My 23 Things Leadership Journey

Social media is a huge part of every day life and I would say the majority of people I work with and our service users have access to some form of social media account. As a result, the local authority I work for has a social media policy which we must review annually and on induction of new staff. This is quite a clear and easy to follow policy however because our local authority doesn't just cover the work we do in our service, I also need to remind staff of their duty to uphold the SSSC Codes of Practice. To overcome this, I am working on a policy which incorporates our local authorities social media policy and the SSSC Codes of Practice which are relevant to social media into one document.  In relation to the SSSC Codes of Practice, I feel Code 5.8 is very relevant to our organisation because it tells us that we must behave appropriately and not jeopardise the position of trust we have built with our service users. For some staff, they feel this means they can't use social ...

Firstly I watched the video Orange Digital Dirt and I found it very interesting and something I have a great deal of knowledge on due to working in a management position and being involved in recruitment and selection of new staff. I feel it's really important for employees to be aware of what they post online because if a service users were to access this, it could damage the reputation and trust they have built up when working with the service user.  I did a search for myself in my home town and through my work place and nothing out of the ordinary came up. Again, because I have a great understanding of what can be found online, I am very conscious about what I post and where I post. I make sure all my accounts are private and I don't accept friend requests from people I don't know or may know through association.  The 8 Tips to Effectively Manage Your Digital Footprint is a really useful tool to use to check up on social media and digital accounts such as email, online b...

I found the info-graphic on digital capabilities really interesting and very relevant to my experience of digital learning. I am confident in using a wide range of technology to support my learning and to share information with my service users and staff. I use technology every day in my work place; from sending and receiving emails, publishing information to service users via our app and updating our blog.  I have found the use of digital technologies particularly useful during the COVID-19 closures as it has allowed me to keep in contact with staff and service users both quickly and effectively. As soon as there have been any updates to services, I have been able to communicate these via social media channels and by email. Likewise, I have been able to receive updates from my manager and our regulatory services. I have found using GLOW and the forms tool really useful in gathering feedback to inform practice through self-evaluation too. However, I do feel we have to be mindful th...

I was surprised to learn that Open Badges are recognised internationally and that over 3000 organisations across the world recognise them. I like that the badges are earned based on your understanding and knowledge you have gained and that people who view your badge can see the evidence you have provided to demonstrate your understanding; it#s not just a certificate to show you completed the badge. I was surprised to learn someone can endorse your badge and that it doesn't have to be your manager. I like that it can be someone who uses your service as you can then use this for self-evaluation purposes. I would tell my colleagues to complete the Open Badges because it's an excellent way to demonstrate your knowledge and an easy way to learn and go at your own pace.

In the self- assessment form, I rated myself 5 for all areas which were: self-confidence, motivation, positive attitude, good communication skills, good collaborator and competent user of IT. I feel I am able to rate myself a 5 across all areas because of my work ethic and my role as a depute manager means I have to display these characteristics in practice in order to support my staff. I am confident in accessing training to further develop my skills as I know this will benefit myself, my staff and my service users.  I have a lot of experience of accessing digital learning because of my SSSC registration requirements and access to a variety of online learning modules. This has become even more apparent since the COVID-19 closures and using my time working at home to further develop my skills and knowledge by accessing digital learning resources.  I feel the characteristics of a successful digital learner can definitely be used in more traditional approaches to learning. I nee...

In practice, I hadn't used any form of video chat until the COVID-19 closure. We started using ZOOM to hold staff meetings however due to security concerns that anyone could access these meetings, our authority put a ban on ZOOM being used by staff. Instead I have been using the Microsoft Teams video chat available through my GLOW login. This is a much more secure platform as staff need to use their GLOW logins to access Microsoft Teams.  I have found using video chat very easy and very useful to get the same information across to staff at the same time without us being able to be together. I also found it useful that you can record the chat and then staff can look at it again if they feel they need to refresh themselves. As an authority, we were also using these to conduct team around the child meetings which were essential to continue to share information and provide support to children and families.  I have also used webinars to participate in my university lectures as I ha...

In practice I use Outlook to send and receive emails. This is set up as a corporate email account to ensure there are firewalls in place to stop any malicious content being sent to my email account and causing issues to the authority's IT equipment and servers.  My email account is set up with an inbox folder and a deleted items folder. I had previously set up folders for specific emails i.e. from my head teacher however the authority was doing a big clean up of their storage systems therefore I saved them to my desktop. As I have a corporate log in only I can access the content on my desktop so it is quite secure.  On my personal email account, I set up folders for specific emails such as insurance renewals, holiday documents etc. This is a useful way for me to keep track of things I need to do.  During the COVID-19 closure, I have been using my outlook account via GLOW to communicate with staff and parents as we don't all have access to our corporate email accounts - I ...

