1.
Cfe Implementation e-bulletin
March 2015
Welcome to the March edition of the CfE
Implementation e-bulletin.
In every edition we aim to provide easy access
to the most up to date resources, materials and
information available to help support
practitioners, pupils and parents, as you work
together to embed Curriculum for Excellence in
your local education settings.
As we head towards the Easter holidays, and
hopefully a well-deserved rest, I’d like to
formally acknowledge the hard work and
dedication that has been demonstrated by
everyone involved to get us to this point.
The CfE Implementation Group never takes that for granted, and I would like to
highlight again our appreciation of the professionalism and commitment that
has entailed across all sectors. That commitment comes from the tremendous
level of ‘buy in’ to the core aims and principles of Curriculum for Excellence. Our
challenge continues to be making those aims and principles a reality for every
learner in Scottish education.
Bill Maxwell
Chair of the CfE Implementation Board
National Leadership Events for CfE
Education Scotland, in association with the Scottish Government, ADES, SLS
and SQA, has just completed four national events on leadership of CfE.
Secondary head teachers and depute headteachers from every secondary
school in Scotland attended, along with local authority officers. The main aims
for these conferences were:


to support headteachers in leading key aspects of Curriculum for
Excellence
to share good practice and to provide opportunities for
professional dialogue
Sessions took place Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dunblane and finally in Aberdeen,
where Dr Allan Alasdair MSP, Minister for Learning, Science and Scotland's
Languages addressed delegates.
Opening up Great Learning - Learning for Sustainability
Education Scotland has published the second title in the new Opening Up Great
Learning series. This title focuses on learning for sustainability( LfS) and
explores how meeting national LfS recommendations can enable schools, early
learning and childcare settings to achieve great outcomes. Learning for
Sustainability is a priority for the Scottish Government and Scotland's education
professionals and is a core part of the revised GTCS Professional standards for
all practitioners and school leaders. Look out for copies being delivered to
schools along with a Learning for Sustainability poster and wallchart.
Building Society, young people's experiences and outcomes in the
technologies
Next week, Education Scotland will launch Building Society, young people’s
experiences and outcomes in the technologies, a report which looks at learning
and teaching in technologies across Scottish schools and early learning and
childcare settings. The report which will be of interest to practitioners across the
country will be published online next Monday – keep an eye on social media and
our website for more information.
Update on Insight
Insight is the new online benchmarking tool, which went live in September
2014, to help bring about improvements for pupils in the senior
phase. Formerly known as the Senior Phase Benchmarking Tool, Insight is a
professional tool for secondary schools and local authorities to identify areas of
success and where improvements can be made.
Further updates since September means that Insight now contains leavers’ data
from 2010 until 2014 so all measures on the national dashboard, together with
breadth and depth for leavers and candidate destinations for year group stages
include 5 years of data. Measures showing breadth and depth also now include
data from 2010.
SQA measures now also take account of the post-results administrative review,
meaning that local course measures will reflect these updates, including
National 4 awards after successful submission of added value units for those
candidates who failed their National 5 course assessment (provided they have
been received in time for the update).
For the first time, leavers (at the end of S4) from the first group of young
people who have been educated as part of Curriculum for Excellence are now
included in Insight data. In addition, the measures on Insight will now contain
five years of data. This has major implications for improvement planning in
schools.
Using Insight for Improvement Planning
Improvement planning should take full account of the messages found from
analysing and reflecting upon Insight, with a view to seeking improvements in
outcomes for young people as they move through and when they leave school.
Insight affords the opportunity to explore how well young people leaving school
in the five years to 2014 have attained (via the update to the national
dashboard measures) and how well the school has performed over this five-year
period.
What sort of areas should schools reflect upon when they use Insight?
Schools should use the measures on the national dashboard to consider
questions such as how successful they have been in:



improving leavers’ destinations
improving literacy and numeracy
improving attainment for all young people, such as the lowest-attaining
20% closing the gap between attainment and deprivation.
Consideration should also be given to the performance of specific groups of
young people, such as gender, those requiring additional support needs or
looked after children.
Schools will also want to consider questions such as:




How well does the school support young people to attain and enter a
positive destination on leaving school, using 2014 data and trends since
2010?
How well does the school support young people to attain as they move
through the school, using 2014 data and trends since 2010?
How well does the school support young people at each stage to build
on prior attainment and enter a positive destination?
How well does the curriculum support young people to achieve, using
2014 data and trends since 2010?
The Scottish Attainment Challenge
In addition to a range of activities that are already underway to raise
attainment and close the equity gap, the First Minister recently announced a
£100 million fund, created to improve educational outcomes. The new Scottish
Attainment Challenge will be backed by an Attainment Scotland Fund of more
than £100 million over four years to drive forward improvements on educational
outcomes in Scotland’s most disadvantaged communities.
The Scottish Attainment Challenge will draw on the experience of the
approaches used in the London Challenge but also from further afield –
especially Ontario. The fund will be initially targeted at schools in Local
Authorities with the biggest concentration of households in deprived areas. It
will focus on Literacy, Numeracy and Health and Wellbeing in the Primary Sector
to support children and young people in Scotland’s most disadvantaged
communities to achieve their potential. Our approach will be to provide support
for communities with the biggest challenges in the form of poverty and
deprivation.
Each of the participating Local Authorities will be provided with a dedicated
support of educational and improvement experts and easy access to evidence
and research. The fund will allow for substantial financial support to put in place
impactful interventions and the Government will work in partnership with Local
Authorities to establish the right improvement plan for their context, rather
than impose solutions.
The First Minister’s speech on the Scottish Attainment Challenge can be found
at the Scottish Government website.
Advanced Higher Specimen Question Papers
SQA has published Specimen Question Papers for all new Advanced Higher
Courses that include a question paper (exam) as part of the Course
assessment. These illustrate the standard, structure and requirements of the
Advanced Higher question papers candidates will sit from 2016, and include
detailed Marking Instructions.
Advanced Higher Specimen Question Papers are available from the relevant
subject pages of SQA's website at www.sqa.org.uk/cfesubjects
Advanced Unit assessment support package 2
SQA has published the second package of Unit assessment support for Units in
the new Advanced Higher Courses. Package 1 and package 2 are both available
from SQA's secure website and teachers and lecturers can arrange access to
them through their SQA Co-ordinator. Unit assessment support packs must be
stored securely and treated as confidential.
Package 3 will be available by the end of April 2015.
Unsubscribe
Follow us online: