Culloden
Academy
Curriculum for Excellence- a curriculum
for the 21st Century.
Programme
1) Introductory comments from Calum
MacSween- Head of Education.
2) An employer’s perspective- Ian Macdonald
(Construction Manager, Morgan Sindall).
3) Overview of the system- Culloden Academy
SMT.
Calum MacSween- Head of Education,
Highland Council
• Curriculum for Excellence the culmination of 40 years
of educational
development
Ian Macdonald
Construction Manager- Morgan Sindall.
What is the purpose of
this change?
• Pupils who have the qualifications, experiences, skills and
achievements to move on to a positive destination.
• AND SUCCEED AT THAT LEVEL.
• The Scottish government insist that it is not enough to
promote high attainment if our pupils do not have the
resilience, confidence, social skills and experience to
sustain this success.
• We have devised a system which allows high
achievement and attainment for all.
• WITH TIME TAKEN TO DEVELOP THE SKILLS AND QUALITIES
NEEDED TO KEEP ON SUCCEEDING.
Let’s Remind Ourselves What CfE Is All About
• It’s preparing young people for a changing future
• It’s recognising the value of learning
• It’s ensuring that young people have the building
blocks that they need in terms of skills, concepts
and knowledge
• It’s having an education that supports a sustainable
prosperous future
• It’s raising the bar for all learners
• It’s aspirational and aimed at transformational
change
Why change?
• It is a response by the Scottish government to the
growing realisation that the pace of change in
modern society is placing new demands on
education.
• The need for change was summed up by one
observer who pointed out that “we are
preparing pupils for jobs that don’t exist yet,
using technologies that have not been
invented yet, to solve problems we don’t
even know are problems yet”.
”The world our kids are
going to live in is changing
four times faster than our
schools”
Dr Willard Daggert
Director of International Centre for
Leadership and Education
The illiterate of the
21st century will not be
those who cannot read
and write but those
who cannot learn,
unlearn and relearn
Jobs of the FutureJob Titles in 2020
•Mechatronical engineer
•Avatar design-security consultant
•Digital architect
•Traceability manager
•Simplicity consultant
•Bioinformationist
•Geomicrobiologist
•Online education broker
Context for Curriculum
Design
• Education Scotland Advice Note:
• “At S1-S3, arrangements for choices do not narrow
options for qualifications in the senior phase. Such
choices do not involve traditional subject choice at the
end of S2 (or earlier) for all young people in a cohort for
a two-year course leading to qualifications in S4.”
• Clear guidance that the S1-3 phase is a Broad General
Education (BGE) and not a time for exam preparation or
formal qualifications.
• That pupils should study across all curricular areas
throughout this phase.
• That S3 allowed some specialisation in preparation for
qualifications.
Why?
• If our young people are going to survive and flourish
in this rapidly changing world, they require more
than qualifications.
• The Scottish government knew that there was a
growing problem with young people not having the
skills and abilities to succeed after the support of
school is withdrawn.
• The Chairman of the CBI recently reiterated this
message when he said that schools had become
little more than exam factories
Solution
• He called for a major overhaul of the
qualifications ideadowngrading
the
importance of S4 exams and looking instead
at Higher/ A Level as the bench-mark that
schools should focus on.
• He called for far greater emphasis being put
on skills and attributes and on wider
achievement to develop these.
Researchers concurred
• “In a World of rapid scientific and technological
change, our workforce can only be globally
competitive, when it embraces these developments.
• The driver of a modern economy in the developed world
is creative business based on high level cognitive skills.
• CfE has a vital social mission. Young people must be
helped to lead happy, worthwhile and fulfilled lives in
unprecedented circumstances. This requires personal
and interpersonal skill, emotional intelligence, self
management skills and so forth.”
• CfE, Developing Skills, by Keir Bloomer and Chris McIlroy
Skills for Learning, Life
and Work
Luckily, the Scottish Government is several years ahead of this
and the publication of Building the Curriculum 4: skills for learning,
skills for life and skills for work offers an answer to this problem.
