EXAM LEAGUE TABLES FOR STATE SCHOOLSView the full results table for Standard Grade here (opens as a PDF)Tables show the percentage of pupils who gained five or more Standard Grades at General level or equivalent, based on the school roll at the beginning of S4.
View the full results table for Higher Grade here (opens as a PDF)Tables show the percentage of pupils who gained three or more Higher grade passes at A-C, based on the school roll at the beginning of S4.
IT HAS been described as an initiative which could deliver the biggest-ever change to Scotland's schools, yet few parents fully understand what it will mean for their children.
In addition, some teachers and education leaders have expressed concerns about a lack of information on the forthcoming new curriculum, with one senior headteacher describing it as a "muddle" – but in August, it will land on teachers' desks across Scotland for the start of the next academic year. So what, in practice, will the Curriculum for Excellence actually mean for pupils and teachers – and why do we need to change?
Against a background of greater exam achievement domestically, Scotland had begun to fall behind other countries in the education standard of its children. Although it was argued by some experts and politicians that this was more to do with other nations improving than Scotland slipping backwards, the previous Labour-Lib Dem Scottish Executive began to re-examine the school system. Work on the Curriculum for Excellence formally began in 2004 and was continued by the incoming SNP administration last year.
Unlike England, there is no statutory curriculum in Scotland so anything published by the Scottish Government is just guidance. This allows schools to decide what they want to teach and prevents any diktat from the centre ordering schools to provide certain subjects.
However, there are subjects all schools will offer, including English and maths, plus any subjects universities may deem compulsory – such as languages.
The existing 'rules' are known as the 5-14 guidelines, introduced in the early 90s in a drive to create a more socially equal education system. They will be subsumed by the wider-ranging 3-18 Curriculum for Excellence which, the Scottish Government hopes, will be more relevant to the skills needed by today's school-leavers – and more engaging for pupils.
It is also hoped it will create a more streamlined education system, with smoother transitions, particularly between primary and secondary when there has been a historic dip in performance as pupils adapt to the change – and a much stronger focus on Scotland in terms of its history and literature.
The new curriculum is based on the underlying principles that all young people should be able to become:
• successful learners
• confident individuals
• effective contributors
&149 responsible citizens.
These are known as the four capacities and are at the very heart of the new curriculum. The initial review which generated these new guidelines focused on, not just how subjects are currently taught, but the whole ethos of schooling.
Qualifications will be affected by the change, with Standard and Intermediate grade exams facing the chop. There is already a widespread feeling within education that Standard grades are outdated, too easy and do not prepare teenagers adequately for the rigours of Highers, causing many to underperform in fifth and sixth year. Others still laud the initial idea behind Standard grades, to allow all pupils to leave with a qualification.
A December 2007 report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) backed scrapping Standard grades, saying they are low-level and have little status. Replacement qualifications are expected within the next four years, and are likely to comprise small units of ongoing assessment rather than the traditional block of end-year exams, with teachers' opinions on performance given more weight than in recent years.
Highers and Advanced Highers are likely to be updated and retained but with baccalaureates introduced in science and languages. These will run in sixth year in parallel with Highers and Advanced Highers and be made up of a combination of these qualifications plus a project.
Business welcomes this – the sector has long called for moves to tackle a dearth of young people leaving school and university without these key qualifications. Iain Ferguson, CBI Scotland policy executive, said: "These are two subject areas that are of critical importance to business and industry operating in the UK and internationally. We are also supportive of the Curriculum for Excellence as we share its objectives, including the embedding of core skills and the recognition of wider achievement on the part of students."
However, the new curriculum has been criticised by educationalists because too little information has emanated from government. In November David Cameron, director of children's services at Stirling Council, warned parents must be given input or would feel their children were being used as "guinea pigs".
And in December David Gray, principal of Stewart's Melville College and the Mary Erskine School in Edinburgh, said the new curriculum was in a "muddle" and "going nowhere".
More information is now finally starting to filter out to schools. Broadly speaking, A Curriculum for Excellence has been divided into sets of "draft outcomes" on different subject areas, with all published apart from religious education and personal and social development, which are due out within weeks. They are known as 'draft' outcomes because teachers will be able to feed into final versions.
Learning and Teaching Scotland, which is driving forward the new curriculum, says there will be an adaptation period with it fully up-and-running in every school after final outcomes are created.
There are some fears that subject guidance published so far is too wishy-washy. For example, historians said no inclusion of what eras children should specifically study would make creating new text books difficult.
