|
January 4, 2022
How can the Curriculum for Excellence enhance outcomes for children in Scotland? A classroom guide to better thinking.
Main, P (2022, January 04). Curriculum for excellence: A school guide. Retrieved from https://www.structural-learning.com/post/curriculum-for-excellence-a-school-guide
The Scottish Government introduced CfE in order to improve the quality of teaching and learning with a specific goal to prepare young people for their future and help them become life-long learners. By overhauling educational standards and practices, the curriculum could help reform the Scottish education system. As leaders continue to search for innovative curriculum design models, it is important to consider the potential of CfE in allowing greater autonomy for teachers and flexibility for students.
Curriculum policies are the guidelines that allow teachers to have the creative freedom and flexibility to meet the needs of their students. In line with CfE, guidelines for best practices must support student autonomy, peace education, active citizenship, informed decision making, and developing confidence within learners. To ensure that curriculum policies are being followed and making a positive impact on learning outcomes, they should also consider evidence-driven research into educational initiatives.
Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) – Scotland’s curriculum helps young people and children belonging to the 3-18 age range, gain the knowledge, attributes, and skills needed to thrive in the 21st century. At Structural Learning, our coherent approach to embedding critical thinking skills might be an interesting starting point for any school that is currently undertaking curriculum reform. The changes to curriculum practice have been largely welcomed by school leaders. With an emphasis on skills for learning, students will leave school with the essential attributes of a lifelong learner.
The SCE provides a framework for teaching children at primary school level, through to post-16 education. It includes a set of learning outcomes, standards and assessments. These are designed to ensure that every child receives a quality education.
The SCE is based on three core principles:
• Learning should be relevant to life;
• Learning should be challenging;
• Learning should be enjoyable.
The central aim is that these principles underpin everything that is taught to pupils. They help teachers to develop children as individuals, who are able to achieve their full potential. The SCE helps teachers to plan lessons and deliver effective instruction. It ensures that students receive a consistent and well-rounded education.
The Sce is not just about academic achievement. It focuses on developing young people as whole human beings. This means helping them to become independent learners, confident communicators and active citizens
The main purpose of CfE is to enable all the students to become:
Curriculum for Excellence Benchmarks has been formulated to clarify the national standards at each coherent curriculum level within each curriculum area.
Learner journeys provide valuable evidence of progress and achievement for teachers. Learner journeys show the progress of individuals and across learning areas, allowing teachers to assess performance outcomes against identified standards. Learner journey evidence includes self-assessment, peer assessment and professional review. This type of evidence is crucial in improving quality assurance processes and offering personalized learning experiences for different pupils.
Curriculum for Excellence Benchmarks provide a common framework for teachers and other education professionals to evaluate performance against these standards. This allows for a consistent approach to be taken across the board, regardless of who is assessing the learner journey evidence. The Common Framework also offers a degree of flexibility that can be tailored to different learning contexts and provides teachers with an invaluable resource in helping their pupils reach their full potential.
Key principles of the Curriculum for Excellence Benchmarks embark clear lines of progression in English, in literacy, mathematics and numeracy, and over other curriculum areas from the Early to 4th Levels. Their main purpose is to demonstrate what students must understand and do to develop across the levels. Benchmarks also support teachers to track, monitor and assess processes. Keeping clear standards that children must accomplish, allow teachers and other education experts to show consistency in their professional judgements.
The Curriculum for Excellence has two broad stages:
Broad general education has 5 curriculum levels (From Early to Fourth) across the following curriculum areas.
In addition to the assessments for each curriculum area, teachers should also assess pupils in the core subjects. The core subjects are literacy, numeracy, science, technologies and health and wellbeing. Schools should be tracking pupils' progress in these subjects over time, so that they can see if any particular pupils need additional support, or identify good practice at the school level. By assessing and reporting on progress made in each of the core subject areas schools will help ensure that all pupils have an appropriate education.
The Curriculum for Excellence Levels range from Early (pre-primary education) to Second (fourth and fifth year of primary education). The levels have been designed to provide broad guidelines on what schools should be teaching pupils in Scotland's primary and secondary schools. By taking into account the level that each pupil is currently working at, a school can plan carefully and ensure that all pupils' needs are met.
According to the Scottish National Standardised Assessment policy, students at P1, P4, P7 and S3 level of education appear in standardised assessments in writing, reading, and mathematics on daily basis. This kind of assessment allows teachers to identify progress in each of the individual child and independent learners by providing diagnostic information and supporting teachers in making a professional judgement.
According to the Curriculum for Excellence the evidence of students 21st-century learning, achievement and progress come from sources such as observing everyday learning within the classroom, working area or playroom; feedback and observation from learning activities in other environments, for instance, on work placements, outdoor learning; coursework such as assessment; planned periodic holistic assessment; learning conversations, and information from standardised assessment of pupils.
It must be noted that no single type of assessment can provide teachers with sufficient evidence on which they can make a judgement on education. Rather, professional judgements of teachers are supported by the process of lifelong learning strategy of moderation in which teachers combine to discuss and assess a variety of assessment evidence acquired from the education institute's pupils and young children's ways of learning. This process of CfE for children assures that the teachers have a shared knowledge of standards and goals as mentioned in the National Benchmarks.
Core Principles of Education Systems Benchmarks are created to be brief and accessible, with enough detail to demonstrate the primary school and secondary schools standards required at each level of the national curriculum.
According to the Scottish Policy In Education, all Scottish Schools are required to report on numeracy and learning attainment at the curriculum level. For each phase of education, their data is gathered at the national level. The High-Quality Modern Education Benchmarks for all the curriculum areas assessment must be manageable and proportionate. For proper implementation Of CDE, the teachers and other education experts must get sufficient time to gain knowledge about different aspects of curriculum and the learning journeys benchmarks, to take part in professional discussion and to use these as part of their school improvement plans.
