The 2016 Programme for Government pledged to substantially eliminate the poverty and attainment gap within a decade. A tough enough challenge to achieve. Since then, COVID has impacted massively on education, childhood development, the economy, incomes, benefits and curriculum delivery. So where do we now stand in attempting to eradicate by 2026 what may be the biggest driver of long term inequality in Scotland?
This conference examines progress made to date and discusses where we can find and share good practice and innovation. It focuses on how schools, the wider community and partnerships between schools and communities can take practical steps to close the attainment gap.
The Scottish Government has for some time made narrowing the poverty and attainment gap one of its core priorities. In February 2016, the amount of spending aimed at boosting educational attainment in Scotland was doubled to £160 million for the following three years. However, by 2021, that figure had risen dramqatically, with spending of £1 billion announced for the current parliamentary term. The Scottish Attainment Challenge - aiming to improve outcomes for children and young people impacted by poverty - was to transform how we tackled poverty and attainment.
The questions then are - what works, how do we replicate and share success and what can we learn from the successes and failures so far?
Against this backdrop, the conference will focus on four broad themes:
Topics to be discussed
This conference will be a platform to exchange knowledge and share insight on how we move furthest and fastest to tackle poverty and attainment in Scotland. Delegates can expect to:
Who Should Attend
This conference will be relevant for anyone participating in education and related disciplines involved in addressing the attainment and poverty gap. This includes teachers and teaching assistants, school leaders, education departments, social work staff, third sector organisations, academics, crime prevention and inclusion specialists, child mental health and related medical specialists and anyone working in fields related to child well-being.
Youth Work and Schools Manager
YouthLink Scotland
Head of Development and Innovation - Delivery & Service Development Management
SAMH (Scottish Action for Mental Health)
Director
Child Poverty Action Group in Scotland
Chief Executive
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Emeritus Professor of Management
Queen Margaret University
Depute Director (Student Experience & Widening Access)
The Open University in Scotland
Co-Deputy Head
Scottish Violence Reduction Unit
Chief Executive
Robertson Trust
Marielle Bruce
Youth Work and Schools Manager
YouthLink Scotland
Marielle is responsible for facilitating the development of strengthened partnerships between youth work and schools to close the poverty-related attainment gap.
Billy Burke
Head of Development and Innovation - Delivery & Service Development Management
SAMH (Scottish Action for Mental Health)
Brief overview of my professional career:
• 25 years in education, starting as a Maths teacher in a school in Paisley
• Head teacher of Renfrew High School 2013-23
• Past President of School Leaders Scotland
• Involved in various national education work, most recently the Muir Report
• As a school leader, always had a strong interest in inclusion, equality and wellbeing of our young people and the leadership approaches required to achieve this
• I co-host a podcast on education and wellbeing – Changing Conversations
• Now head of development and innovation at SAMH leading our work to support young people’s mental health
Martin Dorchester
Chief Executive
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Martin Dorchester became Chief Executive of includem in March 2018. Previously Martin was the Group Chief Executive of the David MacBrayne Group, including CALMAC Ferries, Argyll Ferries Ltd and Solent Gateway.
In a career spanning 30 years Martin has operated nationally and internationally with organisations covering logistics, technology and finance. As CEO of Dixon's B2B operation Martin built up the largest Apple reseller business in the UK as well as developing a £100m public sector business. Martin was part of the team that brought the 5 radio authorities together to create Ofcom and worked with the London Borough of Hackney on developing its infrastructure for the 2012 Olympics. Martin is also a keen lecturer and academic and has written a number of papers covering areas as diverse as CSR and Emotional Intelligence in Management Development and more recently on children and young people.
Martin is a Co-chair of the Independent Care Review and a Non-executive Director of CCPS. He has held a number of non-executive roles including: Non-executive Director of Traveline Scotland, The Sailors' Orphan Society of Scotland and most recently Transport for Wales. He is a supporter of Social and Community Business and Chaired Firstport Ltd, a start-up funding organisation for social enterprises.
Richard Kerley
Emeritus Professor of Management
Queen Margaret University
Professor Richard Kerley is Professor of Management at QMU with a specific interest in public service management. He was previously at the University of Edinburgh and the Scottish Local Authorities Management Centre, University of Strathclyde . He has also been a visiting scholar at Yale University. Before entering academic life, Richard worked in advertising, hospitality and in prison education. He also worked for four different councils, in adult education and then latterly in staff and management development.
He is currently also a Non-Executive Director with Mainstreet Consulting and a Trustee of the Centre for Scottish Public Policy 2021. He has been on the board of various companies, charities, and arts organisations.
Richard is the author of various books, research papers, academic journals, and numerous articles in the quality print media. His most recent publications include an edited book on International Local Government, and he is currently working on a taxonomy of international local government.
Richard chaired the Working Party on Renewing Local Democracy; the report of which was published in July 2000, and which was legislated for in June 2004 as the Local Governance Act. He has carried out research projects supported by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Scottish Consumer Council, Alcohol Scotland, The Accounts Commission Scotland, Tayside, Edinburgh and Fife Councils, the Association of MBAs, and the Scottish Government. He has been engaged in consultancy projects by government; local governments; government agencies; voluntary organisations and international education providers.
Shona Littlejohn
Depute Director (Student Experience & Widening Access)
The Open University in Scotland
Shona took up the post of Depute Director of The Open University in Scotland in August 2017 with responsibility for student experience and widening access. The Open University provides life-changing learning opportunities to people across Scotland with 22,000 students and almost half a million users of its free online learning platform, OpenLearn. Shona and her team focus on opening up access to OU learning to individuals, communities, third sector, public sector and business.
Shona previously worked as Vice Principal and Pro Vice Chancellor at Robert Gordon University where she had accountability for the student experience and external relations portfolios for almost 10 years. Prior to that, Shona was Chief Executive of Scottish Enterprise Tayside and has experience in both private and voluntary sectors. In a personal capacity Shona is currently Vice-Chair of SAMH, the Scottish Association for Mental Health
Chief Inspector Ross McCallum
Co-Deputy Head
Scottish Violence Reduction Unit
Chief Inspector Ross McCallum joined the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit in 2023 as Co-deputy Head.
Ross works with project leads to ensure the successful delivery of SVRU initiatives. Prior to joining the unit he held responsibility for community engagement and partnership working in Scotland’s central belt. During his fifteen years with the police service Ross has been involved in a wide range of key projects. Prior to joining the police service Ross was employed as a youth worker with South Lanarkshire Council’s Youth Learning Services. In this role he worked alongside young carers and those within the care system. He also performed outreach work with young people in areas of social deprivation.
Jim McCormick
Chief Executive
Robertson Trust
Jim McCormick is Chief Executive of The Robertson Trust.
Previously he was Associate Director Scotland with the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (2017-20), ran an independent research consultancy and was Director of the Scottish Council Foundation think-tank (2002-07).
He is Chair of the independent Disability and Carers Benefits Advisory Group reporting to the Cabinet Secretary for Social Security and a member of the Scottish Government’s Social Renewal Advisory Board. He was Chair of the Edinburgh Poverty Commission (2018-20) and a member of the Social Security Advisory Committee (SSAC, 2014-20) scrutinizing DWP regulations. He was also an Advisory Board member of Business in the Community Scotland.
In 2018 he was a travelling Churchill Fellow looking at the impact of mentoring programmes for children and young people facing disadvantage in the USA, Canada and New Zealand.
Interests include music, languages and Greenock Morton FC.
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