Putting CLD into CfE: A training resource supporting community
learning and development with delivery of Curriculum for
Excellence
Introduction
Curriculum for Excellence aims to achieve a transformation in education in Scotland by
providing a coherent, more flexible and enriched curriculum from 3 to 18.
The curriculum includes the totality of experiences which are planned for children and
young people through their education, wherever they are being educated.
Learning begins at birth and continues throughout our lives. Scottish Government education
strategy, and the curriculum frameworks that deliver it, recognise that learning is lifelong,
and are designed to help learners develop the skills they need for learning, life and work.
This series of interactive training activities will help you explore the links between CLD and
Curriculum for Excellence, including:
•
the four capacities
•
the seven principles for curriculum design
•
skills for learning, life and work
•
responsibility of all
•
experiences and outcomes
•
BGE / senior phase
•
How Good is our Community Learning and Development 2?
These materials have been developed so practitioners and managers can use them to
explore Curriculum for Excellence with their own staff and volunteers.
Why have Curriculum for Excellence?
Objective: To set the scene for the training input. The short film in this section, produced by
the North Alliance, explains the background to Curriculum for Excellence and how it links to
community learning and development principles. The film is narrated by Keir Bloomer, a
member of the original Curriculum Review Group.
Time:
20 minutes
Resources:
laptop
projector
internet access
speakers.
Method: Use a flip chart and ask groups to brainstorm what they already know about
Curriculum for Excellence. This will help you establish what their learning needs are.
Play the YouTube clip – Curriculum for Excellence – A vision to transform learning in
Scotland
Please note the following:


This YouTube clip is not published by Education Scotland. Education Scotland is not
responsible for content on this external website.
As YouTube provides an open forum for users to post comments it is recommended that
practitioners check the clips, and any appended comments, in advance so as to assess
suitability before using them in a training situation.
The four capacities of Curriculum for Excellence
Objective: This interactive session will take participants through an activity exploring how
CLD helps learners achieve the four capacities of Curriculum for Excellence.
Time:
1 hour
Resources:
flipchart
paper
colouring pens
balloons
handouts:
Curriculum for Excellence four capacities handout
Successful learner description
Confident individual description
Responsible citizen description
Effective contributor description.
Method: This section is divided into four interactive activities each exploring one of the
capacities. The activities give practitioners the opportunity to explore how their work in CLD
can support learners to achieve the four capacities.
Successful learners method: Get the picture

Split the group into two teams.

Print off the successful learners description but keep it hidden from the group until
the activity is complete.

One member of the team is invited to come up and is shown in secret one of the
bullet points from the successful learners description.

They then have 30 seconds to draw that bullet point onto the flipchart and the rest
of the team have to guess what it is.

Repeat this process with the second team and give each team a turn until all
descriptions have been covered.

The person who guessed correctly or someone who hasn’t had a shot then goes up.
Repeat the process for 7-8 minutes.

Reveal all of the bullet points and discuss with the group for 5 minutes which points
link in with their own work. How? Why? Examples?

At the buzzer or at 12 minutes move the group on.
Confident individuals method: Burst My Bubble

Print the confident individuals description but keep it hidden from the group.

Stick ‘TRUE’ on one wall and ‘FALSE’ on the opposite wall.

Write out five statements and put them inside balloons.

Blow up the balloons and stick them around the room.

Ask for a volunteer to burst a balloon without using their arms, legs or an object.

Get the volunteer to read out the statement and then ask everyone to move to
either the TRUE or FALSE signs if they think that the statement is in the official
Curriculum for Excellence description for a confident individual.

Repeat this until all five balloons are burst using a different volunteer each time. If
participants are resistant let them use their leg or an object.

Reveal all of the bullet points and discuss with the group for five minutes which
points link in with their own peer education work. How? Why?

At the buzzer or at 12 minutes move the group on.
Responsible citizens method: Whispers

Split the group into two teams.

Print off the responsible citizens description but keep it hidden from the group.

Stick two pieces of flipchart on the back wall.

Ask both teams to line up one behind the other standing in front of the flipchart on
the back wall and facing the front.

Explain that the team with the most correct answers wins.

Ask the two people at the front of the lines to come up to the front. Show them one
of the responsible citizens definitions.

They then go back to their team and whisper what they saw.

This is then passed down the line to the person at the back who then has to write up
what they heard on the flipchart.

The person writing then moves to the front and everyone else moves down towards
the flipchart on the back wall.

Repeat for 3-4 definitions or 7 minutes.

Reveal all of the bullet points and discuss with the group which points link in with
their own peer education work. How? Why? Examples?

At the buzzer or at 12 minutes move the group on.
Effective contributors method: Memory Map Race

Print off the effective contributors description but keep it hidden from the group.

Split the group into two smaller groups of even numbers and ask them to sit on
chairs in a line facing each other but 1-2 metres apart.

