about their learning at home and with others who want
to help them improve their learning.’ (National Parent Forum 2014)
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On-going process – original advice in BtC5
‘Reporting comprises a range of activities including written reports,
children presenting their learning to parents, parent’s consultation
meetings and on-going oral discussions.’ (BtC5: Recognising Achievement, Profiling and
Reporting, 2010. Page13)
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Advice from the National Parent Forum
• Arrangements for reporting are set out at the beginning of each
year/term.
• At least one written summary per year – but supported by on-going
communication through class blogs, twitter, online material, Glow.
• Present information in a way that parents can understand, providing
opportunity for discussion.
• Different formats are needed for different needs – flexibility may be
necessary to reach some parents.
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Process must be manageable – and low on bureaucracy
‘Reporting which is proportionate to the needs of learners and parents must also be
manageable for teachers.’ (BtC5: Recognising Achievement, Profiling and Reporting, 2010. Page14)
‘Parents are looking for reports that give a clear, rounded personalised summary of their
child’s learning and progress. They want good quality conversations with teachers
that feel personal and specific to their child. The paperwork needs to support this
rather than becoming an end in itself.’ (Report of the CfE Working Group on Tackling Bureaucracy, 2013)
‘Report card formats and other arrangements for reporting should avoid jargon and ‘tick
box’ approaches such as covering each and every Experience and Outcome.’ (Report of
the CfE Working Group on Tackling Bureaucracy, 2013)
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Process must be manageable (cont’d)
‘Annual reporting should be short and include how parents can help
their child’s learning. It does not need to repeat information that is
available elsewhere or has been shared with parents through other
means.’ (National Parent Forum, 2014)
‘Develop online communication systems/use technology that can save
time.’ (National Parent Forum, 2014)
‘Teachers can expect relationships with parents to be manageable and
not create unnecessary bureaucracy.’ (National Parent Forum 2014)
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Take account of achievements outwith the classroom
‘Reporting on the development and learning of children and young people will
take account of their achievements in different contexts and settings,
including across curriculum areas, the life and ethos of the school and
learning outwith the school including in the wider community.’ (BtC5 2010. Page 43)
‘Learners can expect their learning achievement outside of school to be
recognised and taken account of.’ (National Parent Forum 2014)
Transforming lives through learning

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What should be in reports?
• Progress in curriculum areas…brief quantitative statements noting particular
strengths, areas for development and achievements…
• Achievement of a curriculum level, either in a part of a curriculum area such as
reading or in a whole curriculum area.
• Achievements in different contexts and settings.
• Areas for development and next steps in learning.
• The nature of support being put in place…
• Any gaps in their child’s progress and ways parents can help. (From BtC5: Recognising
Achievement, Profiling and Reporting, 2010. Page14)
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What should be in reports (cont’d)
‘Parents and schools need to shift the focus to discuss next steps in learning, who needs
to do what and what success will look like.’ (National Parent Forum 2014)
‘Parents have a right to know how their child is being assessed and also how they are
performing.’ (National Parent Forum 2014)
‘Professional dialogue is key to improving learning. Paperwork should be kept to the
minimum required to support this process.’ (CfE Working Group on Tackling Bureaucracy, 2013)
Transforming lives through learning

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What is your advice on D, C and S?
‘Many establishments and education authorities have tried tracking using the
terms, developing, consolidating and secure and have moved away from
such an approach since it did not support on-going dialogue with learners or
because of concerns about the reliability and complexity of such information.
The interconnected nature of these categories needs to be stressed and it
is, therefore, important to avoid an approach which uses these terms in a
way which emphasises linear progression.
For this reason, the use of developing, consolidating and secure is not
suited for use in monitoring and tracking at whole school/establishment level
and should be used with care in reporting the progress of individual learners
to parents’
(Monitoring and Tracking Progress and Achievement in the Broad General Education. 2013 , page 6).
Transforming lives through learning

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What do I say at a parents’ meeting?
• The learner’s achievements.
• A limited number of next steps.
• How parents can support the learning.
Many schools are using the children to lead such conversations –
after all, it is about their learning.
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20.
The Moray
Approach
Kinloss Primary and Nursery
School
Reporting

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The Moray Approach
 Core Focus Group Discussions
 Head Teacher Discussions
 Exemplars
 Requirements
 Expectations
 Schools

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The Moray Approach
 Parent Council
 Pupils
 Exemplars
 Scoring
 Cutting/Pasting
 Drafts
 Final

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The Moray Approach
 Local input
 Local context
 Launch
 Evaluate
 Good – vs – challenge
 Parental Expectations

24.
Activity
1. How might you develop a culture of ‘real partnerships’ with
parents?
2. What are the barriers to high quality reporting and how can they be
overcome?
3. You are considering moving to on-going reporting with a short
annual report. What steps might you take to ensure the results of
the move are ‘light’ on bureaucracy and are successful for
practitioners, parents and learners?
4. Reporting in your context is perfect - it is in line with BtC5 and other
national advice and is seen as very manageable by your staff.
What does it look like?
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25.
www.educationscotland.gov.uk
Transforming lives through learning