Aspiring to Middle Leadership: Inclusion, wellbeing and equalities

Before starting this section, have a think first about inclusion.

What does inclusion mean to you?
What does inclusion look and feel like in your setting?
- for learners?
- for you and your colleagues?

You may wish to make some notes in your Reflective Journal.

Have a look at this short video (below). It explains the national Professional Learning Framework for Inclusion, Wellbeing and Equalities, which includes the Scottish legislative, policy and support context for work to achieve inclusion in education and the four foundations of the work, which are:

Rights and equalities
Inclusion
Relationships
Wellbeing and care.

Video transcript (52 kb)

There are a wide range of factors which can lead to some children young people having a need for additional support. These fall broadly into four overlapping themes:

Learning environment
Family circumstances
Disability or health need
Social or emotional factors.

Some examples of need are:

On the Child Protection register
English as a second language
Deaf or hard of hearing
Poverty
Trauma
Interrupted learning
Dyslexia
ADHD
Dyscalculia
Living with parental substance abuse
Anxiety
Tourette’s
Blind or partially sighted
Mental health condition
Mutism
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder
Particularly able or talented
Care experienced
Autism
Young carer
Disability or health need
Loss/bereavement
Bullied
Family changes/breakdown
From an Armed Forces family.

Now, select at least two further PLAs from the list below. Think about:

The needs of your current group/s of learners
Your area of interest or identified professional learning need
What’s already happening in your setting
Your most recent PRD, appraisal or other professional dialogue
Connections to the roles of middle leadership you’ve worked on
Any areas you’ve been asked to lead
The school or setting improvement plan
How your professional standards might influence your choice
A discussion with your Peer Supporter if you have one, to help you prioritise.

It is important that in selecting the PLAs you plan to do, that you take some time to look at the Learning Outcomes for them and ensure they meet the learning need you have identified. Each PLA has an Impact Step encouraging you to consider the impact the learning has had.

Ideally, some action should come out of your learning from the PLA, if not straight away, at some point in the near future. Some PLAs do suggest an enquiry approach to an area for development, but if they don’t, you may want to consider enquiry as a way to extend your learning in your school/setting.

You can complete more than two, but please plan your learning with your capacity in mind. As before, you can download the PLA PDF summary at the end of each PLA for your own records.

Select two from:

Use your Reflective Journal to record key reflections at the end of each PLA.

You may wish to supplement learning activities with some professional learning from the Inclusion, Wellbeing and Equalities Professional Learning Framework. Please feel free to share this resource with your colleagues too.