• Literacy
• Numeracy
• Thinking skills
• Health and wellbeing skills
• Personal Learning Planning
• Career Management Skills
• Working with others
• Leadership
• Physical co-ordination and movement skills
• Enterprise
• Employability
Thinking skills
Employability Skills
•Numeracy
•Literacy
•Team-working
•Communication Skills
•Time management
•Creative thinking
•Problem solving
•Initiative and
innovation
•Responsibility
•Delegation
•Organisation
•Learning from
setbacks
•Helpfulness
Curriculum for Excellence
•Critical
thinking/Analysis
•Risk-taking
•Presentation Skills
•Debating skills
•Being objective
•Decision making
•Making the link
between decisions and
consequences
•Being supportive
•Being assertive
•Being constructive
•Flexibility/Adaptability
•Seeking advice
•Self management
•Following instructions
and procedures
•Leadership
•Conducting a meeting
•Negotiation and
persuasion
•Reliability
•Accuracy
•Specialist Skills – ICT,
Craft
•Recognising and grasping
opportunities
•Acting on advice
S3
• For us the big question was always about S3- what is
the very most that we can do with S3, given the
restrictions and imperatives placed upon us.
• Our answer: courses designed to give breadth of
learning, to give a range of challenging learning
experiences to consolidate these skills for learning,
life and work.
• Of course many of these skills will be required in the
senior phase but they are to be delivered without
the straight-jacket of an exam course content.
Therefore in S3…
• Yes: challenging learning opportunities on a
continuum.
• Yes: specialisation.
• Yes: skills development.
• Yes: Wider achievement awards: Duke of
Edinburgh, Junior Sports Leaders, Saltire
Volunteering Awards, employer engagement.
• No: limitations placed on us by exam content.
By the end of S3, therefore
• Successful learners
• Confident individuals
• Responsible Citizens
• Effective Contributors
What does excellence look
like?
• In November, Calderglen High School in East
Kilbride become the first secondary school in
Scotland to have its curriculum evaluated as
'excellent' by inspectors since the issue of updated
guidelines by Education Scotland
• Dr Bill Maxwell, Chief Executive of Education
Scotland, says,
• “At this school, young people from S1 to S3 are
benefiting from a broad general education, based
firmly on developing skills for the 21st century
through inspiring and innovative real-life contexts.
There is also a very strong focus on health and
wellbeing.”
Learning and teaching
Highland Authority have spent a lot of time and resources in the research,
training and implementation of high quality learning, teaching and assessment,
all based on the most current and up to date research.
“… the core part of CfE is improved learning and
teaching. The Highland model puts learners taking
responsibility for their own learning at the centre
and promotes key principles of engaging learners,
ensuring that they are participants in their learning
and that dialogue and developing thinking skills
are central.”
CfE in Highland: A Steer Secondary Schools, 2nd Edition
An Excellent learning experience, will include most of the following
• People welcoming each other, enjoying each other’s company and
having fun through challenge and hard work.
• Learners leading – asking each other meaningful questions which
require thought, engaging in dialogue as a class and in groups,
modelling processes and demonstrating knowledge and skills to each
other and other audiences.
• Learners understanding and sharing standards, self and peer
assessing, receiving meaningful feedback about what has been
achieved and agreeing nest steps to improve.
• CfE in Highland: A Steer Secondary Schools, 2nd Edition
One function of school is to provide a preparation for later life.
The skills of literacy and numeracy are considered important.
Preparation for later life also involves a set of generic, transferable skills that
will help our youngsters cope with the challenges of future learning, life.
and work.
These skills include
1. Knowing
2. Understanding
3. Application
4. Analysis
5. Synthesis
6. Evaluation
7. Systems thinking
8. Creativity
CfE, Developing Skills, by Keir Bloomer and Chris McIlroy
Many of these skills cannot be practised individually but need pupils
working with one another to do so.
If you see the students
sitting and the teacher
hypothesizing,
synthesizing,
elaborating, explaining
and integrating, then it
is all wrong. The
students should be
doing the work.
