Curriculum for Excellence

Development The Curriculum for Excellence was developed out of the National Debate on Education, a 2002 consultation exercise on the state of school education undertaken by the First McConnell government of the Scottish Executive. In response to the National Debate, Ministers established a Curriculum Review Group in November 2003 to identify the purposes of education for the 3–18 age range and to determine key principles to be applied in a redesign of the curriculum. Its work resulted in the publication in November 2004 of the document A Curriculum for Excellence. This document identified four key purposes of education; those that enable young people to become, "successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors." The Curriculum for Excellence is described by Education Scotland as "placing learners at the heart of education". Education Scotland claims that as part of their learner journey, all "children and young people in Scotland are entitled to experience a coherent curriculum from 3 to 18, in order that they have opportunities to develop the knowledge, skills and attributes they need to adapt, think critically and flourish in today's world". The totality of the Curriculum for Excellence can be experienced through Curriculum areas and associated subjects, Interdisciplinary learning, Ethos and life of the school as well as wider Opportunities for personal achievement. Its implementation is overseen by Education Scotland. In Scotland, councils and schools both have some responsibility for what is taught in schools and they must also take national guidelines and advice into account. A review was undertaken by the OECD, having been commissioned by the Scottish Government to look at the broad general education. A refreshed narrative on the curriculum which establishes Curriculum for Excellence "within the current context" was published by Education Scotland in September 2019. ==Overview==

Curriculum areas The areas of Curriculum for Excellence are: • Expressive arts • Health and wellbeing • Languages (including English, Gàidhlig, Gaelic (Learners), modern languages and classical languages) • Mathematics • Religious and moral education (including Religious and moral education and Religious education in Roman Catholic schools) • Sciences • Social studies • Technologies The curriculum areas of literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing are recognised by Education Scotland and the Scottish Government as being particularly important curricular areas, and as such, they are seen as "being the responsibility of all staff" in Scottish schools. The established Benchmarks explain the lines of progression within learning in the curricular areas of literacy and English and numeracy and mathematics, as well as across all other curriculum areas from Early Level to Fourth Level (First to Fourth Levels in Modern Languages, as Early Level is not included). The purpose statement issued by Education Scotland claimed that the introduction of Benchmarks was required "to make clear what learners need to know and be able to do to progress through the levels, and to support consistency in teachers’ and other practitioners’ professional judgements". ==Criticism==

Before its introduction, many within the Scottish teaching profession, including the teachers' trade union The Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) and its members, believed that the Curriculum for Excellence was too vague, in particular regarding its supposed 'outcomes and experiences'. There existed a fear that this imprecision would result in a lack of clarity in what was expected of teachers in the classroom and in the assessment of pupils' progress and attainment. The original concerns led East Renfrewshire, one of the most educationally successful local authorities, to delay implementation of the secondary school phase of the new curriculum by one year. Some Scottish independent schools, including St Aloysius' College, in Glasgow, chose to do the same. ==References==