LGBTI Inclusive Education Working Group: report to the Scottish Ministers

3. Remit, Terms Of Reference Of The Working Group And Strategic Work Plan

Remit

Working together to improve the education experience of LGBTI young people is essential to ensuring all children and young people gain knowledge appropriate to their age and stage of education. This is intended to enable children and young people to build positive relationships as they grow older and should present facts in an objective, balanced and sensitive manner within a framework of sound values and an awareness of the law.

This Working Group sits within a wider policy context of Health and Wellbeing in the Curriculum for Excellence which includes Getting It Right For Every Child (GIRFEC), the Early Years Framework, Children’s Rights and the Building Safer Communities programme which collectively contribute towards the Government’s aim of making Scotland the best place in the World to grow up.

The remit of this Working Group is to:

• facilitate joined up thinking and discussion to provide advice and recommendations to Scottish Ministers on the concerns and pledges of the Time for Inclusive Education (TIE) Campaign on how to improve the inclusive education experience for LGBTI young people; and,
• developing a consensus on its conclusions and recommendations within an equalities framework which recognises children and young people’s rights within intersecting identities.

In carrying out its remit, the Working Group will have responsibility for considering the following:

• identifying improvements that could be made to existing guidance, practice and conduct in the teaching of LGBTI issues;
• exploring aspects of communication, including:
  • any requirement for further clarity and advice for practitioners in delivering LGBTI inclusive education; and,
  • pupil and parental involvement; and,
• identifying realistic, deliverable recommendations to deliver the improvements considered necessary.

Timescales and responsibilities

Timescales

The Working Group will be responsible for setting its own timescale for exploring options and making its recommendations to Scottish Ministers. It is likely that the Group will require to meet a number of times over the first few months in order to prioritise and fully consider the key topics it identifies.

Responsibilities

In addition to attending meetings, members may be expected to obtain feedback from their organisations in order to progress the work of the Group. Members should expect that some of this work could take place out-with meetings.

There will be flexibility for the Working Group to influence the agenda of meetings but the Working Group will focus on delivering its Terms of Reference. Particular tasks may warrant the establishment of sub-groups, consisting either of a subset of Working Group members or involving co-opted others, which will be agreed by the Working Group depending on how priorities progress.

Governance and Membership

The Working Group will be chaired by Colin Crawford, Head of Inclusion at Glasgow City Council, representing the Association of Directors of Education (ADES). Members of the Working Group have been selected as key representatives of the LGBTI and education sectors.

Secretariat will be provided by Scottish Government officials from the Learning Directorate’s Support and Wellbeing Unit.

Working environment

The on-going success of the working group will depend upon mutual trust and respect and may, at times, require a degree of sensitivity around discussions in seeking to arrive at a consensus and, ultimately, provide advice to Scottish Ministers. Open and frank discussion will be encouraged and supported with a general summary of key discussion and action points produced by secretariat following meetings.

In order to support this open environment, the use of social media during and after meetings cannot be permitted. It will be the role of the Working Group to agree all communications and narrative in relation to the work of the group.

Strategic Work Plan