Dumfries and Galloway Council’s Post

Not all secondary schools can offer a full range of Advanced Highers or at times, particularly in our smaller secondary schools, a broad choice of Highers where pupil numbers are low. But by carefully working together, four councils have proven that live, on-line delivery of lessons CAN work across 40 secondary schools. We have successfully driven and delivered this approach over the past 3 years with results for hundreds of pupils across 10+ subjects comparable to class based teaching. Absolutely delighted that SWConnects at Dumfries and Galloway Council with South Ayrshire Council East Ayrshire Council and North Ayrshire Council won the Digital Transformation Award at the MJ Awards and also Highly Commended in the LGC awards this month. This recognition in UK awards for local government validate what we have achieved - if other Councils want to talk to us about what SWConnects is doing, we are happy to share what we have learnt. Get the basics right with good planning, excellent teaching and high quality feedback - with coordinated timetabling, school leaders engaged and basic IT kit being the ingredients needed to succeed. We know that pupils are often expected to study online at SCQF 6/7 if they move on to FE/HE - our project proves it works for school aged pupils studying for qualifications too. I accept it might not always be perfect but in rural areas and where resources are stretched we have to look to different approaches and challenge some of the long standing models of delivery. As we wait for the outcomes of the independent review of qualifications and assessment I hope to build on what SWConnects has initiated and consider the role of online live learning for senior phase pupils.