Clackmannanshire Council Online

Council Produces Guide to Remote Learning and Teaching in Clackmannanshire

The Council’s education team have developed a guide for parents/carers and teaching staff on how children and young people across the county will continue to receive high quality learning and teaching from home during the latest lockdown.

Schools returned to remote learning on Monday 11^th January in line with Scottish Government guidance and teaching staff have been delivering online learning for young people, as well as in-school learning for vulnerable children and the children of key workers.

The new guide aims to provide consistency across all of the Council’s education establishments as well as providing clarity for parents and carers.

Remote learning in Clackmannanshire takes account of the Key Principles as set out by Scottish Government Guidance and the Council’s education department will ensure this is embedded by:

• planning a timetable which includes a daily check-in and a variety of learning experiences including ‘Live Learning’, outdoor, independent, active etc.
• providing regular opportunities for on-going feedback from children, young people and their families to ensure their voice is reflected in remote learning arrangements.
• creating opportunities for groups of learners to interact and support each other in their learning as appropriate to age and stage.
• communicating regularly with families to ensure a shared understanding of the remote learning approach and to support engagement.
• using a range of assessment approaches to ensure continuity of learning.
• continuing to recognise the wider achievements of children and young people.
• differentiating learning as appropriate to meet the needs of all including those who receive additional support for learning.

In the first week of remote learning there were 1549 active Google classrooms while Google Meet saw 12,430 attendees using the platform to check in from a range of devices, including the recently acquired Scottish Government funded digital inclusion Chromebooks.

FlipClacks, the Council’s virtual online learning website, continues to support staff, learners and families to access anytime learning, training, advice and guidance. It continues to evolve and develop to respond to the needs of our communities and recent adaptations and improvements have resulted in an upgrade to FlipClacks 2.0 with enhanced new features.

Our education team has also been working closely with partner teams across Forth Valley & West Lothian Regional Improvement Collaborative to deliver a suite of live and recorded learning experiences to best serve our learners. A new Digital Learning Lead has also been appointed to support the good work in individual authorities and identify areas where increased collaboration could lead to improvements for learners, families and teaching staff.

Cllr Graham Lindsay, the Council’s Education spokesperson, said:

“Our main priority is to provide high quality learning experiences for all children and young people in Clackmannanshire.

“All education establishments will continue to work with families to monitor and respond to individual needs as they arise. Where families are waiting for devices, our establishments will make alternative arrangements to make sure that learning can continue uninterrupted.”

“While Covid-19 has presented many challenges, our education staff are continuing to rise to that challenge.”

You can read the full guide here.