Assessment
Assessment will no longer be a written test at the end of a unit that has
been completed using rote learning.
… as it only really tests the bottom two layers of Bloom’s taxonomy.
We are now expected to teach and assess the layers that lie further up the
taxonomy.
Assessment
Along with records of on-going and periodic assessment maintained by staff, a
range of assessment evidence will be built up over time to identify progress.
Teachers will gather evidence as part of the day-to-day learning, as young
people:
• describe and record,
• explore and analyse sources,
• interpret and display information,
• talk and debate with peers and adults,
• undertake investigations and present their thinking orally, in writing and
multi media format.
• From Education Scotland: Assessing Progress and Achievement
Assessment
Assessment will be much more focused on how to improve rather than
benchmarking how a pupil performs on a given day. This is called formative
assessment and is central to the Scottish government’s education policy as part
of CfE. It is not a new idea- the AifL initiative has been the key programme in
learning and teaching in Scottish schools for the last decade.
Formative Assessment consists of 5 key areas
• Clarifying and sharing learning intentions and criteria for success
• Engineering effective classroom discussions and other learning tasks that
elicit evidence of student understanding (classroom discourse, interactive
whole-class teaching)
• Providing feedback that moves the learner forward
• Activating students as instructional resources for one another
(collaborative learning, reciprocal teaching peer-assessment).
• Activating students as the owners of their own learning (motivation,
interest, ambition, self assessment)
Learning and Teaching
What is expected of schools is clearly set out in Education Scotland’s CfE
Briefing Paper 7: Learning in the Senior Phase
There is a focus on learning which drives motivation. Characteristics of this
learning include
• Learning independently
• Taking responsibility for learning
• Active learning
• Collaborative learning
• Applying learning and skills development
Learning and Teaching
Individual Learning:
• Take decisions
• Initiate and organise tasks
• Ask questions and find information
• Be self reliant
• Clear about learning needs
Learning and Teaching
Collaborative Learning:
• Working in partnership and in teams
• Taking initiative and leading
• Acting as learning resources for one another
• Working in team challenges and research tasks
• Taking on roles and responsibilities
• Demonstrating awareness and respect for others
• Debating to develop informed views
• Discussing learning and providing explanations to others
11 Researched Benefits of
Cooperative Learning
• 1. Increased academic
attainment
• 2. Improved inter-group
relations
• 3. Improved integration
of special needs students
• 4. Greater intrinsic
motivation
• 5. Improved self-esteem
• 6. Increased retention
• 7. Greater social support
• 8. More on-task
behaviour
• 9. Better attitudes to
•
•
•
•
•
teachers
10. Better attitudes toward
school
11. Improved
collaborative skills
David
W.
Johnson,
Professor of Educational
Psychology and
Roger T. Johnson professor
of
Curriculum
and
Instruction
University of Minnesota
The changing nature of
examinations
• It is only logical that what is now valued enough to be
examined is also changing:
• “This fresh approach to learning needs new assessment
methods and qualifications. The new and revised
qualifications reflect the aims, values and principles of
Curriculum for Excellence, and are intended to provide
suitable progression from the BGE.”
• “The new qualifications are designed to validate the
knowledge, understanding and skills young people have
learned and which they will need for further study,
employment and training.”
• CfE briefing paper 7
What does this mean for a
pupil in S4?
• Pupils will study 6 subjects in S4: studying each one
for 5 periods to allow comprehensive preparation
for exams.
• Aside from English and Maths, there is a FREE choice
of which other 4 subjects you study.
• You can study two languages, three sciences, three
technology subjects or any other combination of
subjects currently on offer in S4- and possibly some
that are currently on offer in S5.
S4 Choice
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Accounting
Admin
Art and Design
Biology
Business Management
Chemistry
Design and Manufacture
Drama
Economics
French
Gaelic
Geography
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Graphic Communication
History
Hospitality
Modern Studies
Music
PE
Physics
Practical woodworking
Spanish
Woodwork
S5/6
• In S5 you will have a choice of a further 5 subjectsprobably a continuation of 5 of your S4 choices
though again, free choice.
