A Curriculum for Excellence

Learning and Teaching> Curriculum for Excellence

A Curriculum for Excellence - Cross Cutting Themes

A Curriculum for Excellence offers a way of unifying the curriculum – making links for learners. It is the responsibility of every teacher, regardless of subject discipline or sector, to promote the development of pupils’ skills in literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing. Activities such as ICT, enterprise, thinking skills, citizenship, sustainable development, health and creativity, which are often seen as add-ons, can be built into the curriculum framework.

Literacy

Competence and confidence in literacy is essential for progress in all areas of the curriculum. This means that all teachers have responsibility for promoting language and literacy development. Every teacher in each area of the curriculum needs to plan opportunities that will encourage young people to explain their thinking, debate their ideas and read and write at a level which will help them to develop their language skills further.

Click here to find out more about the development of literacy in Argyll & Bute.

Click here to view the draft literacy outcomes and experiences.

Numeracy

Learning in numeracy should provide a base of knowledge, skills (such as problem-solving) and understanding that will support learning in other areas of the curriculum. All teachers have responsibility for promoting the development of numeracy and there will be challenges associated with this. However, it is essential to plan opportunities to develop numeracy in every classroom in order that connections can be made for learners.

Click here to find out more about the development of numeracy in Argyll & Bute.

Click here to view the draft numeracy outcomes and experiences.

Enterprise

Enterprise in education will equip children and young people with the skills and values to contribute meaningfully to the Scottish economy and society and will prepare them for the role of global citizens of the twenty-first century. It can be broadly defined as:
• opportunities to think and act in enterprising ways across the curriculum
• an emphasis on core skills and the ability to transfer these to different contexts
• learning and teaching which encourages positive attitudes and develops skills such as problem solving, decision making, creativity and risk evaluating
• entrepreneurial experience
• career education which promotes knowledge and understanding of the world of work and includes a focus on work experience
• development of a culture of lifelong learning.

Enterprising teaching
Key features of enterprising teaching include the use of authentic 'real-life' contexts in direct teaching situations, active learning, formative assessment techniques, collaborative cross-curricular and cross-sector working and long-term planning to ensure progression.

Enterprise learning
Key features of enterprise learning include the development of critical thinking skills, learner ownership, experiential learning, cooperative activities and reflection on learning.

Click here to find out more about enterprise in education:
www.ltscotland.org.uk/enterpriseineducation
www.determinedtosucceed.co.uk

ICT

A Curriculum for Excellence has unified a set of purposes and principles for the whole curriculum to enable young people to become successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors. Developing these four capacities will depend on the environment in which children learn, their choice of learning and teaching approaches and how their learning is organised.

In this section, you will find examples and evidence of how pupils are already acquiring a full range of skills and abilities through the use of ICT in Argyll and Bute.
Click here

Health and Wellbeing

The aims of health and wellbeing within Curriculum for Excellence The main purpose of health and wellbeing within Curriculum for Excellence is to develop the knowledge and understanding, skills, capabilities and attributes necessary for mental, emotional, social and physical wellbeing now and in the future. The rationale behind this is that learning through health and wellbeing enables children and young people to: make informed decisions in order to improve their mental, emotional, social and physical wellbeing ; experience challenge and enjoyment; experience positive aspects of healthy living and activity for themselves; apply their mental, emotional and social skills to pursue a healthy lifestyle; make a successful move to the next stage of education or work; establish a pattern of health and wellbeing which will be sustained into adult life, and which will help to promote the health and wellbeing of the next generation of Scottish children; and, for some, perform at high levels in sport or prepare for careers within the health and leisure industries.

Click here to view the draft Health and Wellbeing outcomes and experiences.

Sustainable Issues

The cross cutting theme of sustainable issues covers a variety of major strands which are present in the curriculum as integral parts of existing topics:
• Sustainable consumption and production
• Climate change and energy
• Natural resource protection and environmental enhancement
• Sustainable communities
• Learning for sustainable development

However, in the light of A Curriculum for Excellence, sustainable issues should be placed at the core of school life. It is not a subject in itself but should permeate everything we think and do.
This will cover:
• Eco Schools Development
• Sustainable Development
• Global Citizenship

The Rich Task Pilot 06/07

Argyll and Bute in session 06/07 engaged in a joint pilot of the 'Rich Task' methodology with South Lanarkshire, Inverclyde and Glasgow. The Primary schools involved were Drumlemble, Kirn and Rockfield who tacked “Celebrations and events” and Inveraray with “Travel Itineraries”.

Planning took place to involve the pupils in an in depth cross curricular learning experience. The ‘richness’ of the learning comes from both the depth of learning and the skills used by the pupil in presenting their response to a real life contextualised task.

Secondary schools were Tobermory whose task was "Designing a structure", and Oban who had "Designing a structure" and "Science and Ethics conference". Geography, science, art, technology, mathematics and other departments were involved in delivering these tasks across the curriculum.
The intention was to deliver this to classes in the Easter term with an evaluation in the summer term. Enthusiasm was high and staff felt that this was an interesting way to deliver a 'chunk' of their curriculum with the intention of increasing pupil engagement and motivation.

You can download the tasks used in the pilot below;
Celebrations and events
Travel Itineraries
Designing a structure
Science and Ethics conference

If you use the link to the Queensland website you can explore the “New Basics” and all the “Rich Tasks”.

The pilot concluded with very interesting results; you can download a report on the tasks below by clicking on the link
Oban High School - 'Science and ethics'
Pupil Comments
Staff Evaluation
Planning Sheet


Tobermory High School - 'Designing a structure'
Pupil Comments
Staff Evaluation
Planning Sheet


Oban High School - 'Designing a structure'
Pupil Comments
Staff Evaluation
Planning Sheet


Argyll and Bute and South Lanarkshire final reports on rich task pilot;
Click here to download the final report Rich Task Formal Report (PDF)
Click here to download the final Rich Task Poster Rich Task Poster (PDF)


Planning sheets
Click here to download a blank rich task planning sheet (MS Word)
Click here to download Tiree High School rich task planning sheet (PDF)


Click here to view the new Argyll and Bute rich task series

Storyline development information

The storyline approach is a way of working, thinking and planning which enables teachers to create a meaningful partnership for learning. Storyline development information

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