However, teachers are in general supportive of the new curriculum – if it comes with the finance to help them implement it. Ronnie Smith, general secretary of Scotland's largest teaching union, the EIS, says: "The ongoing development of a Curriculum for Excellence is a major priority for everyone involved in Scottish education. It aims to provide greater flexibility for schools, enabling teachers to exercise their professional judgement in delivering teaching that is better suited to the particular needs, interests and aptitudes of pupils.
"By freeing up teachers to work together while teaching key themes across several curricular areas, pupils should have access to a more streamlined and cohesive educational experience that is tailored to their own circumstances. However, such an ambitious programme of curricular reform can only be achieved if adequate support and resources are put in place to allow teachers to meet the laudable aspirations."
A Scottish Government spokeswoman says: "Curriculum for Excellence is a new way of looking at Scottish education, and encouraging and challenging teachers to think about their own teaching, and make it exciting, engaging and relevant in every pre-school centre, school and college. It is about far more than just the content of the curriculum and extends well beyond schools. The impact of this change will be far-reaching. It covers all learning experiences planned for all of our children throughout their education, from ages 3-18, with the aim of helping them to realise their talents and potential so that they are prepared for the future demands of a modern society and global economy."
She adds: "Parents should find that they have a better understanding of what their children's learning is equipping them to achieve and should be more confident their children can apply the skills of literacy and numeracy, as well as skills for work and skills for life."
LITERACYUnder new literacy guidelines, text messaging, social networking websites and internet blogs will be studied alongside books, plays and poetry in future. Children will be taught in the new media in an effort to bring English lessons into the 21st century.
The idea is to use modern methods of communication to engage children and prepare them with skills necessary for the workplace. New emphasis will be placed on teaching how and when to use a particular method of communication. For example, pupils will be taught not to use abbreviated text language in an e-mail where more formal language is appropriate.
Business leaders have long been critical of school leavers who are unable to communicate effectively.
Under the new guidelines, pupils will also be taught to examine information on websites, television and radio more critically. University staff had complained that too many first year students were too willing to use unvalidated information directly from the internet.
Teachers gave literacy guidelines a cautious welcome but repeated the message that mobile phones should remain switched off in school to counter cyber-bullying.
SOCIAL SCIENCES Scottish history will be brought to the core of the subject under the new curriculum guidance for the subject.
Only recently has the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) announced a Scottish element will be a compulsory part of the Higher history exam in future.
In future, social sciences will be divided into three broad areas: people, past events and societies; people, place and environment; and people in society, economy and business.
There will also be a new emphasis on making history, geography and modern studies, relevant to children's own experiences, while the use of collaborative learning, technology and field trips will be encouraged.
For example in history, the youngest children should be able to make a link to the past through people or events in their own lives, while older children will have to investigate a Scottish historical theme to discover how the past or people from the past have shaped Scottish society.
Education secretary Fiona Hyslop claims the new curriculum will consist of more than just dates which "tie endless stories of kings, corpses and coronations together", but will make history relevant to shaping the future of Scotland's children.
NUMERACYIn future, maths lessons will be made more relevant to pupils' lives.
Key topics will include:
• Managing money and planning your finances.
• Understanding and managing earnings, benefits and credit.
• Managing a household budget, and work-related financial situations.
• Estimating and calculating.
• Reading timetables, calculating distances and journey times and reading maps.
• interpreting information in graphs and tables.
Teachers will be encouraged to link maths and numeracy in with other subjects in the curriculum.
So for example a study of the pyramids of ancient Egypt could include lessons on the geometry and algebra needed to create the structures.
Or younger children could visit the school garden to count flowers, measure plant growth or even role-play a garden centre where they could make mock purchases and calculate correct change.
EXPRESSIVE ARTSChildren will be encouraged to develop their creative talent with the idea that it will eventually enhance both their working and recreational lives as adults.
Pupils will be given opportunities to express themselves and to discover the wider world through various media from film, theatre, photography, and jewellery making to the more traditional art lessons of drawing and painting.
Technical, presentational and performance skills will be taught which will be useful in other subject areas and will hopefully help them to become "confident individuals".
SCIENCE Lessons will become more relevant to the real world which pupils and their families inhabit. From recycling, to how metal is extracted from the earth, pupils should be able to understand how science affects them. The guidance moves away from the previously tick-box mentality of science education, particularly at Standard grade level.
So for example, instead of being asked to name a list of certain types of plants, pupils will have to select a particular plant and explain how it has contributed to society and improve quality of life.
LANGUAGES For the first time curriculum guidance has been produced on Gaelic. Scots language will also be accepted in the classroom with greater study of literature using the dialect and pupils not corrected if they use words like 'aye'.
The full article contains 2034 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
