The Young leaders of learning programme (YLL) was developed with staff and learners in a local authority. Schools participating in this programme will be supporting their own self-evaluation and school improvement activities by involving learners in the process. This is clearly referenced as effective practice in How Good is our School? 4.. The programme also articulates well with the child friendly school improvement guide, How good is OUR school part 2. , and supports the empowered system and effective learner participation.

United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child

This programme is underpinned by the following articles from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).

Article 12 (respect for the views of the child): “Every child has the right to express their views, feelings and wishes in all matters affecting them, and to have their views considered and taken seriously. This right applies at all times, for example during immigration proceedings, housing decisions or the child’s day-to-day home life.”

Article 13 (freedom of expression): “Every child must be free to express their thoughts and opinions and to access all kinds of information

Purpose and principles of the programme

Purpose

Ensuring children and young people are actively involved in on-going self-evaluation activities leading to improvement by:

• Taking part in reciprocal visits to other schools to identify what is working well, areas for improvement and effective practice. (these can be face to face or virtual)
• Promoting ways that children and young people can be involved in school improvement activities in their own school.

Principles

The principles are that:

• participating in the programme is voluntary at local authority, establishment, individual staff member and learner level
• development of the programme should be agreed by all stakeholders: a co-design, collaborative model is recommended
• all YLLs and involved staff should undergo training approved by Education Scotland either face to face or virtually
• it is not recommended that direct observations of teachers is part of the reciprocal visit process
• children and young people should take lead roles in taking forward identified actions from the visits, with the support of school staff

The programme has a number of resources which participating schools and local authorities can access on Glow. This includes guidance handbooks, presentations and a space to collaborate. Initial feedback from the programme has been very positive.

Quotes from pupils and staff

"I have enjoyed meeting new pupils and socialising - we talked about how we can improve both of our schools. I liked looking at the differences between the schools" (primary pupil)

"The children have gained confidence greatly in their ability to speak with other children and adults about issues that matter to them. Some of our children who have previously struggled socially to mix with other children thoroughly enjoyed the experience and are keen to continue doing work within the school" (PT primary)

"I think this programme has helped our school work together as we work with more groups on actions – we have more friends across the school – we work and speak to each other more because of this programme" (primary pupil)

"We see this as a way of taking forward the empowerment agenda in a very meaningful way and by tying together the self-evaluation (S&Q report) the improvement agenda (SIP) and the resources (financial plan) we are ensuring participation is; significant, genuine, meaningful and impactful for the various groups (staff, parents and pupils" (HT secondary)

If you are interested in being involved, the first step is agreement through school senior leadership team and then with local authority lead. If your local authority would like to support the programme they can contact myself to agree next steps Maxine.Jolly@educationscotland.gov.scot