Curriculum Cohesion
Design, Development and Delivery
Scottish Education Department
“It is quite impossible to treat subjects
of the curriculum in isolation from one
another if education is to be
meaningful to the child”.
1965!
“A Curriculum for Excellence”?
The Intelligent School
“The curriculum needs to be planned
in a way that achieves richer learning
experiences for pupils. Such planning
needs to ensure that there are
different types of experience to enable
learning across the curriculum.”
MacGilchrist, Myers & Reed
The Intelligent School
 “In our experience, in spite of the best
efforts of their teachers, many pupils are
bored with the curriculum and find school an
irrelevant experience.”
 “We know that some pupils are motivated to
continue with their studies even if they are
not engaged with the work.”
The Intelligent School
“For a significant number, when faced
with a record of failure through the
assessment system and a curriculum
that appears to have no relevance to
their lives, they are more likely to
“switch off”, truant or be disruptive.”
Improving Scottish Education 2006
 “recent and continuing societal and
technological changes now present
new needs and challenges”.
 “The curriculum must evolve to meet
learners’ and society’s needs in the
less certain world of the 21st
Century”.
Improving Scottish Education
 “Recently, awareness in schools of the
need for the curriculum to be
appropriate for individual learners has
become more acute”.
 Links disengagement to “weaknesses
in learning and teaching” in some
schools.
Considerations . . . . . .
 What we teach
 What is learned
 How it is organised
 How it is taught
 How it is learned
Impact on schools. . .
“The document has profound
implications for what is learned, how it
is taught and what is assessed.”
Peter Peacock,
Foreword to “A Curriculum for Excellence”
Curriculum Principles
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Challenge and enjoyment
Breadth
Progression
Depth
Personalisation and choice
Coherence
Relevance
Implications for S3 – 6 . . . . .
 Subject based courses and exams
likely to remain the main provision for
most pupils
 Increased emphasis on vocational
education
 Enrichment activities
Implications for S1 - 2
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HMIE views of S1 – 2
Lack of pace and challenge
Fragmented curriculum
Building on prior learning
Curriculum Groupings and Faculty
Structures
 Health and Wellbeing
 Languages
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Maths
Sciences
Social Studies
RME
Technologies
 Expressive Arts
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Health
English
Modern Languages
Maths
Science
Humanities
 Business and ICT
 Technological
Education
 Creative Arts
Organising the S1 Curriculum
 Use ACfE organisers / Faculties
 Faculty structure geared towards
promoting cohesion and effective
learning and teaching
 Start from where we are
 Build capacity over time
 Build in “cross-cutting” themes
Organising the S1 Curriculum
 Easier to link with P7 Curriculum
 Easier to build on prior learning?
 Flexible – can be replicated in S2 or
not as a school and its stakeholders
decide
 Greater possibility of a P7 – S1
coherent curriculum
Practical examples . . . .
 Collaborative approaches to Assessment
(and AIFL) in Social Subjects
 Creative Arts showcase
 Thinking skills / Philosophy in S1
 Delivery of problem solving and ICT
through Technological Education
 Health Promoting events involving HE / PE /
Active Schools / PSE / partner agencies
 Tracking of pupil attainment across P6 – S2
Link . . . .
Curriculum S1 model
(See Word Document on Web Site)