• In S6 you will have a choice of Advanced Highers,
Highers, Nationals and qualifications or courses or
opportunities which enhance the personal
statement and complete the learning experience.
S5/6 choices
Accounting
Admin
Art and Design
Biology/ Human
Business
Management
• Chemistry
• Construction
Craft
• Design and
Manufacture
•
•
•
•
•
Economics
Electronics
Energy
English
French
Gaelic
Geography
Graphic
Communication
• History
• Italian
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Lifeskills
Maths
Modern Studies
Music
PE
Physics
Practical
Metalworking
• Product Design
• Spanish
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Further senior school
options
In addition:
• Online Highers are available to S6 pupils.
• Open University YASS Courses- excellent for c.v. and
personal statement building.
• St Andrew’s is leading the way in making some of its
courses available to school age learners- for a cost.
• Vocational qualifications completed in partnership
with college/ UHI.
• The ASDAN COPE Award- recognised as equivalent
to another Higher.
• School short courses to nurture talent and interest.
By S6
• Pupils with the skills to keep on succeeding
• Pupils with a portfolio of qualifications to move on to
whatever positive destination they wish.
(Remember: universities only look at Higher
qualifications and above)
• Pupils whose interests have been recognised,
nurtured and developed
Universities
• Scottish Universities are well aware of these changes and
have an agreement in place to review and amend their
entry requirements in light of them.
• St. Andrews was the first to publish their revised entry
requirements and have stated that:
• They would accept applications from pupils studying
Highers over S4 and S5- without any National 5
qualifications.
• They expect pupils to study Advanced Highers in S6.
• They will gather information about schools’ curriculum
structures so that no pupil is disadvantaged.
course on introduction to
childcare.
• End of S3:
•
• Level 3 in English, •
Maths, Art
• Working towards
Level 3 in all other •
areas
• Saltire Award
Bronze
•
• ASDAN short
•
course on careers
• Young Scot
•
Award
•
End of S4:
•
National 4 in
•
English, Maths
and Art
•
National 3 in
History and
Drama
•
D.o.E Bronze
Work experience
placement
Saltire Silver
ASDAN
Employability unit.
End of S5:
National 5 English
and Maths
Passed
Vocational
Pathways course
ASDAN
employability
course
Individual model 2- sound
engineering at University
•
•
•
•
•
End of S3:
•
Level 4 in Music
•
Level 3 in English,
•
Maths, Social
Subjects, PE,
Gaelic, Technology
and Drama
•
Junior Sports
•
Leader Award
D o E Bronze
End of S4:
•
National 5 in Music •
National 4 in
•
English,
Geography, Maths, •
PE, and Art
Saltire Bronze
•
D.o.E Silver
•
•
End of S6:
AH Performing Unit
Higher English,
Gaelic and Maths
National 5
Geography and Art
UHI credits
Saltire Platinum
D.o.E Gold
Individual Model 3- PE
teacher
• By End of S3:
• Level 4 English,
Maths, Science,
PE, Business Ed
• Level 3 French,
Social Subjects,
Technology, ICT
• John Muir Award
• Junior Sports
Leader
• Highland U14
squad
• D. o. E Bronze
• By End of S4:
•
• National 5 in
•
English, Maths,
•
Chemistry, Physics,
PE
• National 4 in
•
Economics
•
• Volunteering with •
primary pupilsSaltire Bronze
By End of S6:
AH PE, English
Higher Maths,
Chemistry, Physics,
Economics
D.o.E. Silver
Saltire Silver
OU Course on
working with
young people
Individual Model 4Construction
• By End of S3:
•
• Level 4:
•
Technology, Social
Subjects
•
• Level 3: English,
Maths, PE
• Employability skills
• Work placement •
• Dynamic Youth
•
Award
By End of S4:
Skills for Work
Construction
National 4 Design
and Manufacture,
English, Maths,
History, PE
Employability
qualification
Interview skills
• By end of S5:
• National 5 Design
and Manufacture,
English and Maths
• National 4
Construction Craft
• 1 day a week
college course on
construction
• Saltire Bronze
• Red Cross award
Individual Model 5Dentist
• By End of S3:
• Level 4 All
curricular areas
• Junior Sports
Leader
• Red Cross
AwardHumanitarian
Citizen award
• Saltire Silver
• By End of S4:
•
• National 5
•
English, Maths,
Chemistry,
•
Physics, Biology,
Spanish
•
• Saltire Gold
• D. o. E Bronze
•
• Work placement
at Dentist.
