PSHE (Personal, Social and Health Education)

PSHE (Personal, Social and Health Education)

Personal, Social, Health and Economic education (PSHE) can mean all things to all people, but in a positive way. It enables schools to analyse what they offer to students and to use PSHE programmes to provide the final rounded curriculum. This is not easy as PSHE is not so much a ‘subject’ as a group of learning experiences that need careful binding together lest they become amorphous.

PSHE at its best brings emotional literacy, social skills and healthy attitudes to the core studies of the history, economic state and social make-up of the local and wider community

Ofsted has praised some schools’ multi-faceted approaches to creating a caring and coherent school and reaching out to the local communities, and some schools for delivering sex and relations programmes effectively, and some for their commitment to equality and diversity. Visits and activities outside the classroom can act not only as focal points for a school’s work but as catalysts to reinforce the messages contained in the courses.

In some ways it does not matter where the visit is to. The importance is how well they are planned, the matching of the experiences to the aim, and the enthusiasm staff and students bring to it.

So, typically learning for PSHE takes place whilst undertaking other activities. Here we list a range of ideas which the Council for Learning Outside the Classroom suggest as activities which can engender excellent experiences to benefit students in this area.

Attitudes and values

  • Talking about an object in a museum, or visiting a place of worship can give insight into issues, other cultures or periods of history.
  • Creating your own work of art can give rise to explorations and understandings about the world and our place in it
  • A visit to a farm can stimulate debate about animal husbandry and food production, and provide a context for designing a Fairtrade enterprise.
  • Adventure education can provide opportunities to show different skills, such as leadership or teamwork.
  • Seeing a play on the stage can bring a text alive and stimulate conversations about the values and actions of the characters.
  • A residential can provide a different setting for conversations about what we believe and what we think is important.

Confidence and resilience

  • Learning a new skill, such as map-reading or how to look at a painting, builds independence and confidence.
  • Adventure education enables young people to test themselves in various ways and develop new aptitudes and dispositions.
  • For young people with disabilities, a residential trip can foster independence and give them a rare opportunity to build close relationships outside the family.
  • Planning their own experience or activity helps young people to gain confidence in a wide range of project planning skills.  It can develop resilience in dealing with conflicting opinions, and in finding solutions to project challenges.

Communication and social skills

  • A drama workshop requires teamwork and helps, to strengthen friendship groups.
  • A residential experience enables staff to get to know young people, and young people get to know each other, discovering different aspects of each others’ personalities.
  • An experience, such as visiting a power station, stimulates discussion and encourages young people to share ideas and opinions.
  • A musical performance gives young people a feeling of achievement and a sense of personal success.
  • Young people planning their own programme or activities gives them voice and choice and ensures their active involvement.
  • Undertaking voluntary work in the community gives young people a sense of making a positive contribution.

Knowledge of the world beyond the classroom

  • Young people who live in the country may encounter a town or city for the first time or vice versa.
  • Environmentalists, town planners, artists, curators, scientists, politicians, musicians, dancers and actors can all act as new and powerful role models.
  • Going to an arts venue can encourage young people to try the experience again.
  • Recording the reminiscences of older people gives young people new insight into their community, and brings historical events alive.
  • Going to a local civic institution like a town hall builds knowledge of how communities function.
  • A school or youth council enables young people to learn about and participate in democratic processes
  • Visiting the library enables young people to find out what they have to offer – apart from lending books.
  • Children and young people with profound learning difficulties and disabilities may not often experience visits to galleries, concerts or the countryside because of the difficulties of transport and personal care which parents have to consider and cannot always manage alone. Educational visits may provide the only means for these young people to have such experiences.

Physical development and well-being

  • Visiting a park, field studies centre or making a school garden all provide physical activity and develop an interest in the environment.
  • Participating in recreational activities help to develop physical well-being and the growth of confidence.
  • Many learning outside the classroom activities can also provide attractive alternatives to competitive sports and can lead to a lifelong interest in healthy physical recreation.

Emotional spiritual and moral development

  • An integrated dance workshop with able bodied and disabled participants can help young people empathise and develop awareness of disability.
  • Activities in the natural environment can encourage a feeling of awe and wonder, and an appreciation of silence and solitude.
  • Visiting a place of worship develops an understanding of religion, reflection and spirituality.
  • Engaging with young people in conversations about values and beliefs, right and wrong, good and bad supports their moral development.

Main organisations:

PSHE Association

National Centre for Citizenship and the Law

Inclusion: NASEN

Venues for this Curriculum

The Glencoe Folk Museum was co-founded by Miss Barbara Fairweather MBE and Mrs Rae Grant in the 1960s, and for both ladies it was a life's work. In 1971 the museum was gifted  the two cottages, which create the main building, by the late Hugh Grant.

The museum takes you on a journey through time showing how local people lived and worked in Gairloch through the ages.
● Marvel at how stone age and bronze age people existed with relatively limited technology and (to us) primitive utensils.
● Fathom the mysteries of a Pictish symbol stone.

The Centre provides a focus for the work of Dunbeath Preservation Trust: Registered museum; archaeological exhibition, Neil M Gunn literary landscape, engaging approach to landscape interpretation through art installations, photography and unique floor map.

