CfE Implementation e-bulletin
October 2014
Welcome to the CfE Implementation e-bulletin.
It’s hard to believe we’re into October already
and schools are preparing for the October
break. It’s always a busy time of year but I
know that to help support you, the national
organisations and our local authority partners
are continuing to work together at pace, guided
by the national implementation plan published
in the summer.
With a view to ensuring that you have a
stronger, more regular flow of support, we are
going to start sending the CfE Implementation
e-bulletin at the start of each month. This
should mean that you have the most up to date
support materials, links, news and information
for the month ahead and beyond.
Bill Maxwell
Chair of the CfE Implementation Group
A fresh, new approach to keeping the curriculum relevant: CLTAS
FORUMS
Education Scotland is establishing national Curriculum, Learning, Teaching,
Assessment and Support (CLTAS) forums whose purpose is to secure,
consolidate and embed improvements to the curriculum, learning, teaching,
assessment and support, and to maintain their relevance to deliver high-quality
outcomes for all learners.
The forums, led by our Senior Education Officers, are being created in a
different way to previous working groups and committees. We are using an
innovative approach based on our understanding of futures planning.
Nominations from a wide range of partners and stakeholders have been sought
and those who join the forums will have key strengths and sound experience.
The forums will design their ways of widening their engagement, in ways which
best meet the needs of the communities they serve. They will seek to address
one of the challenges facing education systems around the world when bringing
about significant curriculum reform – that of ensuring we continue to meet the
needs of learners in the system whilst change is underway.
The forums will use Scottish education’s unique approach to making change
happen by using the three perspectives of looking inwards, looking outwards,
and looking forwards. Everyone involved agrees that, if we succeed in making
the forums work well, then the need for major educational reform of the sort we
have seen every few years in the past is likely to be reduced.
The implementation of the first group of forums (Digital Learning, Expressive
Arts, Middle Years ‘8-16’, Mathematics and Numeracy) is now underway and
some meetings have already taken place. Once fully established they will
include learners and their parents, teachers, head teachers, associations,
employers and industry, Education authority staff, communities, post 16
education providers, researchers, and a range of partner services, among
others. They have the potential to have a significant impact on the way
educational relevance is maintained in the future.
We will bring you further news of these forums in future. If you would like to
know more, please contact customer services
at enquiries@educationscotland.gov.uk.
Tackling Bureaucracy
We have reviewed our website at Education Scotland to ensure that advice and
support materials are easier to find through the Key Curriculum Support tool.
This now has a dedicated section containing all the information you need about
tackling bureaucracy. This will include examples of good practice in tackling
bureaucracy, advice on monitoring and tracking progress and key messages on
assessment.
We will continue to challenge evidence of excessive bureaucracy throughout our
inspection process, advice on which can be found in the latest inspection advice
note.
Reflections Group
Following a request from the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong
Learning, the Curriculum for Excellence Management Board established a shortlife working group to reflect on the experiences of the first session of the new
CfE qualifications. It was tasked with considering and developing high-level
messages and suggesting actions to benefit all parts of the education system as
we move into the second year of the new qualifications.
The working group was chaired by Kenneth Muir, Chief Executive of the General
Teaching Council for Scotland, with representatives from several Management
Board organisations, including NPFS.
The group discussed a wide range of experiences of the first year and has
distilled a set of key messages for the system. The Group’s report was
published on 20 August and can be accessed via the Education Scotland
website.
Family Engagement resource
The Scottish Government commissioned a new web resource to support
education practitioners access the very latest Scottish, UK and international
research evidence to support effective family engagement strategies. It has a
particular focus on engaging with vulnerable families and those living in our
more deprived communities, as well as engaging with fathers and looked after
children.
The resource also provides an opportunity for schools and parents to share their
own successful practice around family engagement and many schools and
organisations are already showcasing their approaches within this resource.
Additional Support Needs - Find a Service
Parents of children and young people with additional support needs will now
benefit from a new map of services which covers all of Scotland and allows
them to pinpoint exactly what is in their area. The map, which features 20
different categories of 1,000 education, access to education and family support
services, has been put together and will be maintained by Enquire.
The development of the map was one of 21 recommendations from the strategic
review of learning provision for children and young people with complex
additional support needs. The final report from the review, The Right Help at the
right time and right place, published in November 2012, highlighted the “fight”
some parents faced to obtain help and advice.
SQA assessment support for new Higher Courses
The new Higher Courses are now live and a range of assessment support
materials is available for teachers and lecturers.Coursework general assessment
information, specimen question papers and past paper guidance are available
from the new NQ subject pages of SQA’s website. Unit assessment support
packs and Coursework assessment tasks are held securely and teachers and
lecturers can arrange access to them through their SQA Co-ordinator.
2015 exam timetable
SQA has published the 2015 NQ Examination Timetable. The timetable is
available on SQA’s website as PDF and Microsoft Excel files, with examinations
listed by both date and Course order.
View or download the 2015 NQ Examination Timetable.
National 2 Gàidhlig and Gaelic (Learners)
SQA has introduced two new National 2 Courses; National 2 Gàidhlig and
National 2 Gaelic (Learners). Both Courses are now available for centres to
deliver.
Course and Unit Specifications for each of these Courses are available from the
new NQ subject pages of SQA’s website.
For more information on National 2 Courses visit the SQA website.
SQA assessment support for new Higher Courses
The new Higher Courses are now live and a range of assessment support
materials is available for teachers and lecturers.Coursework general assessment
information, specimen question papers and past paper guidance are available
from the new NQ subject pages of SQA’s website.
Unit assessment support packs and Coursework assessment tasks are held
securely and teachers and lecturers can arrange access to them through their
SQA Co-ordinator.
Advanced Higher for History support material now published
Advanced Higher for History support material has now been published on the
Support for new National Qualifications area on Glow and materials for all 35
Advanced Higher subjects will be published as and when available until end of
March 2015.
Learning and teaching advice will be published by the end of October to support
the new units available from August 2014. These will be organised in the
following broad areas:
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Communications
creative arts
ICT
modern languages
number skills
performance arts
practical craft skills
RME
science in the environment
social subjects
Learning and teaching advice is already available for the first set of National 1
units and National 2 courses and support materials for these are currently being
developed and will be published over the next few months.
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