Curriculum for Excellence

Building the Curriculum

Photograph of primary girls attending class

The contribution of curriculum areas to the development of Curriculum for Excellence

The values, purposes and principles for the curriculum 3 to 18 in Scotland are set out in A Curriculum for Excellence (Scottish Executive, 2004). It affirms that Curriculum for Excellence is for all young people in all educational settings, and that it should support them in a range of ways which help to maximise their potential. At its heart lies the aspiration that all children and young people should develop their capacities as successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors.

The main aim of this material is to involve groups of teachers in professional reflection, debate and rethinking which will be an essential part of successful implementation. Curriculum for Excellence challenges us to think differently about the curriculum and it permits professionals to plan and act in new ways: it poses challenges for learning and teaching, and the purposes and structures of programmes of study. This will prepare the ground for the new, streamlined guidance which will emerge over the coming months.

Because the curriculum is much more than the sum of individual curriculum areas, this material is the first of a series. To support planning for the curriculum as a whole we will be producing further Building the Curriculum papers which will include cross-cutting themes including literacy and numeracy, and interdisciplinary studies and projects. Further publications will address important themes such as the role of the teacher, and assessment and qualifications.

The role of the teacher

Teachers are the key to successful implementation of the Curriculum for Excellence. The quality of learning and teaching in every classroom - and the inspiration, challenge and enjoyment which can come from teachers’ enthusiasm and commitment - will be critical to achieving our aspirations for all young people.

The children and young people of Scotland need teachers who themselves exemplify the four capacities, who have a sense of community with their colleagues and who share in responsibility for the success of the school and all that happens within it.

Within a clear framework of national expectations, teachers will have greater scope and space for professional decisions about what and how they should teach, enabling them to plan creatively within broader parameters.

Because of this, teachers’ professional development will be critical to the success of the programme and needs to be inextricably linked with the work to develop the curriculum. This implies a commitment to building on the strong start in initial teacher education and induction, supporting the development of teachers’ skills and knowledge, and nurturing their enthusiasm. We will be producing material shortly on the attributes and role of teachers for excellence.

Progress and Proposals

Progress and Proposals, which was published in March 2006, outlines some of the main features of the new curriculum. It defines the scope of the curriculum as extending beyond subjects to include:

  • the ethos and life of the school as a community
  • curriculum areas and subjects
  • interdisciplinary projects and studies
  • opportunities for wider achievement.

It also proposes that expectations for learning within the curriculum areas should be gathered under these headings:

As Progress and Proposals  explains, these curriculum areas simply provide a device for ensuring that learning takes place across a broad range of contexts, and offer a way of grouping experiences and outcomes under recognisable headings. These experiences and outcomes may be secured within school and beyond in, for example, the workplace, college or outdoor education settings. They support the progressive development of ideas, skills and ways of thinking.

Taken together, experiences and outcomes across the curriculum areas will sum up national aspirations for every young person: the knowledge and understanding, skills, capabilities and attributes we hope they will develop.

Building the curriculum

Each of the curriculum areas makes its own unique contribution to developing the four capacities of children and young people. It does so both within its own disciplinary contexts and through connections with other areas of learning. This material draws on classroom practice to describe some of these contributions and possible connections. It should be clear from these descriptions that the curriculum areas are not intended to be rigid structures. There will be considerable scope for innovative approaches to building the curriculum. Indeed, schools and other centres are already thinking imaginatively about how experiences and outcomes might be organised in new and creative ways, for example to plan for wider cross-connections and interdisciplinary work.

This material has three main purposes.

  • It provides staff in early years settings, schools and colleges with ideas for reflection and development activity in preparation for working with the new guidance in ways which recognise the importance of progression in learning and the interdependence of different areas of learning.
  • It provides the basis for the detailed work which is now being carried out to develop new, streamlined guidance on experiences and outcomes in all of the curriculum areas. This guidance will become available from December 2006 onwards and will replace current guidance such as the Curriculum 3 to 5, and 5-14 guidelines. The work is being carried out by Learning and Teaching Scotland in partnership with SEED, HMIE, SQA and local authorities. At this stage, and until the future arrangements for qualifications have been decided, the experiences and outcomes will mainly focus on levels up to curriculum level 4.
  • It offers parents, employers and others who have an interest in Scottish education an indication of what and how children and young people will learn though the new curriculum.

Helping to build the curriculum

Many teachers have already made some changes to their approaches to learning and teaching in the light of the aspirations of A Curriculum for Excellence. Building on that work, local authorities, headteachers, teachers and educators in all sectors can use this material in the next stage of continuing professional development, and so help to establish a sound base for successful implementation of the new curriculum guidance.

  • Teachers can reflect together on the proposals and respond to them, to inform the development work on experiences and outcomes.
  • They can use it to work with colleagues to make connections across the curriculum - for example, to plan a coherent approach to the development of language, numeracy, personal and social skills, or themes such as creativity. This material highlights some areas - literacy, numeracy and key aspects of health and wellbeing - which are the responsibility of all teachers. 
  • They can use it to consider with colleagues how to plan for interdisciplinary activities.
  • They can consider their current learning and teaching practices and identify ways of developing them further to reflect all of the four capacities.

To help teachers to be aware of timescales, Curriculum for Excellence milestones have been developed.

Some other current activities to support development of the curriculum

We recognise that teachers will need materials to support the new curriculum, and Glow, the digital network for schools, will have an important part to play in making these resources available. Work is also under way to ensure that assessment and qualifications and new arrangements for recognising achievement reflect and support the aims of Curriculum for Excellence.

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