CfE Management Board – 26 March 2014 – Paper 3.2
CfE Management Board: Process over coming months
There are a few specific areas in which we believe Management Board can play a
useful role in the coming months:
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reflecting on this session’s experience in implementing the new qualifications,
and identifying useful messages for the system
feeding in to the updated CfE Implementation Plan for 2014/15
considering areas the Board should focus on in the medium-term, based on
its understanding of current issues
This paper makes a number of proposals for work in these areas, for discussion, and
asks Management Board:
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To consider the proposal to establish a short life working group, to
reflect on the experience of this session, and what the make-up of such
a group might be.
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To note and comment on the proposal to establish 2 sub-groups, one for
each of a) assessment within CfE; and b) the implementation of Wood.
Management Board Secretariat
March 2014
CfE Management Board – 26 March 2014 – Paper 3.2
CfE Management Board: Process over coming months
Reflecting on experiences this session
An important element of Management Board’s role is to maintain an overview of the
implementation process, and provide a means for stakeholder views and concerns to
be highlighted and explored. For the most part this is done by considering and
discussing the reports to the Board from the Implementation Group, and feeding
views and proposals back into the implementation process.
As we approach the completion of the first session of the new CfE qualifications, we
suggest it would be timely for Management Board to set in train a short
process of reflection and discussion on the experience of this session, to
report back to the Management Board’s next meeting, in June. This could be carried
out by a small working group, which could meet perhaps twice as a group (and also
meet the Implementation Group around its next meeting in May).
This group could present to the Board a set of key messages it considers would be
helpful to the system and to delivery partners as preparations are made for the next
session. (Such an approach would mirror that the taken by the Working Group on
Tackling Bureaucracy, the output of which was generally welcomed by partners.)
The evidence base for this work could include inspection evidence, key findings from
CfE leadership events etc. The key messages would relate to the most effective
approaches to implementation at school, local and national agency level.
Management Board is invited to consider this proposal, and what the make-up
of such a group might be.
Updated CfE Implementation Plan
If agreed by Management Board in June, the messages of the above group could
supplement the detailed information which will be set out in the Implementation
Plan for 2014/15. This is currently in preparation, with the intention of it being
published by the end of April. (This is to allow authorities and schools to make use
of the Plan in finalising their own plans for 2014/15.) Management Board will be
invited to comment on a draft plan in the course of April.
Medium-term focus
It may be helpful for Management Board also now to consider where its mediumterm focus might lie – and how it can best express that.
Previous discussions at Management Board have highlighted assessment as an
issue for ongoing attention. This has arisen both in the context of the broad general
education, where issues have been identified around the approaches to assessment
being taken (or expected to be taken) by teachers. Similarly, it is likely that internal
assessment towards the new national qualifications will be among the issues the
sub-group above would want to address. There is a sense that this is an aspect of
CfE Management Board – 26 March 2014 – Paper 3.2
‘the CfE approach’ to learning and teaching that is still in a process of development,
and on which a particular focus from Management Board may be useful.
Another key dimension over the medium term is likely to be the implementation of
the recommendations of the Wood Commission. The Government will be
responding to the Commission’s final report in the summer, but it is clear that there is
a strong desire on the part of Government to move forward with the
recommendations. There will be specific discussion on these issues later in this
meeting. We suggest that Management Board should consider in that context how it
can ensure it has a proper focus on these developments.
We propose that Management Board should plan to consider at its next meeting
establishing 2 sub-groups, one for each of a) assessment within CfE; and b) the
implementation of Wood. The assessment group could be informed by the work of
the short-life working group. A more detailed paper will be presented to that meeting,
for discussion.
Management Board is invited to note and comment on this proposal.