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The Scottish Executive's Curriculum for Excellence: Education for ChangeRead about your children's Learning Journey Portfolio here.‘It's all changed since I was at school'We all have memories of what it was like for us at school – what we were taught and the kinds of lessons we had – and will notice changes for our own children. Sometimes our children have greater knowledge and skills in some areas than we have! As times change, education and schools have to adapt to keep up with changes taking place in the world around us:
Why is Scottish education changing?The Scottish Government set up a group of education professionals and academics to review education in Scotland . The group was asked to consider how best to ensure that the education system helps children and young people to prepare for the complex world they will be living in. The review aims to simplify and prioritise the current curriculum and encourage more learning through experiences. Curriculum for Excellence is not a single document, rather a new way of looking at the curriculum that builds on best existing practices in Scottish education. It includes the totality of experiences planned for all children through their education to allow them to excel and realise their future potential. Importantly, putting the new curriculum into practice is not a once-and-for-all task but a continuing process. This is the beginning of a continuing cycle of review of the curriculum to keep it updated, refreshed and relevant. One of the questions the Review Group asked was: So what are the purposes of education in Scotland? The hope for all children and every young person is that they should become:
Children start learning before birth and have already learnt an immense amount before they start school. The curriculum should provide the support, structure and direction to young people's learning so that they develop in all of these four areas. What do we mean by ‘Curriculum'?The curriculum describes what children and young people do in Nurseries, Schools and colleges. This has been the way education has been defined for very many years with little variation. The curriculum refers to planned learning experiences based on different key aspects of children's development and learning. A Curriculum framework allows staff to plan activities and experiences that promote children's development and learning which emphasise the importance of emotional, personal and social development and also the acquisition of Numeracy and literacy skills, the contribution of creative and physical skills and an ever increasing knowledge of the world to young children's development. Experiences and outcomes: what will this mean for Pre-school centres and your child?As the draft experiences and outcomes are published Pre-schools will need to consider all that they do and how it contributes to children and young people developing the four above-mentioned capacities. Learning will take place through a wide range of planned and spontaneous experiences . These will include environmental, scientific, technological, historical, social, economic, political, mathematical and linguistic contexts, the arts, culture and sports. Learning through play will continue with each individual child's interests being at the centre of their own learning. Mind mapping is a key tool that will be used for planning and this will stem from both the children and parents. Sometimes the experiences may be linked to particular vocational or other specialised settings. Children will also learn through the day-to-day experiences of the life of the Pre-school community, with its values and social contact, and from out-of-school activities, events and celebrations. Taken together, these activities should provide a motivating and rich blend of experiences which promote learning. These experiences will not be unfocused. They will be designed to achieve specific outcomes in terms of knowledge, skills or understanding that will show how children and young people are developing and progressing. What will staff need to consider when planning for the new curriculum? When planning activities and experiences for children and young people, teachers will have to ensure that the following principles are applied: The principles for curriculum design
L earning opportunities should provide both challenge and enjoyment . Children should be active in their learning and have opportunities to develop and demonstrate their creativity.
There should be sufficient breadth in each young person's overall experience. All young people should have opportunities for a broad range of activities so that they can learn and develop in a variety of ways.
Children's learning should be progressive , building on earlier knowledge and achievements.
As well as having a broad range of experiences, young people should also have opportunities to work in depth . As they progress they should be able to draw different strands of learning together and explore and achieve more advanced levels of understanding.
Children's individual needs should be recognised and their particular talents and skills supported and developed. They should have opportunities to exercise responsible personal choice as they move through their school career.
Taken as a whole, children's learning activities should combine to form a coherent whole. There should be clear links between the different aspects of young people's learning.
Children and young people should understand the purposes of their activities. They should be able to see the value of what they are learning and its relevance to their lives, in the present and the future. How can I get involved as a parent?
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