South Lanarkshire schools have reaped benefits from an education partnership.
At the Education Resources committee meeting yesterday (November 15), elected members heard of the progress made in local schools through the council’s involvement with the West Partnership.
The West Partnership is a collaboration of eight local authorities across the Glasgow City Region , which aims to enhance the work of each council to bring improvements in schools.
Last year, the partnership made some progress in driving forward enquiry, excellence and empowerment. Research carried out by the Robert Owen Centre for Educational Change in its Phase III Reflections on the Partnership Recovery to Renewal: Reimagining the Future (2022), complimented the work done by the partnership.
Key findings included a strong culture and ethos of collaboration, transformative system change, networks building collective agency and capacity at all levels and an added emphasis to local authorities which led to significant leadership and learning and teaching developments.
Each year, there is a growing benefit of the collaboration across the West Partnership area and it has made a difference to staff, children and young people.
There are strong examples of how the partnership is improving attainment and achievement for all while closing the poverty related attainment gap.
The West Partnership has an improvement plan for 2022 to 2023 which aims to continue to develop the work through consultations with school communities.
Priorities for 2022 to 2023 are to develop readiness for learning with learners and families, to build networks, to build capacity in leaders at all levels and to promote practice-based research.
Councillors praised the West Partnership and the improvements it brought to South Lanarkshire schools.
Councillor Katy Loudon (Cambuslang East), said: “That was a great report, a lot of work that’s covered in this plan was absolutely invaluable during the pandemic and it’s great to see it going from strength to strength since.”
Councillor Alex Allison (Clydesdale East), said: “As someone who’s never been too convinced of the West Partnership and the cost of it, it is pleasing to see within the report that there is a continuing level of improvement.”
As well as South Lanarkshire Council being involved with the West Partnership, East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Glasgow City, Inverclyde, North Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire and West Dunbartonshire are also part of the collaboration.
There are over 1000 nurseries, primary, secondary and special schools in the West Partnership, 35 per cent of Scotland’s school population serving mainly urban but also many rural communities.
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