Learning from the Curriculum for Excellence

I've just jumped onto the train, having spent the day at Holyrood's "Learning from the Curriculum for Excellence" conference. Here are a few of the bits of information that stuck in my head.

Bill Maxwell, Education Scotland
  • We need people who are good at learning
  • The 4 capacities are just as relevant in the senior phase
  • The centre is not looking to impose one curriculum model for the senior phase (but authorities may be I guess!)
  • BTC skills document is the least read (but I heard someone later describing it as gobbledygook! ).
  • Pathways are good for high attainers, not so good for lowest attaining 20%
  • We need to challenge  unspoken assumptions. 
  • CFE is designed to be a flexible model for development that will work for decades
  • Senior Phase needs to be planned across an an authority, working with FE colleges, local employers and other partners
  • We need to do a better job of communicating CfE rationale to parents and pupils

Janet Brown, SQA

  • SQA are conscious that new qualifications must match expectations of CfE - must not be simply tests that leaners are trained to pass
  • Vocational and academic qualifications have equal status in terms of SCQF levels - this is unusual internationally, and a strength of our system
  • New structure is very clear for employers
  • New "Awards" can be delivered at S3 - RBV, Personal Development Award etc
  • High external verification in years 1 to 3, in November, February and May, with over 2000 staff nominated to support this.
  • QA "intelligence led", with a partnership approach
Tony McDaid, former HT Calderglen HS
  • Curriculum should be defined around vision, but developing a vision takes time!
  • strength based school, not a deficit model
  • improvement focused on pedagogy: AfL; Active Learning; ICT to support learning; joined up skills development across school; resilient learners
  • IDL with progression - S2 out of timetable for a month, doing projects
Dr Alasdair Allan MSP
  • "We are seeing a variety of approaches to Senior Phase, and rightly so"
Iain Ellis - chair of National Parents Forum Scotland
  • "Nationals in a Nutshell" and "Learning Journeys" on the website
  • secondary schools are not utilising the resource that parents represent
  • all pupils should learn a second language in primary
University Speakers
  • 9 universities have published papers on revised admissions policies
  • "Beyond the Senior Phase" paper on Universities Scotland website
  • 25% of Glasgow Uni places filled through programmes to support access from deprived areas
  • Edinburgh Uni is abandoning consideration of Nat 5 awards in admissions
  • Edinburgh only needs 3 Highers to be sat concurrently
  • Edinburgh is about to publish position on Lifeskills 5 maths
  • Glasgow Uni has three tier system based on Highers - "Guaranteed Unconditional Offer, "Immediate Rejection" and "Gathered Field" in the middle

Popular posts from this blog

Learning styles are a myth and I am not an auditory learner

Image
I switched on Radio 6 this morning, and the track they were playing had a drum sound which caught my ear. It reminded me of a rototom - a tuned drum which was quite popular in the 80s. I had a set of three in my drum kit.



I doubt many listeners would have made that connection. I suspect many listeners would not even have particularly distinguished that drum sound. I think many people just hear songs in a much less differentiated way, unless they make a real effort. I, like most musicians, tend to hear the guitar, the drums, the bass, the keyboard and the vocals separately.

In other words, I am extracting more information from the audio than some might.

It would be tempting to imagine, therefore, that I would learn better through hearing than through other senses. But that is nonsense. Imagine trying to learn about the physical geography of a country through hearing about it without a map!

But this is exactly the argument made by people who insist they are "visual learners" d…
Read more

Some Thoughts about Skills-Based Curricula

I hear a lot of talk about skills-based curricula in Scotland these days, with the general vibe being that skills-based curricula are a Good Thing™. I'm not entirely clear what people mean by a skills-based curriculum, because it is one of those phrases which has slipped into the common parlance of educators without any clear definition (see also "learner conversations"). Try searching on the Education Scotland website for "skill based curriculum" and you'll draw a blank. I guess it means a curriculum defined in terms of the competencies being developed by our learners: a curriculum defined in terms of the things we want our learners to be able to do, rather than what they know.

I can see the appeal of this, but I am wary. Here are a couple of things which would worry me if they were true:

1.  Is this curriculum seeking to develop generic, transferable skills?

If so, we really need to distinguish between actual skills which are applicable in a range of conte…
Read more

Sacrifice and Memory

I'm reading Jordan B Peterson's "12 Rules for Life" - got to keep my finger on the pulse!

He offers an analysis of how ritual sacrifice arose in societies, which I find fascinating and utterly convincing. His contention is that it arose after our ancestors developed the capacity to think about the future, and therefore began to realise that delaying gratification could deliver longer term benefits. In other words, that sacrificing something of value in the present could lead to good things in the future. Having discovered this, it is a small step to imagine that sacrificing something of value, like a goat, might also lead to good things happening in the future.

This link between delaying gratification, personal sacrifice and ritual sacrifice had never occurred to me before. It now seems obvious. Perhaps it was already obvious to most people.

I am absolutely certain that I will never forget this. I may review it if I am presented with a different analysis which challe…
Read more