The Scottish Government introduced CfE in order to improve the quality of teaching and learning with a specific goal to prepare young people for their future and help them become life-long learners. By overhauling educational standards and practices, the curriculum could help reform the Scottish education system. As leaders continue to search for innovative curriculum design models, it is important to consider the potential of CfE in allowing greater autonomy for teachers and flexibility for students.
Curriculum policies are the guidelines that allow teachers to have the creative freedom and flexibility to meet the needs of their students. In line with CfE, guidelines for best practices must support student autonomy, peace education, active citizenship, informed decision making, and developing confidence within learners. To ensure that curriculum policies are being followed and making a positive impact on learning outcomes, they should also consider evidence-driven research into educational initiatives.
Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) – Scotland’s curriculum helps young people and children belonging to the 3-18 age range, gain the knowledge, attributes, and skills needed to thrive in the 21st century. At Structural Learning, our coherent approach to embedding critical thinking skills might be an interesting starting point for any school that is currently undertaking curriculum reform. The changes to curriculum practice have been largely welcomed by school leaders. With an emphasis on skills for learning, students will leave school with the essential attributes of a lifelong learner.
The SCE provides a framework for teaching children at primary school level, through to post-16 education. It includes a set of learning outcomes, standards and assessments. These are designed to ensure that every child receives a quality education.
The SCE is based on three core principles:
• Learning should be relevant to life;
• Learning should be challenging;
• Learning should be enjoyable.
The central aim is that these principles underpin everything that is taught to pupils. They help teachers to develop children as individuals, who are able to achieve their full potential. The SCE helps teachers to plan lessons and deliver effective instruction. It ensures that students receive a consistent and well-rounded education.
The Sce is not just about academic achievement. It focuses on developing young people as whole human beings. This means helping them to become independent learners, confident communicators and active citizens
The main purpose of CfE is to enable all the students to become:
Curriculum for Excellence Benchmarks has been formulated to clarify the national standards at each coherent curriculum level within each curriculum area.
Learner journeys provide valuable evidence of progress and achievement for teachers. Learner journeys show the progress of individuals and across learning areas, allowing teachers to assess performance outcomes against identified standards. Learner journey evidence includes self-assessment, peer assessment and professional review. This type of evidence is crucial in improving quality assurance processes and offering personalized learning experiences for different pupils.
Curriculum for Excellence Benchmarks provide a common framework for teachers and other education professionals to evaluate performance against these standards. This allows for a consistent approach to be taken across the board, regardless of who is assessing the learner journey evidence. The Common Framework also offers a degree of flexibility that can be tailored to different learning contexts and provides teachers with an invaluable resource in helping their pupils reach their full potential.
Key principles of the Curriculum for Excellence Benchmarks embark clear lines of progression in English, in literacy, mathematics and numeracy, and over other curriculum areas from the Early to 4th Levels. Their main purpose is to demonstrate what students must understand and do to develop across the levels. Benchmarks also support teachers to track, monitor and assess processes. Keeping clear standards that children must accomplish, allow teachers and other education experts to show consistency in their professional judgements.
The Curriculum for Excellence has two broad stages:
Broad general education has 5 curriculum levels (From Early to Fourth) across the following curriculum areas.
In addition to the assessments for each curriculum area, teachers should also assess pupils in the core subjects. The core subjects are literacy, numeracy, science, technologies and health and wellbeing. Schools should be tracking pupils' progress in these subjects over time, so that they can see if any particular pupils need additional support, or identify good practice at the school level. By assessing and reporting on progress made in each of the core subject areas schools will help ensure that all pupils have an appropriate education.
The Curriculum for Excellence Levels range from Early (pre-primary education) to Second (fourth and fifth year of primary education). The levels have been designed to provide broad guidelines on what schools should be teaching pupils in Scotland's primary and secondary schools. By taking into account the level that each pupil is currently working at, a school can plan carefully and ensure that all pupils' needs are met.
According to the Scottish National Standardised Assessment policy, students at P1, P4, P7 and S3 level of education appear in standardised assessments in writing, reading, and mathematics on daily basis. This kind of assessment allows teachers to identify progress in each of the individual child and independent learners by providing diagnostic information and supporting teachers in making a professional judgement.
According to the Curriculum for Excellence the evidence of students 21st-century learning, achievement and progress come from sources such as observing everyday learning within the classroom, working area or playroom; feedback and observation from learning activities in other environments, for instance, on work placements, outdoor learning; coursework such as assessment; planned periodic holistic assessment; learning conversations, and information from standardised assessment of pupils.
It must be noted that no single type of assessment can provide teachers with sufficient evidence on which they can make a judgement on education. Rather, professional judgements of teachers are supported by the process of lifelong learning strategy of moderation in which teachers combine to discuss and assess a variety of assessment evidence acquired from the education institute's pupils and young children's ways of learning. This process of CfE for children assures that the teachers have a shared knowledge of standards and goals as mentioned in the National Benchmarks.
Core Principles of Education Systems Benchmarks are created to be brief and accessible, with enough detail to demonstrate the primary school and secondary schools standards required at each level of the national curriculum.
According to the Scottish Policy In Education, all Scottish Schools are required to report on numeracy and learning attainment at the curriculum level. For each phase of education, their data is gathered at the national level. The High-Quality Modern Education Benchmarks for all the curriculum areas assessment must be manageable and proportionate. For proper implementation Of CDE, the teachers and other education experts must get sufficient time to gain knowledge about different aspects of curriculum and the learning journeys benchmarks, to take part in professional discussion and to use these as part of their school improvement plans.