Explain that this is a race and that the team to complete the task first and most
accurately wins.

When you say ‘go’ both participants have to run to the front and look at a sheet of
paper with effective contributors details on it written in all different fonts and sizes
(see the example below).

Let them look for five seconds (count out loud for them) then they have to run back
to their group and write down as many of the points as they can remember.

When their turn has finished they should go to the end of the line with everyone
moving up one chair.

The second person now goes and you repeat the process until everyone has had a
shot.

Then stop the game and see which team got the most/was the fastest.

Reveal all of the bullet points and discuss with the group which points link in with
their own peer education work. How? Why? Examples?

At the buzzer or at 12 minutes end the activity.
Take any feedback and emphasise that CLD is helping learners achieve the four capacities of
Curriculum for Excellence.
Distribute the Curriculum for Excellence four capacities handout for participants’ reference.
For more information on the four capacities, visit Education Scotland – the purpose of the
curriculum.
Curriculum for Excellence four capacities handout
Successful learners description
with:
• enthusiasm and motivation for learning
• determination to reach high standards of
achievement
• openness to new thinking and ideas
and able to:
• use literacy, communication and numeracy
skills
• use technology for learning
• think creatively and independently
• learn independently and as part of a group
• make reasoned evaluations
• link and apply different kinds of learning in
new situations.
Confident individuals description
with:
• self-respect
• a sense of physical, mental and emotional
wellbeing
• secure values and beliefs
• ambition
and able to:
• relate to others and manage themselves
• pursue a healthy and active lifestyle
• be self-aware
• develop and communicate their own beliefs
and view of the world
• live as independently as they can
• assess risk and make informed decisions
• achieve success in different areas of activity.
Responsible citizens description
with:
• respect for others
• commitment to participate responsibly in
political, economic, social and cultural life
and able to:
• develop knowledge and understanding of
the world and Scotland’s place in it
• understand different beliefs and cultures
• make informed choices and decisions
• evaluate environmental, scientific and
technological issues
• develop informed, ethical views of complex
issues.
Effective contributors description
with:
• an enterprising attitude
• resilience
• self-reliance
and able to:
• communicate in different ways and in
different settings
• work in partnership and in teams
• take the initiative and lead
• apply critical thinking and new contexts
• create and develop
• solve problems.
Effective Contributors Memory Map Race Example
The four capacities of Curriculum for Excellence and How Good is Our
Community Learning and Development 2 (HGIOCLD2)
Objective: This activity will explore the links between Curriculum for Excellence and one of
the Quality Indicators from HGIOCLD2.
Time:
20 minutes
Resources:
Self-evaluation handout for each participant.
Method: Give each participant the self-evaluation handout and ask them to individually
think of an area of work that they are happy to self-evaluate and share with other
participants. Using the handout, ask them to concentrate on how their identified area of
work impacts on Theme 2:
Extent to which participants report that their learning experiences enable them to become:


successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective
contributors
safe, nurtured, healthy, achieving, active respected and responsible, and
included.
Ask the participants to think about using some of the language from the four capacities
interactive activity to complete the table on the handout.
You may wish to give an example of what they could put: a strength may be that all
participants are showing an enterprising attitude through taking lead roles in running their
own fair trade company.
Self-evaluation handout
Think of an area of work that you are happy to self-evaluate and share with other
participants. Using the handout, concentrate on how your identified area of work impacts
on Theme 2. Think about using some of the language from the four capacities interactive
activity to complete the table below. For example, a strength may be that all participants
are showing an enterprising attitude through taking lead roles in running their own fair
trade company.
How Well Do We Meet The Needs of Our Stakeholders
2.1
Impact on participants
Themes:
1. Qualitative and quantitative data that demonstrates the extent to which learners are:
- included and participating
- achieving and attaining
- progressing.
2. Extent to which participants report that their learning experiences enable them to
become:
- successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective
contributors
- safe, nurtured, healthy, achieving, active respected and responsible, and
included.
1
2
3
4
5
6
Assessed Level
Strengths
Evidence (How do you know?)
Areas for Development
Evidence (How will you know if there has
been a change?)
The community learning and development values and the seven principles
for curriculum design
Objective: This activity will explore the similarities between the CLD values and the seven
principles. It is hoped that participants will realise that the ambitions for learners that
Curriculum for Excellence wants are similar to those in CLD.
Time:
20 minutes
Resources:
Seven principles handout (print on A3)
CLD values cards handout.
Method: Ask participants to work in twos or threes.
Print the CLD values cards handout and cut it into cards (one set for each group).
Print the Seven principles handout (on A3).
Ask each group to identify similarities between the values of CLD and the seven principles
for curriculum design by placing the CLD value cards on the seven principles handout (the
larger sheet) depending on where they think as a group they best link.
Take any feedback from the group and emphasise the point that the values and principles
are the same and that we are all working to the same goals.
CLD values cards handout
These values have been identified by the CLD Standards Council.
Self-determination - respecting the individual and valuing the right
of people to make their own choices.
Inclusion - valuing equality of both opportunity and outcome, and
challenging discriminatory practice.
Empowerment - increasing the ability of individuals and groups to
influence issues that affect them and their communities through
individual and/ or collective action
Working collaboratively – maximising collaborative working
relationships in partnerships between the many agencies which
contribute to CLD, including collaborative work with participants,
learners and communities.
Promotion of learning as a lifelong activity – ensuring that
individuals are aware of a range of learning opportunities and are
able to access relevant options at any stage of their life.
7 Principles Handout page 1
Challenge & Enjoyment
Breadth
Progression
Depth
Opportunities for young people
Activities should encourage young
Learning across all the
Maintaining progress from
people to develop and demonstrate
experiences and outcomes in the
their achievements in primary
creativity and innovation
eight curriculum areas to the
school
third curriculum level (as far as is
demanding concepts, develop
more sophisticated cognitive and
other skills and further develop
their values and beliefs.
consistent with young people’s
Include opportunities for challenge,
to engage with increasingly
needs and prior achievements)
success and personal achievements in
Most learners will progress
different contexts.
Wide knowledge and
understanding and the ability to
apply skills in a wide range of
contexts
from their learning in primary
school by moving on to third
Young people can explore areas
of interest in depth.
level experiences and
outcomes when they enter S1
Interdisciplinary learning can
provide opportunities to extend
and deepen understanding.
Interdisciplinary learning and
personal achievement are seen as
being important.
Outdoor learning, work-related
activities, out of school hours
learning etc.
7 Principles Handout page 2
Coherence
Relevance
Personalisation & Choice
Includes choices in approaches to learning within Using small teams of teachers and other
the classroom.
staff working together to cover
curriculum areas, each contributing as
Opportunities for personal achievement and
A collaborative approach to planning which provide relevance which will be motivating for
between different areas of learning.
offers additional choices for demonstrating
responsibility and contributions to the
Consistency in the development of
community.
literacy, numeracy and other skills for life
and skills for work.
Partnerships with colleges, youth work services,
the voluntary sector and employers will open up
a wide range of motivating choices.
beyond the school environment.
Experiences which relate to the world of work
enables young people to make connections
The ethos and life of the school as a community
young person’s experiences and interests in and
appropriate from their subject specialism.
interdisciplinary groupings of experiences and
outcomes
Opportunities to connect learning with the
many.
Skills for learning, life and work
Objective: This activity will give background information to Building the Curriculum 4 and
explore the role of CLD in developing skills for learning, life and work.
Time:
1 hour
Resources:
overlapping cluster of skills handout
laptop
projector
speakers
red, orange and green sticky dots or felt pens.
Method: Explain that when planning for learning it is important to think about the skills that
you want to develop. This is relevant at all ages and stages from the earliest years and
through the senior phase into life and work. Building the Curriculum 3 sets out the
entitlement of all learners to experience skills for learning, life and work.
Building the Curriculum 4: Skills for learning, skills for life and skills for work is one of a series
of five publications that supports the planning, design and delivery of Curriculum for
Excellence.
Explain that Building the Curriculum 4 is one of the key documents for CLD in Curriculum for
Excellence as it is for all partners involved, in whatever setting, in promoting effective
learning for children and young people enabling them to develop skills for learning, life and
work across all aspects of the curriculum and at all levels.
It states that young people, their parents, carers and families, local authorities, Skills
Development Scotland, professionals in other children’s services (health, social work, police)
Sector Skills Councils, Community Learning and Development Partnerships and Wider
Community Planning Partnerships.
Show the video clips ‘Employers, parents and young people talk about skills’.
Ask the group to work in pairs and give each pair an Overlapping cluster of skills handout.
The group should reflect on them individually for five minutes, and using the three traffic
light colours categorise them according to their stage of development
It’s worth mentioning that not all areas will be of relevance to you, so you can leave them
blank if totally not relevant. Add others central to your area if they are not on this Building
the Curriculum 4 list.
Overlapping clusters of skills handout
Using the bullet point list of overlapping skills, below, consider your own learning and
teaching in your setting in relation to these broad areas:
Overlapping Cluster of Skills
 Any other key skills that are central to your area of development ____________
Experiences and outcomes
Objective: This presentation and activity will:



