I met Wendy McAdie this morning from Jewel and Esk Valley College.
We met to discuss how we can support adult and community learning access to our schools. Evening access can be sorted with a service level agreement between each school and the college, which is supported by a clear policy which we’ll take to the Education Committee for ratification.
Of even more interest was how we might promote adult learning opportunities in the school day and school curriculum. The current system is fairly ad hoc and is dependent upon the adult contacting the school and being proactive.
The challenge for schools is how they ensure that access for adults which:
- doesn’t interfere with children’s learning;
- doesn’t present any significant expenditure on their part; and
- doesn’t compromise pupil safety.
We explored how we might develop a more professional approach in much the same way as colleges currently charge for adult access to Higher courses, schools might be able to set a fee. Wendy’s going to explore this with the Executive and other authorities.
The last item on our agenda was how we might develop a combined e-learning approach towards access to courses. This chimed very neatly with the issue I touched upon yesterday in response to John Connell’s recent post. JEVC are exploring using moodle – something which East Lothian Council is also developing. There might be a real opporunity here particularly if we were to link up with Queen Margaret University – who are definitely more advanced of both of us in terms of delivering e-learning.
I like the potential of some our students being able to access their curriculum in a blended learning approach, i.e. through face-to-face contact with teachers/lecturers; through e-learning; through group seminars; or through work experience. The construction of the blended learning approach might vary from student to student. Such an approach might enable students to follow very varied programmes of study – which would extend well beyond the existing curriculum.
I’d love to hear some parental views on this.
