A Curriculum for Excellence

1. A Curriculum for Excellence http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/curriculumforexcellence/ http://www.hvlc.org.uk/ace/

2. Background • 2002 National Debate on Education • 2004 Report of the Curriculum Review Group: A Curriculum for Excellence

3. ACfE Values: wisdom, justice, compassion, integrity Aims to: • Focus classroom practice upon the child and around the 4 capacities of education • Simplify and prioritise the curriculum • Encourage more learning through experience • Create a single framework 3-18

4. Skills • More opportunities for children and young people to develop skills: • For learning • For life • For work

5. Four capacities The purpose of the curriculum is to enable all young people to become: • Successful learners • Confident individuals • Responsible citizens • Effective contributors

6. Discussion 1 • What are you already doing that supports the development of the four capacities? • What could you do? • Identify eight actions or activities – two for each of the four capacities

7. Stages of Learning

8. National Qualifications • Access, H and AH will be retained • A new qualification at SCQF levels 4 and 5 will replace SG General and Credit and Int1 and 2 • Access 3 will replace SG Foundation • New awards in literacy and numeracy at SCQF 3-5 • More able pupils study H from S4

9. Principles for curriculum design • Challenge and enjoyment • Breadth • Progression • Depth • Personalisation and choice • Coherence • Relevance

10. Discussion 2 • How can you help staff in your school to meet the principles of the Curriculum for Excellence?

11. Curriculum areas • Sciences • Languages • Maths • Expressive arts • Social studies • Technologies • Health and wellbeing • RME

12. Cross-cutting themes • Citizenship • Enterprise • Creativity • Sustainable development • Literacy and numeracy

13. Draft experiences and outcomes • Literacy and English • Numeracy • Maths • Science • Health and wellbeing • Expressive arts • Social studies • RME • Classics • Gaelic

14. Literacy across the curriculum • Literacy is the set of skills which allows the individual to engage fully in society and in learning through the different forms of language, and the range of texts, which society finds useful

15. All teachers have responsibility for promoting language and literacy development • Literacy is fundamental to all areas of learning

16. Scope • Contexts: reading, writing, listening and talking • Range of media: print, film, electronic • Range of presentation: extended essay, graph, web page, e-mail, text message etc

18. Discussion 3 • Look at the draft experiences and outcomes for Literacy especially: • Reading – enjoyment and choice • Finding, using and organising information • What are you already contributing to this? • What opportunities can you see for developing / supporting cross curricular work?

19. Improvement Planning http://www.hvlc.org.uk/dps http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/journeytoexcellence/

20. Highland Priorities 2008-9 • Context: ACfE and Ambitious Excellent Schools • Key focus: transition and achievement • Literacy and numeracy • Improvements in learning and teaching

21. School Improvement Plan Three sections: • Vision, values and aims • Priorities identified from self evaluation plus HC priorities • Improvement projects • Departmental improvement projects should link to the school improvement plan

22. School Profile • Supersedes audit section of SDP • Simplified improvement planning process • A set of short evaluative statements • Concise evidence base • Evidence can consist of quantitative data, people’s views, direct observation

23. Indicators • Highland focus: • Indicators 1.1, 2.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.9, 9.3, 9.4 • Individual schools may include additional indicators important to them • No longer a requirement for all QIs to be evaluated in a 3 year period • Statements relating to other QIs can be very brief

24. Process • Profile to be updated regularly as developments progresses • QIs 2.1 and 5.2 to be addressed by end of June 2008 • QI 1.1 by October • Remaining core QIs throughout the year

25. Libraries for Learners • Five key indicators adapted for relevance to school libraries: • 2.1 Learners’ experiences • 5.3 Meeting learning needs • 5.6 Equality and fairness • 5.9 Improvement through self-evaluation • 8.3 Management and use of resources and space for learning

26. Three of these correspond with Highland priorities: 2.1, 5.3, 5.9 and must be addressed • 5.6 is about inclusion; 8.3 about accommodation and resources – suggest these should also be addressed

27. Format • For each QI: • Key questions • Level 5 (very good) example • How good are we now? • Evidence must be robust • How good can we be? – Areas for improvement leading to Improvement Projects

28. Improvement Projects • A small number of projects • Outcomes must be observable and measurable • Responsibilities linked to individuals or teams • Clear timescales with milestones and deadlines • Measures of success

29. Discussion 4 • Each group start with a different QI • Remembering that this is a draft document first consider the questions and examples – do you have any suggestions for improvement? • Now consider your library in relation to the level 5 example – how do you compare? • What sources of evidence do you have?