West Lothian Council

Education Services

Advice on Profiles

Session 2011 2012

Created by: Sharon Platt and the West Lothian Reporting Group

Profiles and Profiling

What is a profile?

A profile is a positive snapshot of a child’s achievements at a given time. It is created by the child

through discussion with their teacher. A profile’s main audience is the learner, it is also produced to

inform parents and to strengthen transitions. It should be used to inform the next stage of learning.

A profile recognises achievements across all areas of school and home life. A profile only details

positive progress and achievements - it does not contain any next steps or negative comments.

Ownership of a profile belongs to the child. It is their decision what is included or not included. All

Primary 7 pupils should have a profile ready for transition to S1, August 2012.

What is profiling?

Profiling is the process of recognising achievements, setting personal targets and recording successes

that give the children the language of reflection to enable them to write an informed, reflective,

accurate profile. There are a number of ways of doing this, and this process will be undertaken in

different ways in different schools dependent on what suits pupils. Profiling should be based on

evidence gathered from AifL strategies. Profiling may include:

- Personal Learning Plans

- Portfolios/ e-portfolios

- E-profiling blogs

- Learning Logs

- Achievement Records

- Learners’ journeys

- Reflection diaries

How does a profile differ from a report?

There may be elements of a child’s progress that will be included in both their profile and report, but

these two documents serve very different purposes.

Profile Report

Written by the learner Written by the teacher

Main audience – learner Main audience – parents

Reflects on all curricular areas Reflects on all curricular areas

All positive comments Positive progress and next steps

Child decides what is included Teacher decides what is included

Includes achievements inside and outside

of school

Includes achievements in school or on

school excursions only

Focussed on reflective voice Focussed on quantitive statements

Completing a profile.

A quality profile is determined by the quality of the comments that go into it. A structured approach

to profiling which builds time into the week for discussing achievement and setting targets

throughout the year is essential to equip learners to write their profile.

My Learning Profile

Child’s Name

Personal Photo

Me as a learner:

Kinaesthetic, Auditory or Visual learner.

Ideas, People, Process or Product person (Critical Skills)

Prefer working on own or with a group.

Personal qualities and character strengths.

Literacy and English

Level

Numeracy and Mathematics

Level

Achievements in listening and talking, reading

and writing. Using literacy skills across the

curriculum.

Achievements in: number,

money, measure; shape,

position and movement; and

data handling. Using

numeracy skills across the

curriculum.

Health and Wellbeing

Level

Other Curricular Areas

Achievements in PE, Forest Schools, Road

Safety, Choices for Life, Risk Factory,

Tobacco Outreach, Keeping Myself Safe,

Transition Activities, relationships with

others. Developing Health and Wellbeing Skills

across the curriculum.

Achievements in Expressive

Arts, Technologies, Social

Studies, Religious and Moral

Education, Science .

Personal Achievements and Awards:

Certificates, involvement in whole school projects (Rights Respecting Schools, Eco

Flag, Pupil Council, Fair Trade Status, Performances, P7 Responsibilities). Out of

school achievements. Developing personal qualities.

PROFILE TEMPLATE

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The ‘Me as a Learner’ section of the profile looks at how well the children know their learning styles

and learning preferences. Children should think about how they learn best and what strategies are

effective for them. This is also a space for children to comment on their personal qualities that they

feel are positive characteristics for a learner.

Children should pick out what they are good at and how they know or examples of something they

have achieved for the 4 curricular areas boxes. Numeracy, Literacy and Health and Wellbeing should

contain the level the child is working at. ‘Other areas of the curriculum’ should have comments from

all other curricular areas.

Personal achievements and awards can be anything in or out of school. It can be activities the child

received a certificate or medal for or it could be a target they have met, or a personal quality they

have developed.

All sections should be written in complete sentences, not bullet points. Children should include

feelings, such as ‘I was proud when I...’, ‘I was excited when I won...’ etc. They should be encouraged

to justify their achievements, such as ‘I know I am better at...because...’etc. Try to ensure the

children have a balance between how they feel about their progress and using quantitative

statements such as ‘I am great at...’ and ‘I can...’.

After completing the text, children should be encouraged to change the clip-art to their own photos

or own choice of pictures.

Including the school badge demonstrates to parents/carers that the school sees this as an important

document.

To meet the criteria of ‘robust’, ‘valid’ and ‘reliable’ information, there needs to be a great deal of

dialogue between the learner and the teacher. It is important that the achievements that the learner

views as their best are recorded, but it is also important that a profile is a true reflection of the

learner. Therefore, the details included by the learner have to be confirmed by the teacher’s

evidence or assessments.

For further information:

http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/buildingyourcurriculum/policycontext/btc/btc5.asp - Building the

Curriculum 5 – A Framework for Assessment

http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/ - Follow links for Profiling

My Learning Profile!

Child’s Name

Personal Photo

Me as a learner:

I am a Kinaesthetic (Motoric) learner. I have a good memory for

experiences and I remember things I have done. I am good at sports and

other physical activities. I often work through problems or get ideas

while walking or doing other physical activities. I am good at working in a

group because I am not easily distracted. I am good at being a group

leader because I can make sure everyone is doing their tasks.

Literacy

Second Level

Numeracy

Second Level

I enjoy reading. It helps me improve my VCOP and

Expression. I sometimes ask my mum to get new

books at the shops or I ask if I can get books from

the library. I always try my hardest to improve my

skills. I am good at taking other people’s ideas and

making them better. I used my literacy skills to

research my Zen Garden. I am

able to read for information

and use the knowledge to

create something new.

I am better at finding decimals,

fractions and percentages. I

have also learned how to do long

multiplication and long division. I

am a lot better at drawing and

finding the area of shapes. I think that Maths is my

best subject because I’m really fast at all of my

maths work. I think I get faster at my times tables

by practising a lot. I also get my Dad to test me

while I’m at my house. I have used my numeracy

skills to tell the time and work out how long I have

until I go out.

Health and Wellbeing

Second Level

Other Curricular Areas

In P.E last term we were doing badminton and

volleyball and this term we’re doing hockey and

basketball. We watched something called Choices

For Life where it shows you some children and

teenagers lives and learn what has destroyed them.

We did Forest Schools where we would go to

Polkemmet Park, I got better at working with a

group to complete our building

challenges. I have achieved a

lot of my targets because I try

extremely hard to complete

them.

This year I have improved on

all of my subjects a lot because

I listen and understand what

they mean. My favourite topic

was Japan. I enjoyed this topic because I

always like learning about other countries. I like

getting to choose what songs we learn in music.

I made an excellent spoonerism in art. I was

interested in learning how quickly the tsunamis

flooded Japan in Science. I am good at learning

prayers in RE.

Personal Achievements and Awards:

This year I have had a certificate on a Friday for being hardworking at all times. I

got a Bronze Medal for playing football last year and I got a medal for cross-

country running last year too. I have achieved a lot of my targets this year and

completed other achievements too including my maths test time and my spelling

tests in spelling set. My best time in my maths speed test was 3mins 3secs to

answer 100 questions.

PROFILE EXAMPLE

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