Curriculum for Excellence (Scotland)

[prettybird]

Seeing the debate on another thread about the worth (or otherwise) of SATS and the fact that they reduced the time available for teachers to teach creatively made me think about how we, here in Scotland, are finding the Curriculum for Excellence.

Ds is in P6 so my experience is coloured by that. IMHO, CfE is tailor made for primmary education - it is what good teachers were doing already: using topics to engage the kids and from there, to develop their numeracy and literacy skills and general knowledge.

Ds has thrived this year doing topics like "The Body" and from that base, doing additional Maths, writing reports and creative writing, doing research and science projects. Even doing RME has been expanded into creative writing.

I am not so sure how well it works in secondary school - and I get the impression that teachers don't know either!

I am also not sure how they are able to assess what "levels" kids have got to, since the old tests appear to have been abandoned (?) Having said that, the school is still able to assess whether or not the kids have achieved the appropriate levels for their age group (and whether or not they are head of where they are expected to be) - although I am not sure how much of that is residual "knowledge" from the old attainment lelves.

What have other people's experience been?

They've done the experiences and outcomes, so they can be assessed and national assessments are a work in progress, but they're there.

I haven't seen any meaningful cross-curricular stuff at secondary yet, I've seen lots of doing it for the sake of it stuff...but nothing worthwhile. (that's not to say that no-one is doing it though)

As yet there's nothing really in place to replace the qualifications though, there's draft course structures for some subjects, but not all - and of course they need to be in place for this year's S1's as they will not be doing Standard Grade. And there's the whole internal assessment carry on...all a bit worrying to be honest, lol.

I'm looking at the secondary stuff from a teaching POV though as DS is in S3, so he's not affected and DD's in P6 and as far as I can see they've just changed some wording on things, lol.

It is definitely much more suited to primary, I think secondary is going to have to change a lot more than most of the ones I've seen have so far as it just isn't set up for it.

Schools are now full of pupils who can recite the four capacities in a lovely parrotlike fashion though

Sounds like they really need to get their arses into gear. I think it started this year for S1s (according to friends whose boys started S1 last year) - so they will be going into S2 in August, still not knowing what will replace the Standard grades

Even at primary school, it seems a bit "off" that the national assessments are still a "work in progress" - yet they are nearly a year into it.

I'm not really concerned about ds, 'cos his school is really good and most of CfE was what they were doing already (there have been a number of "examples of best practice" in teaching that have come out of the school over the years) - but it does leave a bit of a vacuum that poorer schools will flounder in (apologies for the mixed metaphor )

Hopefully they will have got things sorted by the time our P6 kids are in S1 - they've got another year and a bit to do it!

yep it is this years S1's that are doing CfE already, with no clear idea of what the final assessments will be like, lol

I found that definitely with primary, it was just a case of changing little bits here and there and a bit of changing jargon, but really it was mostly already there anyway...much harder with secondary

The positive thing about it - even if it is still not fully thought through - is that we don't don't have to suffer the straitjacket of SATs that the English MNers have to - judging by the angst you read on some of the threads complaining about SATs :)

Does anyone understand C of E reports at primary school level? I preferred old fashioned marks for achievement (A,B,C,D,E).

Our council adopted a "three stars and a wish" style for the reports this year. Out of three DCs only one teacher really seemed to understand what was being looked for, and highlighted strengths and weaknesses. It was a really useful report. The other two were a complete waste of paper, just listing curriculum areas covered, and still to be covered. The old reports here were useless though, with only a list of curriculum areas covered, and absolutely no reporting on standards/ability etc. One teacher in particular will say anything for an easy life (unless it is true that I have a perfect child! ) and the report reflected that, sadly.

Like everything else, I think it will come down to the quality of the teachers, and the SMT in the school. There is a huge potential for local variation, and some children will be disadvantaged from the start because of that.

This was Ds first year . Am I right that in previous years they had a system more like the English (but with the alphabet), with roughly a level per year. Now it seem to have a level every few years.

Levels A-F covered P1 to S2 (5-14).

Early, First and second level (C for E) cover pre school to P.7. The C for E outcomes are a lot broader and therefore cover a longer period of time, very roughly 2-3 years.

Reporting was a dog's dinner this year. Making the best of a vague lot.

Make sure you pass any concernes on to the school because things need to improve for next year. And make sure you are in touch with the secondary school if your child is P6 onwards, I'd say. High schools are about to work out subjects and exams leading up to S4 and if you don't want to be surprised and disappointed at some point in your child's studies, make sure you know eactly what they are planning.

So... no sublevels and one level covering maybe 2 or 3 years work. So a child could be a good year behind and it would not be clear judging by the level!

There are sub-levels although local authorities and schools are still to make final decisions on this in some cases.

The most commonly used sub-levels are Developing, Consolidating and Secure. So your child might be working at First Level, Developing those skills. Then they would move to Consolidating the first level skills and then Secure before moving on to Second Level.

How long do the sublevels last though eg is a child likely to spend more than a term on "secure", "consolidating" or "developing". Should I expect a sublevel increase a year, eg from consolidating to secure? Sorry for the questions.

That very much depends on the child. But bear in mind that as guidance, an average child should reach early level secure by end P1, first level secure by end P4 and second level secure by end P7.

Have a look at these
there are good things happening in schools as a result of Curriculum for Excellence. I can see my own children getting the benefit from some really positive teachers.