All children have a right to an education, regardless of their circumstances. For children and young people with care experience this may mean that additional support is required during their time in school to meet their distinct, and often unseen, needs. One of key goals of Virtual School Head Teachers’ (VSHT) is to help create environments where care experienced children will feel more settled, motivated, and resilient, to ensure a better experience at school. This, in turn, will help to improve attendance, educational outcomes, and contribute to better life chances.
A VSHT is a senior member of education staff in a local authority who works at a strategic level, but not in a physical school building. The VSHT is a different role to that of the Designated Manager; a senior member of staff in every Scottish education establishment who has overall responsibility for the planning of assessment and support for care experienced children and young people.The VSHTs responsibilities focus on improving the educational experiences and outcomes of care experienced children and young people in the whole local authority area. VSHTs also provide key links between multi-agency teams and advocate for the needs and rights of care experienced children and young people.
There are currently 13 local authorities in Scotland with a VSHT in post. In England, the role of the VSHT has operated on a statutory basis in every local authority for a number of years and has been shown to have a positive impact on the educational experiences and outcomes of care experienced children and young people.
You can read more about the VSHTs in Scotland and the work they do in their local authority areas by clicking on the profiles below.
In 2015, Aberdeen City became the first local authority in Scotland to have a VSHT in post.
In 2018, the Scottish Government awarded additional funding to local authorities through the Care Experienced Children and Young Person’s Fund as part of the Scottish Attainment Challenge. The Scottish Government guidance promoted flexibility and creativity in the use of the additional funding and encouraged areas to develop services to meet the needs of the children and families within the context of their local areas. A number of local authorities used this additional funding to develop the role of a VSHT, or Care Experienced Team (CET), with the goal of raising attainment and achievement for care experienced children and young people. As part of this, many of these local authorities sought advice from CELCIS, as a national organisation striving to create and sustain positive change for care experienced children and families; and Aberdeen City, as the first authority in Scotland to have a VSHT, about how to effectively develop the role in their local authority area.
To help meet this need, CELCIS, in partnership with the VSHT for Aberdeen City, convened a meeting with all local authority areas involved in the work to discuss the support needs of those in the role. Subsequently, the VSHT and CET Network was established, and has continued to meet regularly to share and discuss good practice, participation, policy, and objectives.
In 2020, the Scottish Government awarded additional funding to CELCIS to formalise and strengthen the support provided as the host of Scotland’s VSHT Network. As part of this increased support, Larissa Gordon, the first VSHT in Scotland for Aberdeen City, joined CELCIS’s Education Team part-time as a National VSHT Advisor to develop the network even further.
Hello, and thank you for visiting our online resource showcasing the work of VSHTs in Scotland and the VSHT Network.
I have been leading the education work at CELCIS for five years, with the strategic focus of improving educational experiences and outcomes for all care experienced children and young people. Alongside Larissa Gordon, I convened the first Virtual School Head Teacher and Care Experienced Team network meeting in March 2019 and since then I have had the privilege of leading this work within CELCIS. Working alongside local authorities, Scottish Government and Education Scotland, we have worked to develop both the network and an understanding of the impact of the role to drive progress towards improved educational experiences for all care experienced children and young people.
The network is supported by a fantastic team from across CELCIS, Education Scotland and Scottish Government: Michael Bettencourt, Education Consultant; Sarah Deeley, Improving Care Experiences Consultant, CELCIS; Emma Dixon, Communications Manager, CELCIS; Maria Flores-McGinty, Projects and Systems Administrator, CELCIS; Laura Kane, Administrative Assistant, CELCIS; Leanne McIver, Research Associate, CELCIS; Hassan Ahmed, Scottish Government; Andrew Morison, Scottish Government; Janine McCullough, Education Scotland.
If you are interested in finding out more about the network, please get in touch.