Curriculum for Excellence
Introducing a new, streamlined summary of Curriculum for Excellence, designed to support teachers as they implement the new curriculum.
Here David Cameron (no, not that one, this one is the former president of the Association of Directors of Education Scotland) explains the aims of the new summarised materials and what they mean for you.
The Education Secretary committed to providing more support for teachers though his 10 point plan. Prepared by David Cameron and Keir Bloomer – another former director of education and council chief executive – these new materials will help to do just that, by summarising the key ideas in two of the Building the Curriculum resources. One is focused on delivering learning and teaching and the other on assessment.
You can view these materials here: Learning and Assessment
Submit your ideas below:
As a parent of children in P1, P2 and nursery I am dismayed at the mess our school curriculum is in! I have been so concerned about CfE that I have read the long winded lengthy documents for both parents and teachers and spent many an evening trawling the internet for more information. Never has so much waffle and nothing been written in so many pages!!
I have now been told 3 times in 2 weeks that health and wellbeing are more important in the curriculum than numeracy and literacy. Is this the case? I was under the misguided impression that I sent my children to school to learn to read and write!!!
Now that ABCDE are gone from our assessments how on earth are we to grasp any idea of how are children are doing, with early stage, stage 1 etc!! It is an outrage!
We are to believe that we affording our teachers greater autonomy, what nonsense!! Any parent can see that with all the planning, HMIe inspections, and paperwork to be completed that teachers have less autonomy and more constraints on their teaching methods than ever. There are far too many hoops to be seen to be jumping through and other things to achieve rather than focusing on a nation who are numerate and literate!!
Thank you for your replies.
Alex, I would agree with you when you say that there is much that is good in CfE. Or rather, I think there are many good aims. Unfortunately in most areas that is all that there is. The idea that change must be thoughtfully planned is missing.
I belive that the education system has a deep responsibility to pupils and parents to plan change properly. This responsibilty has been ignored and pupils and parents have been betrayed.
My anger will be nothing compared to the cumulative rage of parents across scotland when they realise that their children represent the expendable element in all this. Most P7 parents are in a state of confused but trusting ignorance.
Simon,
I could not agree with you more.
In Nov.(?) 2005 I was privileged to hear Dr. Gill Robinson, the then CfE. guru. The whole concept seemed RIGHT.
There is still much that is good in CfE. but we have lost the way. Much more needs to be done to ensure coherence, especially in the transition from S3 to certification in S5&6.
Our politicians have no right to experiment in this way risking as they do the future of an entire generation of young Scots. I would have hoped that THIS Government would have, by now, realised that the way was actually lost in 2006/7. THAT was clear to me on the second occasion I heard Dr. Robinson. There is no reason that the cabinet secretary should not realise this and hold fire until all the pieces are in place.
To continue with the historical thread:-
I suppose Hitler thought that the Ardennes campaign was a good idea…. sure it was; just ill timed and under resourced. It ran out of gas and failed miserably in spite of heroic efforts. I’m not for a minute suggesting that our government in any way resembles The 3rd Reich but they might well have succeeded had they listened to wiser counsel and not been wedded to someone’s idea or orthodoxy….. Hmmmm?
My Grandson has just emigrated to Cambridge and I am glad for him that he will not have to run the gauntlet of CfE. Despite its many shortcomings the English system looks much better than what we fear is in store for us.
I don’t think you should apologise for obvious passion and concern about the road CfE is forcing people down.
The comparisonn with Mao was very appropriate.
I had considered comparing CfE to Stalin’s Five Year Plans, or more specifically their outcomes: exaggeration about production, neglect of workers and consumers etc etc so that even Stalin had to say, in his ‘dizzy with success speech, that thet FYPs had gone to far.
Sadly, I think that’s where the comparison falters, as it would be political suicide for those driving this ‘journey’ to admit that its overblown and fundamentally flawed.
Perhaps even more depressing, references to, and understanding of, thought provoking issues that raise questions will soon be a thing of the past as CfE embeds its bland, one size fits all orthodoxy.
My youngest son starts S1 this August- I am livid that he and the rest of the cohort will be served up such tripe.
Thank you for your support Karen. My original post is a bit clumsy and garbled as I was in a rush to get something down before exploding after reading some of the preceding comments.
Rather than just the ‘Emperor’s New Clothes’ I would like to make a more extreme comparison, to Mao’s ‘Great Leap Forward’ of 1958. Just as everything in our education system has been thrown up in the air on a tidal wave of pure optimism, Mao thought he could transform China through the power of idealogy alone. The consequences are in the history books.
From now on I shall refer to CfE as the Great Leap Forward.
I completely agree with all you are saying and consider it is the most shameful initiative ever introduced to Scottish education.