•
•
By End of S6:
AH Chemistry,
Physics, Biology
Higher English,
Maths,
OU Health and
Social Care
Senior Library
Prefect
D. o. E. Gold
SQA Leadership
unit
What is Personal Learning
& Planning (PLP)?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
CfE gives a new emphasis on every learner being an active participant
and contributor to their own learning.
By talking about and planning their own learning from early years
onwards, children and young people will develop the skills to:
> identify, discuss and reflect on their own evidence of learning
> use appropriate language for self-evaluation
> take responsibility for managing their own learning
> help to plan their own next steps in learning and set their own learning
goals
> make informed choices and decisions about their future learning
In this lesson they will have the opportunity to reflect on learning,
evaluate progress and engage with an on-going profiling system which
allows each pupil to identify strengths and development needs.
Personalised learning helps every individual to develop and understand
their own distinctive set of skills and abilities, into adulthood and beyond.
What is IDL?
• Interdisciplinary Learning is the planned opportunity
for pupils to use skills and knowledge taught in one
environment in a different environment to ensure
that the learning is secure This can involve two
subjects agreeing a shared project or one
department calling on skills already taught in
another subject.
• Examples include Maths and Biology who could coordinate the teaching of probability in Maths with
the teaching of Genetics or DNA in Biology or
• A more simple example is Maths and Music cooperating over the teaching of beats in the bar and
fractions.
IDL#2
• Alternatively, different subjects or curriculum areas
are used to explore a theme or an issue, meet a
challenge, solve a problem or complete a final
project. This can be achieved by providing a
context that is real and relevant to the learners, the
school and its community.
• For example the three sciences may combine to
study and address an environmental issue.
• IDL is a tool to provide a challenging learning
experience and is employed by teachers to
improve the overall quality of learning
What is wider
achievement?
• Gaining recognition for their achievements and the skills
for life and skills for work that are developed through
them, can benefit all young people. It can increase their
confidence, raise their aspirations, improve their
motivation for learning and keep them engaged in
education.
• Many young people in Scotland are already involved in
a range of activities, both in and out of school and
college, and have developed skills and capacities for
which they are not currently gaining recognition.
• As well as planning how they can provide young people
with greater opportunities for personal achievement,
schools, colleges and other education providers should
be looking at how greater recognition can then be
given to young people’s achievements beyond formal
qualifications.
Wider achievement
• It is intended that all pupils will have the opportunity
to take up and excel in something that would not
have been available under the traditional
curriculum. This will include, amongst other things,
• Duke of Edinburgh
• Young Sports Leader
• Saltire Awards (Volunteering)
• Red Cross
32 periods per week
• Currently our periods are 50 or 55 minutes long
• If we make them all 50 minutes long, there are
enough 5 minutes to make an extra 2 periods.
• In S4 this would allow 5 blocks for each subject PLUS
the 2 statutory PE lessons
• In S5-6 this would allow 6 blocks per subject PLUS
time for PE/PSE
• Without this change, S4 will only have 4 blocks per
week and S5/6 5 blocks
In conclusion
• Pupils who have the qualifications, experiences, skills
and achievements to move on to a positive
destination.
• AND SUCCEED AT THAT LEVEL.
• The Scottish government insist that it is not enough
to promote high attainment if our pupils do not
have the resilience, confidence, social skills and
experience to sustain this success.
• We have devised a system which allows high
achievement and attainment for all.
• WITH TIME TAKEN TO DEVELOP THE SKILLS AND
QUALITIES NEEDED TO KEEP ON SUCCEEDING.