Scottish Unit for Assessment Literacy Support (SULAS)

McGuire, W. (2021) Scottish Unit for Assessment Literacy Support (SULAS). [Website]

Abstract

The Scottish Unit for Literacy Assessment Support (SULAS) What is SULAS? SULAS is a Unit within the Praxis, Pedagogy and Faith Research Group of the School of Education at the University of Glasgow. When and Why was it Established? It was established in 2014 in response to increasing demands from the teaching profession from both Primary and Secondary sectors for support to address a range of assessment literacy challenges in Scotland. What Were the Challenges? These challenges had always been there, from 5-14 and Standard Grade, to Higher Still and National Qualifications. Formerly, these had been offered as Continuing Professional Development courses via the Language and Literature Section of the then Faculty of Education of this University. As demand increased, however, and remained over a number of years, it was decided to create specific time, supported by a workload allocation to the establishment of a Unit dedicated to supporting the teaching profession, nationally with the demands of meeting new assessment priorities. Who Co-ordinates SULAS? Willie McGuire, a Senior Lecturer in Secondary Language in the School of Education, co-ordinates the work of the Unit and is its Director. What Does SULAS do? SULAS has achieved a lot since its inception. Through it, a huge number of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) courses have been delivered either in-house to representatives from all of the Local Authorities in Scotland. Alternatively, bespoke courses have been delivered on-site to either schools, collections of schools or Education Authorities. Recently, in response to Covid-19, SULAS has offered online courses and support materials to address the ‘Covid gap’ engendered by repeated lockdowns. What Courses Have Been Offered? I believe strongly in the collaboration of HE/Initial Teacher Education providers and schools. As such, I have allowed access to many education authorities to educational support materials I have produced online. Development plans: primary; Development plans: secondary; Development plans: SEN; Planning for Reading; Helpful Hints; Writer's Craft Standards; Managing the Implementation; Reading into Writing frame: Levels A/B William; Reading into Writing frame: Levels B/C. Spider; Reading into Writing frame: Levels D/E. Angela; Marking grid; Writer's Craft. Support materials for teachers; Writer's Craft. Quick guide. I have been responsible for sustained high quality CPD courses over the last two decades including: Managing an English Department; ‘S’ Grade English Folio; ‘S’ Grade English Close Reading; ‘S’ Grade English Writing; Writer’s Craft; Moderation of Writing 5-14; Literacy across Learning Toolkit (online); Let’s Go on Safari: managing information literacy in the digital age; Information Literacy: another perspective; CfE – Literacy across Learning (1); CfE – Developing Literacy across Learning: critical thinking; The English Folios: writing moderation for Higher and Intermediates 1 and 2; CfE – Literacy across Learning (2); Developing writing for CfE across stages 2 and 3. SCIS; The National 5 English Portfolio; The National 5 English Critical Essays. To meet the demands of the first phase of the SULAS project, the following courses were developed and delivered in 2014-16: The National 5 English Critical Essays; The National 5 English Portfolio; Success in National 5 English; Preparing for CfE Higher English; M-Learning: mobile literacy apps and on developing strategies to improve the assessment literacy of academic colleagues, such as the project on creating functional feedback which blends formative and summative assessment. From 2016-20, I have run a wide range of income-generating courses every year on areas such as National 5/Higher/Advanced Higher English-Raising Attainment.

• Item Type: Website
• Status: Published
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: McGuire, Professor Willie
• Authors: McGuire, W.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Education > Pedagogy, Praxis & Faith
• Published Online: 12 November 2021