Dingwall Museum presents many local artefacts and fascinating tales of human exploits which are unique to Dingwall within a landmark building, once the centre of local government. Over the years members have designed displays to create pictures of the past for visitors to study and enjoy.

The Museum's award-winning displays use extensive research and the latest technology, including a tape tour of the town, to help you share the enthusiasm for Cromarty past and present.

Caithness Horizons Collection comprises approximately 8,050 artefacts relating to the following subjects/themes:

Archaeology: This Collection mostly consists of archaeological material from Caithness, although there is a small Collection of material from elsewhere in Scotland and from other countries

Come and explore the Viking Heritage of Caithness. Discover the pre-Viking kingdom of the Catti and follow the progress of the Norse settlers from their Scandinavian homes to Shetland, Orkney and Caithness.

The galleries integrate Shetland’s museum and archives collections for the first time to tell Shetland’s story in the most complete and accessible way. 

We have a wide range of tours, talks, films, workshops, trails and resources that will help you discover more about Shetland’s Past.

Built in 1803 as the Sheriff Court this is where Sir Walter Scott, author of such classics as The Heart of Midlothian and Rob Roy, dispensed justice to the people of Selkirkshire.

Explore Scott’s life, his writings and his time as Sheriff.

Jedburgh Castle Jail gives visitors a taste of what life was like in an 1820s prison, whilst also telling the story of the Royal Burgh of Jedburgh. 

Hawick Museum's parkland location and fascinating displays reflect the endeavour of the town and its people. The objects and fine works of art collected are not just about Hawick but a window on the world. 
The permanent displays allow many of our wonderful artefacts to be shown. The Jimmie Guthrie and Steve Hislop exhibitions make us a motorcyclists' Mecca. 

The central point of the exhibitions is the magnificent 15 × 4ft tapestry which was sewn by local ladies to commemorate the Great East Coast Fishing Disaster of 1881, when 189 local fishermen were drowned. There are exhibitions also on farming, milling, the occupations of blacksmith and wheelwright, and of course the fishing heritage.

Permanent displays relating to the Coldstream Guards and the town of Coldstream, featuring artefacts on loan from the Coldstream Guards, the Provost's Robes and Chain of Office. There is a changing exhibition programme in the Courtyard Gallery. 

The museum, run on a voluntary basis by Friends of the Cathedral, incorporates a small visual exhibition and a separate History Centre Reading Room. A church and social history collection contains church, community and family memorabilia and records including The Scottish Horse regimental records. An audio guided tour of the museum and cathedral precincts is available.

Here in the Atholl Country Life Museum, once the village school, you are able to capture that life of the past and learn about the great characters of the area, their skills and achievements, not only in the community but far beyond.

The Orkney Museum tells the story of Orkney, from the Stone Age, to the Picts and Vikings, right through to the present day. There is a large collection of old photos and activities to amuse younger visitors. The Museum’s collection is of international importance and it has a changing temporary exhibition programme.

Unique survival in Northern Europe of a traditional rural dwelling with central hearth and stone

Kirbuster Museum was opened to the public in 1986. It is the last un-restored example of a traditional ‘firehoose’ in Northern Europe. The house has a central hearth and a stone neuk bed, a unique survival. Kirbuster was occupied up until the 1960s and was once the home of the Spence and Hay families.

Corrigall Farm Museum is a traditional ‘but and ben’ house. It portrays a typical Orkney farmhouse and steading in Victorian times - late 19th Century. The working barn and grain kiln, horse-drawn machinery and livestock make for an interesting visit for children and adults.

An exhibition on the history of Whitburn and its coal mining heritage in particular

The permanent exhibition tells the story of Whitburn and its industrial and social past. Coal mining was very important in Whitburn but other industries from hand loom weaving to the manufacture of Levi’s jeans also feature. Aspects of social history from the Baillie family on Polkemmet Estate to the leisure pursuits of miners are also covered.

The Museums Service cares for the Council's collections, runs museums in the community, a touring exhibition programme, education and reminiscence services

West Lothian Council Museums Service has three stores, a workshop and an office at Connolly House in Blackburn. The role of the service is threefold. First we care for the Council’s collections and record them using manual and computerised systems.

Surgeons' Hall Museum is the major medical museum in Scotland, and one of Edinburgh's many tourist attractions. The museum is recognised as a collection of national significance by the Scottish Government.

Since 1826, the Academy has occupied William Henry Playfair’s magnificent landmark building on the Mound, Edinburgh. The RSA is at the forefront of promoting living artists in Scotland, through its Annual Exhibition and a series of temporary exhibitions and events.

Edinburgh University Collection of Historic Musical Instruments ranks among the world's most important collections of musical heritage. All the main types or musical sound-making device are represented, and are presented to the public in two museums. The c.

Prestongrange is a site of major importance in the story of Scotland’s Industrial Revolution. Visitors can discover the story of the harbour, glass works, pottery, colliery and brickworks. A Cornish Beam Engine is available to visit via a guided tour. The Visitor Centre includes an exhibition area, shop and café.

The National Mining Museum Scotland is the national coal mining museum for Scotland and cares for the Lady Victoria Colliery and the national coal mining collections. The collections at the museum comprise over 60,000 items, including objects, archive material, photographs and books.

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