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Last Friday afternoon, lots (about 40 I think) of East Lothian’s Secondary Science teachers gathered at our school to discuss a Curriculum for Excellence. This was organised by my colleague Annette Smith who has recently been appointed in the new post of Science Support Officer (or something to that effect - sorry Annette if I’ve got that wrong).

After a brief introduction, Annette had us all working in cross-curricular groups to consider four very fundamental questions regarding Curriculum for Excellence:
Q1 What will it mean to us as teachers?
Q2 How will it change the way we teach?
Q3 How will it affect the pupils?
Q4 How will it affect the curriculum?

You can see the responses to these on the new Science Support eduBuzz pages.

I found this session really useful for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it was great to work (no matter how briefly) with non-Biologists from other schools. This is still a surprisingly rare occurrence for me, and I always enjoy it.

It was also interesting to hear what other secondary science teachers are thinking about aCfE. I was really glad that Annette kept this first session quite simple, in terms of the discussion questions, as it really got everyone going. It’s also interesting to note that the responses include a lot of positives as well as the concerns, legitimate and otherwise!

I’ve been arguing that teachers should be given the opportunity to consider what exactly a Curriculum for Excellence is before they get too bogged down in experiences & outcomes, or even Don’s questions. So I thought maybe I should try and think what it is to me.

A Curriculum for Excellence is about (in no particular order):

• Preparing pupils for working and living in the 21st Century

• A shift of focus from content to skills

• An emphasis on social contructivist inspired teaching strategies

• Giving teachers greater autonomy

• Encouraging more dynamic, innovative and interlinked schools

• Engaging pupils in their own learning

A Curriculum for Excellence is not about (in no particular order):

• Buying pre-made off the shelf courses

• The four capacities - we will surely aim to foster these qualities in our pupils, but plastering these phrases around the school and in paperwork will not get us anywhere

A Curriculum for Excellence will work if (in no particular order):

• HMIe and the SQA lead the way

• Teachers are converted by the pedagogy

• Teachers are supported in the transition

• Teachers are given the opportunity to work together in the implementation

• Councils & senior management teams embrace the changes and allow their staff to take risks

There’s obviously much much more which could be added to these lists.

What would you add/remove/question?

So, I started the next modules at Stirling on Saturday. These are the equivalent to modules three and four under the conventional system of twelve modules, but as Stirling has double modules, most people there think of this as module two of six. It does mean I have to make an APL claim for the second half of their first module - but I’ll leave that for now.

The day was very useful and I’m really looking forward to completing the rest of the MEd at Stirling. It’s a very different atmosphere to what I’m used to. There were only nine of us with one tutor, which gave it a very relaxed feeling. We spent the day considering the nature of Professional Enquiry, Pedagogy and Critical Incidents, along with the usual introductions & paper work. Although I found the readings quite hard going before the day, I think like others on the course, I just needed a day in Uni to get my brain going again.

As ever, many of the discussions on Saturday came back to Curriculum for Excellence. I’m still amazed to hear the same thoughts coming from teachers in East Lothian and at my Module 1 at Edinburgh AND now at Stirling as well. The general consensus seems to me to still be confusion.

When I was working as an Advisory Teacher in Namibia, I spent my last months preparing workshops for all teachers to assist them with the introduction of new syllabi. The idea behind this was that every teacher would have an opportunity out of school to be introduced to the new courses and to discuss and prepare for their implementation. Very little of this nature seems to be happening here as far as I can see - and this isn’t new syllabi, this is a whole new philosophy/ethos/pedagogy!

I know that some efforts are now being made, but we’re going to be expected to have this implemented in S1 and S2 this time next year - and in the meantime we have fairly demanding jobs to be getting on with as well!

Time is short. I feel that many teachers would like to start at the beginning, i.e. workshops along the lines of “What is Curriculum for Excellence?”. For this seems to me to be what is missing. Everyone is reading the Draft experiences and outcomes thinking “is this it?”. A stage seems to have been missed out, and for Curriculum for Excellence, it’s the most important stage! Setting the scene, sharing the pedagogy, discussing the implications…..

Who’s going to do this? I know that East Lothian is putting people in place for this, but what about other areas? Are they doing the same?

We have to get to grips with this, and I’m starting to feel that those of us who are engaged with the Chartered Teacher programme are in many ways best placed to help drive this forward.

I’m trying to be good and get stuck into this reading again, but I couldn’t resist having a look at this post on the BPS blog. Have a look (especially if you’re a neurotic female blogger!)

Image: Novi Public Library

So, it was the dreaded alarm this morning. Back to school. This time however, I’ve got the added bonus of starting my next CT modules at Stirling Uni at the end of the first week back teaching. So, I’m already faced with 4 pieces of reading which need to be done before the first Saturday. What I do like however is that as well as giving the four references which need to be read, each reference is followed by a paragraph or two explaining why this is relevant and how it will inform my learning.

Right then, I’d better stop procrastinating and get on with it!

A little channel hopping last night caused me to stumble upon a very interesting discussion on our impending curriculum and exam reform on Newsnight Scotland.

You can watch this on the BBC iPlayer by clicking on the image above (up until the 12th Aug).

It featured two professors who I’ve already enjoyed hearing speak on these matters, Brian Boyd & Lindsay Paterson.

The two features of the piece which disappointed me most (not that I’m a grumbler!) were the presenter/interviewer who seemed to have a very limited grasp of what this was all about. His stumbling attempt at a question about spelling to the Labour MSP was awful! Also, where was the SNP? I can see why they wouldn’t send someone to discuss a policy the programme claimed could fail, but I would have been very interested to hear their perspective.

Finally, I was quite pleased when Brian Boyd stated that a literacy examination is unlikely to improve literacy as this was a sentiment I had expressed not that long ago myself. I particularly enjoyed my wife’s (who’s also a teacher) expression which encapsulated this point in a way far superior to my own: “You don’t fatten a pig by weighing it”.

Although I must await the board of examiners meeting in September to have my provisional pass confirmed, I now feel confident enough to share my professionalism essay (not to be plagiarised) in case anyone happens to be interested.

Click on the image above to read the essay on Scribd

The essay is one half of the Module 1 assignment at Edinburgh and I was given the choice of considering professionalism and teaching in the context of current educational issue. I took this choice and used the curriculum for excellence as my issue (as was pretty obvious from my brief obsession with posting on Don’s blog).

I found writing this to be very stimulating, and really forced me to examine the curriculum for excellence. This has been enormously beneficial for me as a teacher - surely the very point of the way the masters route to CTeach has been constructed!

I’m hoping that as my confidence grows, I will be able to post my assignments online before submission and make use of this community (as demonstrated by Margaret). However, as this was my first attempt I really had no idea if I was anywhere near what was required, so I shied away from uploading.

Thanks for all of the assistance, comments and support during module 1.

I haven’t been so anxious waiting for an assessment result for a long time. I was put out of misery today when I found out I’ve provisionally passed module 1.

Hooray!