I have previous experience using LinkedIn prior to working in early learning and childcare. I used it to create a profile for my online blog so I could connect with other bloggers and any companies who might want to work with me on parenting and childcare ad campaigns. I found it very straightforward to set up and edit my profile as well as creating groups of people to connect with. I never used it to search or apply for jobs.  I used the basic profile package however I am aware you can set up a professional profile package at a cost to access more content. I like that is it similar to Facebook however it has a focus of professional persons/organisations so you're likely to get much more specific and tailored content than Facebook.  I haven't used it to apply for jobs nor have I really accessed it since I started working in early years. Because I work for the local authority, they use MyJobScotland to advertise posts and there is an application form to complete when you apply ...

The APP I have chosen to speak about is Learning Journals as this is an APP I use in my establishment. The APP was easy to download and set up on my android device and it is also accessible on an Apple device. It is a useful device for my staff and my service users as it allows my staff to share details of our children's learning with their parents at home. Parents can leave comments on the shared learning and it means they know what stage their child is at and also they can see what their child has been up to in the nursery.  The APP is really easy to use and because it is installed on our iPads, staff can easily upload information there and then. To access the APP parents and staff need passwords and usernames so only people with that information can view the content, so it's pretty secure. Parents also have to agree to the use of the APP and their child being on the APP so again, it promotes security and confidentiality.  In terms of value for money, the APP didn't cost ...

I have quite a lot of experience in using Twitter for both personal and business use however, I decided to delete my accounts a few years ago for personal reasons as I felt I had far too many social media platforms. When I used it for my business, I had tweetdeck so I could see the reach of my posts and schedule posts throughout the day without having to log in every time I wanted to post something.  My establishment has a twitter account and I have posted on it before, sharing learning from my early childhood centre and updates on the GLOW blog. I have retweeted information I felt would be of interest to my service users and used hashtags to influence the audience visiting my account and also to find other relevant information or accounts. I have tagged our local authority in posts so they can see the work that is happening in our centre and then they can retweet it to their followers.  I do like that you can follow people or places of interest such as the Care Inspectorate o...

I found this Podcast really interesting and it raised some very relevant points in regards to supporting parents and staff around COVID-19. There were some really good explanations and ideas to consider for my establishment re-opening. I thought the key messages around the landscape for early learning and childcare centres were really useful and supportive of my thoughts. It is a Podcast I would refer my staff to listen to.  I have always known about Podcasts however never really listened to them myself. I think it's actually a really good tool to use to share practice and learning, particularly during the COVID-19 closures because it has become apparent staff are accessing training materials etc. from home at different times of day depending on their home working circumstances therefore a live training session might not always be suitable. Whereas a Podcast would enable them to listen to the shared learning/training at a time that suits them. 

My establishment is an early childhood centre and I have access to a GLOW account which gives me access to OneDrive. I find it very useful to have in order to upload large files to send to staff, particularly with us working at home due to COVID-19.  It has also been useful to have to be able to share things with parents, for example, our transition project, Bookbug sessions and our Graduation videos were uploaded onto the OneDrive as they were larger files and parents were able to access them by downloading the Microsoft Office 365 package onto their devices. I was able to make the files password protected so only the parents or staff could access them and I was able to set them up so I could see who was accessing them and when they were being accessed.  In terms of advice to our service users, I made them aware of what the file was and where it was stored. I also advised them they may have issues if they didn't download the Microsoft Office package. I advised them everything...

In relation to my personal social media, including Facebook, I have ensured all my settings are checked and set to private/friends only. I'm conscious about what information I share, upload and view on social media as this could have an impact on my professional status and my registration with the SSSC. I follow the social media guidance from my employer and I ensure my staff receive annual compliance updates on the rules of social media through our policy.  For the example profile for Sarah Smith, I immediately noticed her full date of birth was visible to the public as well as details of her profession, marital status, personal interests and location. Someone could easily find out exactly where she worked from this information. As I scrolled further down, I noticed two posts relating to her work which were very unprofessional and could be used against Sarah if a person or family she cared for saw them. This could lead to disciplinary action being taken against Sarah and would be ...

During the COVID-19 closure, I have spent a lot of time reading, completing training courses and working my through the SSSC Open Badges. When I found the 23 Things Leadership, I was interested to take part to broaden my knowledge and attempt to complete the 23 Things before I returned to work. I knew it would help develop my skills of reflection and gaining feedback from others.  Blogging is not an unfamiliar concept to me. I wrote a parenting blog for a number of years and enjoyed the interaction I got from readers and meeting people who were in a similar position to me; trying to juggle work, a home, babies and everything in-between. I gave it up when I started working full time as it was so time consuming. However the things I enjoyed about blogging haven't gone away and, in every day working life, sharing practice with other professionals is hugely important in improving outcomes for our service users. Working in a leadership role, I'm continually trying to develop my know...