introduce the experiences and outcomes (Es and Os)
explore skills development within the Es and Os
explore the role of CLD in delivery of Es and Os.
Time:
30 minutes
Resources:
PowerPoint presentation: Exploring the skills signposted in the experiences
and outcomes
experience and outcome handout
laptop
projector
speakers.
Method: Use the PowerPoint presentation to introduce the experiences and outcomes and
how skills for learning, life and work are embedded in them.
Slides 1-8 provide an introduction to the Es and Os.
From Slide 9: ‘Provide the group with Experience and Outcome (either on a sheet of paper
or the slide above) without additional information in text boxes. (You could select different
experiences and outcomes to suit your area of interest.)’
Ask them to consider the skills signposted in the E/O.
Share the example above, with the additional ‘skills arrows’ (this is by no means an
exhaustive list, but more a starter for discussion – note many skills above are suggested, just
practitioners should decide on a skills focus).
Ask the group, was there a shared understanding/shared language within the group around
the skills within this E and O?
Ask the group how would the learning and teaching approaches change the level of
challenge and the skills developed with the learners?
Ask the group to think about areas of their work that these Es and Os would relate to.
Or show this clip from Connect, a website providing a dedicated space for practitioners
working in CLD to share examples of practice. (You will need to register to use the site.)
Salsburgh Youth Project and Curriculum for Excellence is about youth groups in North
Lanarkshire based around the village of Salsburgh. The project covered photography,
magazine production, cartography, drama and the production of a film based around
Curriculum for Excellence. Ask participants to identify Es and Os that could relate to this
project.
Experience and outcome handout
I have continued to experiment with a range of
media and technologies, handling them with
control and assurance to create images and
objects. I can apply my understanding of the
properties of media and of techniques to
specific tasks.
EXA 4-02a
I am investigating different
careers/occupations, ways of working, and
learning and training paths. I am gaining
experience that helps me recognise the
relevance of my learning, skills and interests to
my future life.
HWB 2-20a / HWB 3-20a / HWB 4-20a
BGE / Senior Phase
Objective: To explore the role of CLD in delivery of the broad general education (BGE) and
the senior phase.
Time:
45 minutes
Resources:
laptop (with internet access)
projector
speakers.
Method: Remind the participants that ‘Every child and young person is entitled to
experience a broad general education’ (Building the Curriculum 3: A framework for learning
and teaching, p14). BGE is the learning that happens up until the end of S3. This is what the
experiences and outcomes are for.
Play the clip Youth Work in Hawick High School - an example of CLD working in partnership
with school to deliver the broad general education.
For more information on BGE go to the Education Scotland broad general education page.
Remind the participants the senior phase of young people’s education follows their broad
general education, which takes them to the end of S3 or equivalent. The senior phase can be
characterised as that which takes place in the final stages of compulsory education and
beyond, normally around age 15 to 18. For many young people school will continue to be
the main deliverer of the senior phase. However, in order to make real the Curriculum for
Excellence principles, this will increasingly involve partnerships with a range of other
providers. The senior phase is the opportunity for young people to gain a ‘portfolio of
achievements’.
Play the clip Motherwell Learning Hub - a partnership project using CLD approaches to
deliver 16+Learning Choices as part of the senior phase.
Reflective questions:

How does your organisation/service ensure that young people who are vulnerable or at
risk from missing out, experience a broad general education?

How do you ensure smooth transitions to a senior phase which best meets young
people’s individual needs?
Curricular areas and responsibility of all
Objective: To explore the role of CLD in the delivery of BGE and the senior phase.
Time:
20 minutes
Resources:
laptop (with internet access)
projector
speakers.
Method: The curriculum areas are the organisers for ensuring that learning takes place
across a broad range of contexts, and offer a way of grouping experiences and outcomes
under recognisable headings.
The experiences and outcomes describe the expectations for learning. Taken together,
experiences and outcomes across the curriculum areas sum up national aspirations for every
young person: the knowledge and understanding, skills, capabilities and attributes we hope
they will develop.
Building the Curriculum 1 focuses on the curriculum areas, each of which makes its own
unique contribution to developing the four capacities. Each does so both within its own
disciplinary contexts and through connections with other areas of learning.
The eight curriculum areas are:

expressive arts

health and wellbeing

languages

mathematics

religious and moral education

sciences

social studies

technologies.
Curriculum areas are not structures for timetabling: establishments and partnerships have
the freedom to think imaginatively about how the experiences and outcomes might be
organised and planned for in creative ways which encourage deep, sustained learning and
which meet the needs of their children and young people.
It is the responsibility of all practitioners to support children and young people as they
develop literacy and numeracy skills, and as they learn about looking after their own health
and wellbeing. There are separate experiences and outcomes for these three core
Curriculum for Excellence themes which are described as being the ‘responsibility of all’.
Reflective questions

How do you embed literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing into your work?

How well do you record learners' progress and achievements and share this
information with learners, parents and other teachers/adults involved in learning?

How well do learning experiences build on prior learning and use assessment
information to help inform progression?

How well do you share information with partners on the achievements of children
and young people in your programmes?