Transcript A Curriculum for Excellence

Victoria, Australia
May Sweeney – National Co-ordinator
Learning and Teaching Scotland
November 2006
What do we want to do better?
Desire to address:
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Overcrowding – too many initiatives
Progression
Balance between ‘vocational’ and ‘academic’
Preparing young people better for lifelong learning and
employment
• Ensuring that assessment supports learning
• Increasing choice
Values
“The Curriculum … must enable young people to
build up a strong foundation of knowledge and
understanding and promote a commitment to
considered judgement and ethical action.”
page 11 A Curriculum for Excellence 2004
Successful
learners
Confident
individuals
To enable all
young people to
become
Responsible
citizens
Effective
contributors
Principles for curriculum design
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Challenge and enjoyment
Breadth
Progression
Depth
Personalisation and
choice
 Coherence
 Relevance
Aims of the programme
• Focus practice upon the
child and around the four
purposes of education
• Simplify and prioritise the
current curriculum
• Encourage more learning
through experiences
• Create a single
framework for the
curriculum and
assessment 3-18
“To ensure that young people develop
the literacy, numeracy and other
essential skills and knowledge they
will need for life and work.”
Page 4 A Curriculum for Excellence
New approach to curriculum development
Engagement 2005-06
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Education authorities; elected members
Head Teachers; schools/centres/establishments; children’s services
Children & young people
Parents/carers
TEIs/ FE colleges/GTC
Professional associations
Employers
Media
Range of interested parties: Forestry Commission; WWF etc
What has been happening?
• Engagement
• Early review groups
• Skills for Work
Courses
• Progress and
Proposals – March 2006
• Register of Interest
Proposals: Looking at the curriculum
differently
• Single framework 3 – 18
• Promote learning across a wide range of contexts and well
planned experiences
• More than curriculum areas and subjects, also
– Ethos and life of the school
– Interdisciplinary projects and studies
– Opportunities for personal achievement
• Equip young people with high level of literacy and numeracy skills
Interdisciplinary projects and studies
“The curriculum needs to include
space for learning beyond
subject boundaries, so that
learners can make
connections between different
areas of learning. …..
To be successful, these
activities need to be well
planned with a clear purpose
and outcomes in mind.”
(Progress and Proposals 2006)
Opportunities for personal achievement
“ ..activities such as
performances, community or
enterprise activities and trips.
… Many …are voluntary for
learners and have traditionally
been organised as ‘extracurricular’ opportunities.
However, they play a major
part in creating opportunities
for individual growth , progress
and achievement and we need
to consider how they can be
made available for all
learners.”
Proposals: Levels of achievement
ACfE levels of achievement will
• replace 5-14 levels
• extend from 3-18
• describe both outcomes and experiences
• “I can…” and “I have…” statements
• Provide scope for challenge and depth
(no need to speed through levels but no ceilings either)
Proposals: Progression and Levels of Achievement
Level
Experiences and outcomes for most children
or young people
Early
In pre-school and in Primary 1
First
By end of P4, but earlier for some
Second
By end of P7, but earlier for some
Third
In S1- S3 but earlier for some
Fourth
Senior
Fourth level broadly equates to SCQF level 4
In S4 – S6, but earlier for some
Proposals: Organising Learning
Organising learning through
curriculum areas - to provide
breadth
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Health and well being
Languages
Mathematics
Sciences
Social studies
Expressive arts
Technologies
Religious and moral
education
“The curriculum areas should provide a basis for learning
and the development of skills across a broad range of
contexts. They offer opportunities for citizenship,
sustainable development, enterprise, creativity and
cultural aspects. …..
It will be open to schools to organise the outcomes
and experiences differently (for example by designing
challenging interdisciplinary projects), …to plan for
progression, breadth and depth of learning.”
p15, Progress and Proposals 2006
Making Choices in learning
“The proposed changes to the structure of the curriculum
give us an opportunity to look differently at choices in
learning at all stages. … We would like to work with
schools to explore possibilities for different approaches
to personalisation and choice. ..e.g., whether it would
be desirable and possible for choices to take place over
a more extended period across S1-S3, ….approaches
to subject choice which are not based on the current
modal structure ..”
p15-16, Progress and Proposals 2006
Recognition of Achievement
• How do we recognise
broader skills and
achievements more
explicitly?
• Robust, convincing
and highly valued
• Must not become a
new bureaucratic
burden for schools
Implications
• Role of the teacher
– Shift from prescription about detail of the
curriculum towards more scope for
professional judgement and creativity
– Enhancing both initial teacher education and
CPD
Implications
• Leadership
– Increased expectations
– Support professional dialogue and debate
– Opportunities to be creative in curriculum
design
2006-07?
• Building the Curriculum paper
• Writing of outcomes and
experiences
• Work on curriculum
architecture
• Further engagement
• Inter-authority collaboration
• Involvement of schools and
other stakeholders through
Register of Interest
• Examples of changing practice
in response to ACfEX on
website
• Glow
Current Challenges
• Management of change
• Varying levels of awareness and understanding of
purposes and principles
• Readiness of staff to interpret and use simplified
guidance
• Focus on external accountability and qualifications
• Nature of CPD
A Curriculum for Excellence Scotland
2006