Scotlandʼs Curriculum for Excellence

This short film, narrated by Keir Bloomer, a member of the original Curriculum Review Group, explains the background to the Curriculum for Excellence.

As part of my Fulbright tenure in Glasgow, I attended classes at the University of Strathclyde for music students pursuing a Professional Graduate Diploma in Education (PGDE). The Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) is the national curriculum for Scottish schools for students ages 3 to 18, which was developed in 2002. Since this document was the foundation of all of the coursework for the PGDE students, I did some digging into its origins and documents related to the Expressive Arts. The video above visually outlines the how and why of CfE. Iʼve summarized many of its points below:

In 2002 a national debate about the role of education occurred in Scotland involving 25,000 people, mainly parents. Although most people felt that Scotlandʼs schools were doing a good job, they recognized that the world is changing dramatically so education also needs to change to meet the challenges of the 21st century. These challenges included:

• Scotland needs to compete in a global economy where creativity, problem solving, critical thinking,  and high level of knowledge and skills are required.
• Knowledge is expanding and constantly changing at a rapid pace to the point in which education must change to equip and motivate people to become lifelong learners.
• New knowledge also brings new issues including unimaginable ethical issues. Education is not just about educating workers but citizens to ensure that society is choosing wisely.
• In order to thrive and have fulfilling lives, human beings need to have self-confidence, adaptability and strong values to navigate a rapidly changing world.

To address these challenges, the Curriculum for Excellence was developed to help children and young people develop these four capacities (

• Successful learners
• Confident individuals
• Responsible citizens
• Effective contributors

The principle teacher of music and her students at Kingʼs Park Secondary School in Glasgow created this video to explain how the four capacities are developed in the music classroom:

When designing lessons, educators of all disciplines should keep these seven principles in mind:

• Challenge and enjoyment
• Breadth
• Progression
• Depth
• Personalization and choice
• Coherence
• Relevance

Below are links to documents particular to the Expressive Arts that address principles and practices, benchmarks and experiences, and outcomes.

Keir Bloomer, a member of the original Curriculum Review Group, explained in the above video that "the Curriculum for Excellence is badly named. It is not a curriculum - at least if you envisage a curriculum to be a catalog of content - things to learn. Curriculum for Excellence is firstly a mission statement." He continues to explain that CfE is not something to be implemented just over several years, but rather guide education for decades to come. CfE is also a plan of improvement, interdisciplinary learning in a global context, and a new emphasis on learner engagement, where the student is actively involved in the learning process.

In the Expressive Arts Principles and Practice document I was pleased to see this question and how it is addressed: How important is inspiration and enjoyment?

• "One of the main purposes of learning in the expressive arts is to develop lifelong appreciation of, and participation in, expressive arts and cultural activities. The framework therefore includes not only statements of the intended outcomes of learning but also statements of experiences which provide opportunities for inspiration and enjoyment" (p. 4).
  

I appreciate a curriculum that recognizes the enjoyment and inspirational value of the arts as an important part of its outcomes and states it boldly in the first few pages of its document. CfE is not so prescribed, but has freedom and flexibility built-in for teachers as long as their practices are tied to the key principles and outcomes, and I observed this in the secondary music classrooms I visited in Glasgow these past 5 months.

---