RAMBIS Operational Support Group: terms of reference

Background

On 15 November 2017 ‘Respect for All: The National Approach to Anti-bullying for Scotland’s Children and Young People’ document was published, setting out a commitment to develop a consistent approach for schools and local authorities to adopt for recording and monitoring incidents of bullying.

‘Respect for All’ recognised that in order to identify trends or themes where improvements could be made at the school / local level that a streamlined and uniformed system was required. The approach should aim to minimise the amount of additional workload for local authority and school staff.

The Deputy First Minister subsequently confirmed his intention to convene a working group to develop a consistent and uniform approach to recording and monitoring of bullying incidents in schools.

The Recording and Monitoring of Bullying Incidents in Schools (RAMBIS) working group identified the next steps and priority actions to support local authorities and schools to further improve the recording and monitoring of bullying incidents.

Recommendation 2 from RAMBIS was:

"The Working Group recommend that an Operational Support Group should be established. This group will be made up of local authority [LA] representatives, Education Scotland, Trade Union representatives, Scottish Government and respectme. The group will be chaired by a representative from ADES. The group will support the phased approach and support and monitor schools and LAs throughout the pilot and full implementation."  

Recommendation 3:

"The Working Group recommend that the pilot of the updated recording and monitoring system should be on a phased approach throughout the academic year 2018-2019 starting in August and will be fully implemented the following year." 

The full list of documents and accompanying guidance can be found at RAMBIS working group page.

This guidance should be read in conjunction with the ‘Respect for All’ publication. 

Objectives

The Operational Support Group will:  

• take forward Recommendations 2 and 3 produced by the RAMBIS Working Group
• oversee the implementation of the consistent and uniform approach to recording and monitoring for all schools and local authorities
• support roll-out of the guidance and updates to the Bullying and Equalities module on SEEMiS across all local authorities and schools
• identify professional learning needs required within each local authority and provide appropriate support where required in consultation with the appropriate professional association or council negotiating forums
• LAs involved in Phase 1 of the rollout to provide advice and guidance based on their experience of implementation LAs to share how bullying incidents are monitored and how interventions are implemented in response monitor bullying incidents within their schools and provide advice around appropriate interventions
• work closely with other organisations to help implement the new approach and identify any additional training requirements eg – Education Scotland, respectme and SEEMiS
• identify any changes/updates to be made to the supplementary guidance in light of ongoing feedback throughout the implementation phases
• provide feedback to main Recording and Monitoring Bullying In Schools (RAMBIS) Working Group on progress/implementation
• consider any additional resources required to support local authorities and schools on recording and monitoring bullying in schools

Scope

The pilot of the updated recording and monitoring system will be on a three phase approach throughout the academic year 2018-2019 starting in August 2018 and will be fully implemented the following year (August 2019).

The first phase of the roll-out will commence in September 2018. The Deputy First Minister will write out to LA’s after summer recess asking for nominations for phase 2 and 3. Phase 2 will commence in October 2018. Phase 3 will commence in December 2018.

Chair and membership

The group will be chaired by Caroline Amos from Association of Directors of Education (ADES). Membership of the group will be made up of representatives from local authorities and teaching unions.