Scottish Secondary Teachers' Association

Category: Curriculum for Excellence

  • SQA’s Curriculum for Excellence Progress Reports

     

    The first of SQA’s Curriculum for Excellence Progress Reports are now available to view on the dedicated Curriculum for Excellence pages of the SQA website.  

     

    The Reports represent the next stage in the development process of the next generation of national qualifications to support Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) and are an important opportunity for all stakeholders to provide their feedback on the development.   A feedback facility is available on the SQA website.

     

    Reports have been published for seven of the eight curriculum areas: expressive arts, health and wellbeing, languages, mathematics, sciences, social studies and technologies as well as for literacy and numeracy.  Work on the report for religious and moral education is continuing and this will be published in July.

     

    The Reports outline the research and targeted engagement that has taken place with stakeholders and

    give recommendations on the scope, skills and issues within each curriculum area.

     

    Each report will inform the development of the Overview document and Suites of Courses for its curriculum area.  SQA’s qualifications design teams will then take the recommendations forward into the design of qualifications within individual subjects such as French, Physics or History.

     

    To keep up-to-date with the latest Curriculum for Excellence news and reports you can sign up for the MyAlerts facility which provides notification of updates to the web pages.

  • SSTA Position on CfE Not Changed

    Dear Colleagues

    SSTA POSITION ON CfE NOT CHANGED

    You will know by now that the Management Board have recommended not to delay implementation of CfE in secondary schools after assurances from the Cabinet Secretary.

    Our representative on the Board (Peter Wright) decided he had no choice but to accept the Cabinet Secretary’s assurances after Michael Russell stated he was “absolutely committed to make sure the problems are solved”. At its meeting on Friday 24 April Executive reaffirmed its continued demands for a delay in implementation until teacher concerns are met.

    The Association will monitor events very closely over the next few weeks. We will be contacting the Cabinet Secretary’s office this week with our list of priorities, all taken from the information you provided in your survey answers.

    The issues highlighted in members’ responses reaffirmed the view that at the very least we must see:

    • The provision of a list of the core skills to be taught for every subject area, by the start of May.

    • Working groups, comprising experienced classroom teachers developing core material for each subject, for completion by the end of May.

    • Time given to subject departments (using supply staff to cover if necessary) to audit existing courses once the core skills have been identified.

    • Financial resources in place specifically for CfE development.

    • Clear and unequivocal information about course choices, especially timing of this, and exact information on the stage at which work for certificate classes will start. Where there is an element of choice this must also be clearly and unequivocally identified.

    • Time for experienced teachers (perhaps in local work groups) to begin developing suitable exemplar assessment material ready for distribution in June.

    Despite what the Cabinet Secretary claimed in his statement this problem is not caused by a lack of confidence among secondary teachers. It quite simply results from poor quality preparation and an unwillingness on the part of relevant national bodies to listen. Their response also indicates a very poor understanding of secondary education.

    We need to see the promised action in place before the start of May to have any hope of providing the high quality education our young people deserve.

    Our Congress meets on 7 May at which point progress on CfE implementation will be closely scrutinised. Your representatives will then decide how to proceed, identifying how much time to allow for solving the problems before further action is considered.

    If you have the opportunity, make your views known. Your district may hold a pre-Congress meeting.

    Best wishes

    Ann Ballinger

    General Secretary

  • CfE Survey

    Curriculum for Excellence Questionnaire

    In January an SSTA delegation met with the Cabinet Secretary, Mike Russell to discuss our concerns about progress with Curriculum for Excellence. During the course of the discussion the Cabinet Secretary stated that he was aware of the need for more detailed information within the secondary sector.

    Our view on this is very clear. Only subject specialists, working in classrooms across Scotland are in a position to provide a considered professional opinion on the readiness of their subject group to begin implementation of Curriculum for Excellence in August 2010. You are the classroom expert and your opinion and advice are essential to enable LTS and the Government to implement a successful revised curriculum.

    Mr Russell agreed that the advice of classroom practitioners is essential and offered to collaborate on a joint survey, being sent only to SSTA members, asking what information is needed to support the successful implementation of Curriculum for Excellence.

    The questionnaire was devised by the SSTA in conjunction with the Scottish Government to allow you the opportunity to give your expert advice. The questionnaire can be found and completed at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/sstacfe.

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    The deadline for completing the survey is the 09 April 2010.

    It is vitally important that you complete the questionnaire and make your views known. This is your last opportunity to influence the direction and content of CfE before it is implemented. It is also quite clear that a poor response rate will be interpreted as contentment with the current CfE advice, information and implementation.

  • SSTA Consultation on Outcomes & Experiences

    The Outcomes and Experiences relating to Curriculum for Excellence are now published on the Learning Teaching Scotland website and should be in schools in paper form by 15 May.

    The Outcomes and Experiences aren’t subject to formal consultation but the Association wishes to know members views.

    Your responses can be made on each subject by clicking on the appropriate link below. Members should note that there are a number of cross curricular areas. Please respond in as many areas as you fell appropriate.

    n.b. you are asked to compare the Outcomes & Experiences with current arrangements, not with draft 1 of the Outcome and Experiences.

    Each subject area is in 2 parts a) Principles and Practice; b) Experiences and Outcomes. You will need to read both. Health and Wellbeing, Literacy and Numeracy proposals are found under “Responsibility for all”.

    Please note that you must be logged into the website to complete the surveys. – Links now removed as survey’s closed.

    Classical languages Expressive arts Gaelic (learners)
    Health and wellbeing Health and wellbeing across learning: responsibilities of all Literacy
    Literacy and English Literacy and G�idhlig Modern languages
    Numeracy Numeracy and mathematics Religious and moral education
    Religious education in Roman Catholic schools Sciences Social Studies
    Technologies

  • A CURRICULUM FOR EXCELLENCE

    The Association is seeking the views of members regarding the latest documents from “A Curriculum for Excellence”. These documents can be found at the Curriculum for Excellence website.

    Members are urged to download and read these. The process which the Association asks you to use to allow you to express your views is as follows:

    To post your comments on the proposals for any subject please visit this link.

    Please contribute as soon as possible. The Association will collate these views and represent them to the relevant bodies and people. Please ensure you contribute to allow maximum representation of SSTA member views to the authorities.

  • A CURRICULUM FOR EXCELLENCE

    A CURRICULUM FOR EXCELLENCE

    The Association is seeking the views of members regarding the latest documents from “A Curriculum for Excellence”. These documents can be found at the Curriculum for Excellence website. Proposal for Mathematics, Modern Languages, Classical Languages and Gaelic (learners) are now available from the Curriculum for Excellence website.

    Members are urged to download and read these. The process which the Association asks you to use to allow you to express your views is as follows:

    To post your comments on the proposals for Mathematics, Modern Languages , Classical Languages and Gaelic (learners) please visit this link. Comments on the Numeracy and Science proposals are still being collected and you can post your comment regarding these here.

    Please contribute as soon as possible. The Association will collate these views and represent them to the relevant bodies and people. Please ensure you contribute to allow maximum representation of SSTA member views to the authorities.