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Keeping an eye on the future
With elections to the Scottish Parliament looming, an Education team is working to ensure that learning about democracy is a central role in daily life at Holyrood.
From day one, Scottish schools have actively participated in their Parliament. For the opening ceremony, young people from all parts of the country joined the celebrations. Since then, more than 117,000 have visited, including meeting with their MSPs - the highlight for many.
The team takes the Parliament's key principles of openness, accessibility and participation as cornerstones for developing popular and innovative education programmes, for both Primary and Secondary level.
Two programmes are on offer - inward visits at the Parliament building, exploring the heart of Scottish democracy; and an outreach service, delivered in school, right across Scotland. All sessions are tailored to support Curriculum for Excellence, through their approach and content.
The inward programme uses activities and technology to investigate matters most important to young people. Extended in 2008, it now runs five days a week. Take up by schools is high but there is plenty of availability and choice of sessions.
In 2004 an outreach programme was set up to widen access and to help with geographical or financial barriers. This programme takes the Scottish Parliament out of Holyrood and into the classroom.
Outreach Education staff deliver up to 21 sessions each week depending on the location of schools and number of classes taking part. These visits can have a citizenship or a curriculum focus and include activities on areas from representation to legislation.
An option for the second part of this visit is to bring MSPs into school to work with pupils: answering questions; listening to opinions; encouraging young people to develop their ideas. Another option is to book a free tour at Holyrood.
A highlight for the team is working with young people to investigate topics through events and workshops. This could involve spotlighting the environment in a special Chamber debate; submitting a petition on how new laws affect life in school; quizzing a Minister on law and order for Advanced Higher research; or using art, design and poetry to stimulate thinking about citizenship and the political process. Even how to spend the budget - Scottish pupils have taken part in all this and more.
The team is enthusiastic about sharing the potential for many more subjects to use Parliament as a learning resource. With the advent of more cross-curricular approaches, they see the concept of democracy as a key theme to be explored.
The Parliament's Education team is encouraging even more teachers and pupils to engage positively with the newly elected Parliament of 2011. The goal is to support young people in becoming successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors in Scottish society.
For details, see www.scottish.parliament.uk/vli/education Tel. 0131 348 5401 or email
Learning through observation and participation
Following our initial welcome by Susan our Education Officer, the S5/6 group was given an insight into the workings of the parliament though an interactive presentation. Like the majority of teenagers, the ability to text to answer questions proved very appealing and was an effective medium to stimulate discussion.
After the presentation we entered the public gallery to observe the 'theatrics' of First Minister's Question Time: definitely the highlight of the trip and stimulus for many questions.
Our visit came to a close with a question and answer session with four of our MSPs. While time was at a premium, we did receive comprehensive answers to our questions and left with some food for thought.
As a teacher of Modern Studies, I believe a visit to the Scottish Parliament brings an aspect of the curriculum to life and engages our pupils in active citizenship.