A Curriculum for Excellence

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A Curriculum for Excellence - Engagement Days

Promoting engagement with A Curriculum for Excellence in Argyll and Bute presents some unique challenges given its geography and diversity of schools. Nevertheless there is a real determination and enthusiasm to make sure that the launch of ACfE to schools is creative, innovative and will have a long term impact on teachers.

The Engagement Programme 07/08

Curriculum for Excellence – Engagement days 2007/08

Area	Date
Oban & Tobermory HS & associated primaries, preschools	14 Aug 2007
Hermitage Ac & associated primaries, preschools  & Parklands	12 Oct 2007
Islay HS &  associated primaries & preschools	16 Nov 2007
Supporters for excellence engagement day Oban and Lorn	19 Nov 2007
Lochgilphead HS, Tarbert Ac & associated primaries, preschools  & Whitegates	23 Nov 2007
Dunoon GS, Rothesay Ac  & all associated primaries & preschools	15 Feb 2007
Campbeltown GS & all associated primaries & preschools	21 Feb 2007

Engagement Days for Staff 07/08

Argyll and Bute continued in session 2007/08 with the highly thought provoking ‘engagement days’ for all staff.
For these days the teaching staff, pre-five, primary and secondary for each area were brought together to consider further the implementation of a ‘Curriculum for Excellence’ and its implications for the teaching and learning experience in each school.
Lead presenter on these days was Keir Bloomer who spoke about the big picture behind the values principles and purposes of a curriculum for excellence
The place of  ‘Interdisciplinary learning’ within the classroom and the structure and management of this was given a strong focus, in particular the use of the ‘Argyll and Bute Interdisciplinary task series’.  The results of the pilot work which took place last year was clearly very encouraging for staff in tackling interdisciplinary working with the development of ‘cooperative learning’ across staff in the authority becoming more prevalent.
Significant time was spent in having staff engage with the ‘draft outcomes and experiences’ to allow them to further develop their expertise in considering and trialling these as they became available.
Finally an interesting and thought provoking electronic quiz led to the staff considering and discussing what made a ‘Teacher for Excellence’ which was then compared to similar discussions and conclusions made by senior pupils.

New for this session were the additional days devoted to ‘Supporters for Excellence’ where classroom assistants and support staff   were brought together to consider the impact of a ‘Curriculum for Excellence’ on their role within the school. This was also led by Keir Bloomer and produced much thought provoking discussion.

Argyll and Bute Authority intend that for the forthcoming session each area will develop their own approach to these development days to match to the progress made in each area towards the implementation of a Curriculum for Excellence.

Engagement Days for Staff 06/07

Led by Heads of Service Ronnie Gould and Carol Walker and the Quality Improvement Team, "Curriculum for Excellence engagement days" have taken place involving all primary and secondary teachers working together at nine different venues across Argyll & Bute between August and November, starting on the isle of Islay. These events enabled teachers to focus on the values, principles and purposes of
'A Curriculum for Excellence' with learning and teaching as the key priority.

The Engagement Programme 06/07

The summary from each of the "Area Engagement Days" can be downloaded below.

Download instructions - right click on a file name then select "Save As".

Area	Date
Islay High school and associated primary schools	17th Aug 06
Dunoon Grammar and associated primary schools	25th Aug 06
Hermitage Academy and associated primary schools	13th Oct 06
Rothesay Academy and associated primary schools	16th Nov 06
Campbeltown Grammar and associated primary schools	17th Nov 06
Tiree High school and associated primary schools	17th Nov 06
Oban High school primary schools and Drummore LC	20th Nov 06
Tobermory High and Mull and Iona primaries	20th Nov 06
Lochgilphead High, primary schools and Whitegates LC	23rd Nov 06
Tarbert High and associated primary schools	20th Feb 07

Involving Staff

So what made these days creative and innovative? The answer lies in the methodology being used which is Collaborative Enquiry. This means thinking, contributing, debating, questioning, affirming, sharing and planning for action together, rather than passively taking in information from a series of presentations. The environment is planned to be stimulating, relaxed and fun in order to provide opportunities for real reflection about practice. Giving teachers time and space for 'collective head scratching' about the implications of ACfE is part of the Argyll and Bute strategy for building capacity within its school communities.

Many important questions were raised and discussed at length, such as:

"How do we coordinate ACfE to ensure whole school community involvement?"
"How do we organise and facilitate cross curricular links?"
"How do you measure capacities and strands?"
"How can we improve school transitions within ACfE?"
"How do we keep the balance of the curriculum while developing the capacities?"
"How do we address the capacities and meet national assessments?"

Moving from enquiry to action is a key element of collaborative enquiry. At the end of each launch day, participants have a clear understanding of what ACfE means for them and a personal agenda for action. Each teacher also received an ACfE 'goody bag' containing two booklet resources on teaching and learning and a USB memory stick containing over 80 resources to enable them to pursue their ACfE agenda.

After the event?

Staff returned to their schools ready to concentrate on the values and principals outlined so far in 'A Curriculum for Excellence' and on establishing the ethos of 'The four capacities' in schools.

Some of the things staff said schools can do now - taken from 'the way forward for us' sheets completed by staff on the engagement days can be downloaded here.

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