Innovative Scheme Aims to Bring the Magic Touch to Educational Development
14/12/2007

Aberdeen-based presenters and magicians Fifth Dimension are taking part in an innovative training scheme in conjunction with Stirling Council. In a novel twist, Fifth Dimension will engage with community stakeholders, including not only teachers and pupils, but parents and local business leaders too.

Shared Responsibility
One of the major objectives is to develop and encourage shared responsibility for education and help the various parties understand the roles that they can play.

Curriculum for Excellence
A variety of different partner organisations will come together with the common goal of providing a range of diverse training sessions. These are designed to familiarise teachers with the Curriculum for Excellence, a new educational curriculum, due to be introduced in schools across Scotland. The training also dovetails with the Scottish Executive's Determined to Succeed programme.

Building on Strong Foundations
Jeff Burns, partner of Fifth Dimension says, "Taking part in this scheme provides us with a fantastic opportunity to build on our current work in the educational sector. Our unique approach to delivering key messages to the target audience using magic means we can challenge established attitudes towards learning and development. We are excited to be involved with the project run by Stirling Council as it will benefit the whole community.

Building Confidence
"We will be working directly with teachers to improve their self-confidence, and give them examples of how they can inspire and, in turn, build the self confidence of their pupils.

It is not the first time Fifth Dimension have worked with local authorities on educational projects. Prior to this project with Stirling Council they helped children based in other local authorities make the transition from primary to secondary level by boosting their confidence and showing them how to take responsibility for their own progress.

Pilot Scheme
The partnership with Stirling Council will see Fifth Dimension deliver two specially-designed sessions initially. If successful, the potential exists to extend and translate the practice to a range of applications across the authority's services.

"This programme is essentially a pilot scheme, and if it proves to be a winner, we hope it will be taken up by local authorities throughout Scotland. A well-rounded education requires input from all areas of society, and the goal of our training is to help the various parties involved understand the role that they can play in the education of young people, and the benefits the wider community can reap as a whole," says Jeff.

Continuous Professional Development
Bob McGowan, Service Manager, Childrens Services at Stirling Council says, "We are committed to delivering a programme of continuous professional development to maximise the creativity, innovation and general leadership of our teaching staff.

"As part of our Determined to Succeed Strategy, our aim is to support our teachers to develop enterprising classroom environments and in so doing, develop the personal and professional skills and attitudes they will need in delivering the new Curriculum for Excellence to support the growth and education of Stirlings young people into confident, creative and ambitious young adults."


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