CfE e-bulletin
January 2015
Welcome to the first CfE e-bulletin of 2015. On
behalf of the CfE Implementation group I would
like to wish everyone a happy new year.
Change has been a consistent theme in recent
years and, whilst 2014 was certainly
exceptional in many respects, I know educators
across Scotland are putting huge effort into
ensuring the key milestones we will reach in
2015 are achieved successfully. In every phase
and sector of the education system I know staff
continue to be focused on developing the
learning experiences of children and young
people in ways which capitalise on the full
potential which Curriculum for Excellence now
offers.
To help support you in this work, we will continue to bring you the most up to
date news, information, resources and support materials through this Bulletin,
throughout 2015. I hope you continue to find it to be an accessible and
convenient source of information, guidance and, perhaps, at times, further
inspiration.
Bill Maxwell
Chair of the CfE Implementation Group
Understanding, Applying and Sharing Standards
Since the introduction of Curriculum for Excellence, practice continues to evolve
in a number of areas as new and more effective ways of learning and teaching
emerge from discussion and practice within the professional teaching
community.
Assessment is a key area that has changed and it is important that you as a
practitioner understand how it has changed. Assessment in the context of CfE is
about evaluating children and young peoples’ learning to inform their journey
through CfE levels. This may be on occasions summative in nature however the
majority of assessment is formative in nature, based on evidence drawn mainly
from day-to-day teaching and learning. There is no need to produce large folios
of evidence to support this. Assessment within CfE is based on professional
judgement. Teachers are becoming more confident in making assessment
judgements about learners’ progress when they have opportunities to engage in
professional dialogue with colleagues as part of moderation activities.
We are pleased to see through our programme of inspection visits, conferences
and training events that the professional teaching community is moving towards
reducing the amount of paperwork for planning and recording that was taking
place previously. Practitioners are reflecting on the time spent on paperwork
that is taking away time that could be spent on learning and teaching and really
making an impact on children and young peoples’ learning.
Education Scotland has created a wide variety of resources and materials for
assessment to help you understand how assessment works today, what is
expected from you and how others in the profession are approaching
assessment.
Go to the Education Scotland website to find out all you need to know.
We have developed a suite of professional learning resources to support
professional practice in assessing progress and achievement of a level within
the broad general education. These resources identify the significant aspects of
learning and the absolute learning in each curriculum area, to support
practitioners monitor and track children and young peoples’ progress.
In addition, online workshops have been developed as CLPL opportunities to
support practitioners in their use of the resource and help them understand,
apply and share standards.
Following consultation with practitioners the National Assessment Resource
(NAR) was redesigned and launched in September. The NAR has nearly 300
resources, developed by practitioners from every local authority, exemplifying
how establishments and local authorities have engaged in assessment and
moderation activities, within establishments, across sectors and across
education authorities. Practitioners have accessed these resources to support
assessment practice and grow in confidence when making a holistic judgement
on learners’ progress within and across Curriculum for excellence levels in the
broad general education.
To find out more visit the Education Scotland website.
Assessment 3-18 must be valid, reliable, fair and manageable for all involved
and must be consistently applied for all learners in all establishments.
Therefore, there are common quality assurance processes to the moderation of
the broad general education between ages 3 and 15 and the senior phase
including the National Qualifications. This means that the quality assurance
(QA) process established in 3-15 continues to be valuable when quality assuring
the senior phase and new qualifications.
In the following recording staff from Education Scotland and SQA discuss the
quality assurance processes common to the broad general education and the
senior phase and how this is being exemplified in practice.
Visit the SQA website to watch the recording.
Developing Scotland's Young Workforce
The Scottish Government has been working with local government and other
partners to draw up a national seven year programme aimed at Developing the
Young Workforce (DYW). This has been developed in response to the report
from the Commission for Developing Scotland’s Young Workforce and is focused
on tackling youth unemployment by ensuring a greater focus on employability
within Scottish education for all young people. A joint implementation plan
agreed by the Scottish Government and local government has recently been
published as part of the Youth Employment Strategy and can be found on the
Scottish Government website.
The schools focused elements of the DYW Programme will be taken forward
very much as part of CfE, building on and strengthening existing practice in this
area. Alongside our partners we will take forward a range of measures to bring
schools, colleges and employers much closer together and give our young
people the best possible chance of finding high quality sustainable employment.
£6.5m is being provided to local government in 2014-15 to support
implementation.
Advanced Higher support events
SQA is running subject-specific support events from 26 January 2015 to 2 April
2015 to support the new National Courses at Advanced Higher in Session 2015–
16. The events will provide updates on course delivery and assessment and will
be interactive, with the opportunity for delegates to engage in workshop
sessions and discussions.
Places are limited with no more than one place per subject per centre and early
booking is advisable. The events are targeted at principal teachers, faculty
heads and course/subject leaders, though centres can send anyone they
consider appropriate. Local authorities are welcome to reserve places for
professional support staff.
Dates and subjects are now available. You can book your place online through
SQA's online booking system.
Course comparison documents for new Advanced Higher Courses
SQA has produced Advanced Higher Course comparison documents. These
documents contain tables which compare the new Advanced Higher Courses
with the existing Advanced Higher Courses, and outline some of the changes
and areas of stability. This will help teachers and lecturers to identify what will
change, and what will remain the same, within their subjects at Advanced
Higher level.
The Advanced Higher Course comparison documents will be published on the
subject pages of SQA's website by the end of January 2015.
Understanding Standards events
SQA is hosting a series of Understanding Standards events for National 5
Course assessment. The events commenced on 17 November 2014 and will run
until the end of February 2015. They are intended to support teachers and
lecturers in understanding the national standards for Course assessment at
National 5 and will focus on question papers, all other externally marked
components of Course assessment and (where relevant), internally assessed
Course components.
The Understanding Standards events are free of charge. More subjects will be
added to the series, so please continue to check SQA's Events Booking System
for updates, where you can also book your place.
Key Curriculum Support
Prelims will be on some of your minds at this point. For CfE guidance, support
and resources, visit the Key Curriculum Support pages on the Education
Scotland website an online one-stop-shop for CfE which aims to assist
practitioners and parents when searching the web for curriculum-related
materials and advice. This guide was created following feedback from some
practitioners that information and resources were located on numerous different
websites and were not always easy to find.
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