The Scottish Government

« Previous | Contents | Next »

Listen

section 1:
the case for change

1. This section outlines the strengths and challenges for Scottish education. We describe how Curriculum for Excellence is helping Scotland to meet those challenges and why we need to develop the next generation of National Qualifications to help deliver the values, purposes and principles of Curriculum for Excellence.

2.Curriculum for Excellence is one of the most ambitious programmes of educational change ever undertaken in Scotland. For the first time, we are focusing on what the Scottish education system should be delivering for children and young people from ages 3 to 18. The aims of Curriculum for Excellence are that every child and young person should:

• know they are valued and will be supported to become a successful learner, an effective contributor, a confident individual and a responsible citizen;

• experience a traditionally broad Scottish curriculum that develops skills for learning, skills for life and skills for work, with a sustained focus on literacy and numeracy, that encourages an active, healthy and environmentally sustainable lifestyle and builds an appreciation of Scotland and its place in the world;

• benefit from learning and teaching that strikes a better balance between equipping them with the skills for passing exams and skills for learning, skills for life and skills for work; and

• benefit from an assessment system that supports the curriculum rather than leads it and ensures that their transition into qualifications is smooth.

3. Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education ( HMIE) report Improving Scottish Education⁵ said that "inspection evidence shows that Scottish education does many things well and some things particularly well. Most learners are well supported and well taught… In primary and secondary schools, young people generally make sound progress in their learning, behave well, have good relationships with their teachers and ultimately achieve an appropriate range of formal qualifications". However, HMIE identified areas for improvement. In particular "while many of our young people perform well in school and beyond, too many do not develop sufficiently the competences, capabilities and values which are vital for the future success and well-being both of themselves and Scotland as a whole".

4. The HMIE report suggested that Curriculum for Excellence "was both timely and necessary" in encouraging learning and teaching of the highest quality. The issues that HMIE recommended Curriculum for Excellence should address include:

• being clear about the elements that should form part of every young person's education, irrespective of perceived ability, social background or school attended;

• being much more rigorous and explicit about the development and certification of essential skills, particularly literacy and numeracy. This requirement goes beyond pupils with specific difficulties to all pupils, including those entering higher education; and

• providing space for imaginative teaching that can capitalise on approaches which make learning relevant, lively and motivating.

5. More recently, the OECD report, Quality and Equity of Schooling in Scotland identified many strengths in Scottish education. It suggested that Scotland performs at a consistently high standard in the Programme for International Student Assessment ( PISA). Scotland also has one of the most equitable school systems among OECD countries. However, the report also identified some major challenges for Scottish education. There are still continuing issues of inequality. Children from poorer communities and low socio-economic status homes are more likely than others to under-achieve, while the gap associated with poverty and deprivation appears to be very wide. The OECD identified particular concerns over inequalities in staying-on rates, participation in different academic levels of national courses and pass rates in those courses.

6. Like the HMIE report, the OECD report stressed that too many of Scotland's young people are leaving secondary education with minimal or no qualifications. The OECD report also suggested that the Scottish qualifications system contains complexities which have accumulated over time and that young people have an "uneven quality of learning experience in compulsory secondary education". They recommended a bolder and broader approach to vocational studies in schools. In setting out the challenges for Scottish education, the OECD report also identified potential solutions. In particular, the OECD praised the "breadth of vision and commitment to both high standards and social inclusiveness" of Curriculum for Excellence.

7. The Scottish Government is determined to meet the challenges identified by the HMIE and OECD reports. A more successful Scotland can only be created by developing the talents of all Scotland's children and young people in this and future generations. This will help to achieve the Government's principal purpose of sustained economic growth and its strategic objectives for a Scotland that is smarter, safer and stronger, wealthier and fairer, greener and healthier.

8. The Scottish Government believes that National Qualifications have a key role to play in helping to deliver the values, purposes and principles of Curriculum for Excellence. National Qualifications must reflect the curriculum to allow young people to experience a better planned, better connected and more progressive educational experience than at present.

9. In particular, we need to ensure that the next generation of National Qualifications:

• reflects the learning of the new curriculum;

• supports the revised curriculum and does not undermine it by narrowing learning;

• increases the focus on literacy and numeracy and other skills for learning, skills for life and skills for work;

• ensures that assessment is used to support, motivate and challenge young people;

• reduces the current complexity, particularly at SCQF levels 4 and 5 where there are two different qualifications (Standard Grade and Intermediate) with different structures and grading systems;

• provides a range of opportunities to meet the needs of all young people, including those for whom SCQF level 1 (Access 1) is a significant achievement as well as those for whom achievement of qualifications at SCQF level 7 (Advanced Higher) is the goal;

• continues to maintain high standards and credibility with stakeholders, particularly employers, colleges and universities;

• increases flexibility in the time available to achieve qualifications e.g. provides sensible alternatives so that the 'two term dash' is not the only route to Higher; and

• enhances the S6 experience.

The proposals detailed in section 2 are designed to achieve these aims.

10. Our aim is to encourage a flexible approach to a young person's learning during the senior phase from S4 to S6 (or the equivalent in college or other settings) which helps each individual to achieve their full potential. It should encourage, as far as is practicable, personalisation and choice so that each young person can move towards qualifications in the way that best suits their learning. This would represent a shift in culture and would allow, for instance, a young person to pursue a personalised portfolio of qualifications, some taken over a year and some over 18 months or even 2 years. This could reduce the number of external examinations, allow for greater time and a more even pace of study and would enable the period to be used to enhance the broader skills for life and skills for work and the experiences that the young person has developed up to the end of S3.

11. National Qualifications are one measure of judging how well the Scottish education system as a whole is performing. In taking forward the proposals resulting from this consultation, the Scottish Government will work in partnership with HMIE and local government to ensure that changes to the current arrangements are reflected clearly, fairly and progressively in performance management and improvement arrangements for Scottish education.

12. The OECD report highlighted the need for better and more flexible working between national and local government. The proposals resulting from this consultation will be taken forward within the terms of the concordat ⁶ agreed between the Scottish Government and local government. The concordat sets out national outcomes which the Scottish Government and local government will aim to deliver. These reflect the Scottish Government's principal purpose and strategic objectives. The national outcomes most relevant to National Qualifications are:

• we are better educated, more skilled and more successful, renowned for our research and innovation; and

• our young people are successful learners, confident individuals, effective contributors and responsible citizens.

13. The concordat also sets out national indicators and targets to help measure progress towards achieving the national outcomes. The national indicator and target most relevant to the attainment of National Qualifications is to "increase the proportion of school leavers (from Scottish publicly funded schools) in positive and sustained destinations (colleges, higher education, employment or training)".

14. Work on developing the next generation of National Qualifications will also be linked to the key aims of the Scottish Government's Skills Strategy ⁷. In particular, National Qualifications will contribute to the Government's aim of developing a distinctively Scottish approach to skills acquisition, balancing the needs of employers and individuals, aligning skills and employment and placing the individual at the centre of learning and skills development.

15. The package of proposals set out in this consultation and Building the Curriculum 3: A Framework for Learning and Teaching present a number of practical challenges for all those involved in educating our young people (whether in schools, colleges or other settings) and those who support them, for example in local authorities and Initial Teacher Education institutions. Creative thinking and support are required in areas ranging from curriculum planning to assessment. The Scottish Government recognises the Continuing Professional Development ( CPD) challenge associated with this and will work closely with the Scottish Qualifications Authority ( SQA), Learning and Teaching Scotland ( LTS), HMIE and partners in local authorities to lay the foundations for a smooth transition into the new arrangements.

« Previous | Contents | Next »