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!)

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!

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”.

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!

This is probably my last post of the term, so have a great summer everyone.

See you in August.

I don’t know what to write about following a read through this week’s TESS. Should it be Fiona Hyslop’s thoughts on the Chartered Teacher programme, or the continuing discussions surrounding aCfE and the exam reform plans.

Given my current time pressures (only 7 days to Module 1 deadline!!) I’m not sure I can even manage a coherent discussion on even just one of these! However, I don’t think I can really let the CT article pass without a mention.

I wasn’t able to make it to the CT conference, but it sounds as if the Minister made these comments there. She was responding to the Report of the Chartered Teacher Review Group, published online on the same day as the comments were made. The review group made a number of recommendations:
- That the GTCS should, in consultation with all relevant stakeholders, review the SCT and the CT modular route format.
- To be eligible to embark on the CT scheme a teacher must be at the at the top of the main grade pay scale, be fully registered with the GTCS and have maintained a CPD portfolio, which itself must include robust, validated evidence of good classroom practice. The GTCS will issue guidelines on the construction of a portfolio.
- All stakeholders should actively promote the CT scheme.
- All providers should review and re-submit their programmes to the GTCS to ensure that an appropriate proportion of validated school based evidence is a requirement of the programme.
- Headteachers should continue to discuss and agree with CTs, and those following the modular programme, the duties from Annex B of TP21 that they should perform. These tasks should be appropriate to their sector, experience and related to the SCT.
- Headteachers should ensure that CTs are allowed to link their CT modular work with their annual 35 hour CPD activities.
- The Scottish Government should take steps to routinely capture information on the impact of CTs in school. This should cover impact in its broadest possible terms and include the views of colleagues, pupils and parents.
- A teacher who embarks on the CT scheme should inform their Headteacher of this.
- CTs and those working towards CT status should ensure that their portfolio is benchmarked against the SCT for the purposes of the PRD process.
- Local authorities should ensure that locally agreed procedures are in place to ensue that schools monitor, as with all teachers, that their CTs are continuing to meet the SCT.
- The GTCS should close access to the accreditation route in 2008 as originally planned but also ensure that arrangements are put in place to assess those participants currently on the route within a stated timescale.

Obviously, there’s a lot in here - too much for little old me to digest! One aspect that does catch my eye however is the recommendation that the entry criteria be strengthened to include “a CPD portfolio, which itself must include robust, validated evidence of good classroom practice.” I appreciate that this has come from the variety of portfolios reaching the GTCS, but in many ways isn’t this the point of module 1? I do hope that this doesn’t go too far. Yes, you should be a good teacher prior to embarking on the course - but why would I be paying hundreds of pounds to learn how to gather robust and valid evidence if I already knew how to do this!?!

Ms Hyslop’s reaction is of much more consequence than my own. She expressed “frustration and disappointment” with the report and is pushing for senior colleague endorsement for entry to the programme. She also states that CTs should regard their status as a “school-wide” resource, not purely a personal accomplishment. I’m not sure what the outcome of the first of these suggestions would be. Would they merely check/validate that you are a “good teacher”? Or would they form some sort of quasi-selection process? If so, would I have been allowed to embark on this? By what criteria could someone bar you entry to this self-funded Masters programme??

I find the second of these most perplexing. By the very nature of the Masters programme, one must become a school-wide resource. This is partly due to the standards themselves, which require a contribution to the whole school. But this is also driven by the nature of the course work and discussions which follow from it. Since starting the course I have been extremely motivated to become a school-wide resource, and I’ve not earned one penny extra for my efforts yet. And before you say it, I am not alone. I have yet to meet a CT or someone working towards CT status who sits in their classroom with a smug smile of satisfaction on their face. That is not the nature of the people who fork out both the time and money to complete the course or in the nature of the course itself.

Obviously, these opinions stem from my own limited experience. Please feel free to correct/enlighten me…

I attended the East Lothian Target Conference this morning in Musselburgh. We were there to discuss the nature of literacy and consider what we already do, and could do, to target literacy in East Lothian. There were lots of outcomes from this morning.

Firstly, we got to hear from Matthew Fitt, the author working with Itchy Coo. It was great to hear Matthew speak with passion about the Scots language - although a little uncomfortable to be up pointing to ma ned and gieing ma bahookie a slap! Hard not to join in when there are so many enthusiastic primary school teachers in the room!! As an outsider I’m quite fascinated by the Scots language and love learning the words. For example, I was totally flummoxed when a pupil asked me recently if the graph I was asking him to draw should be muckle.

The rest of the morning was spent in groups discussing what it means to literate and what we can do to promote literacy. This was fascinating on two counts. I discovered that literacy is not as simple a term as it first appears. Is it simply the ability to read and write? Or does it also encompass one’s ability to communicate orally? Does reading body language count? What about emotional literacy? In addition to the discussion, it was also really interesting to speak to people who work in other sectors. As well as us teachery folk there were also NHS staff, police, QIOs, outreach, librarians, parents and a pupil (brave child)! The opportunity to meet and discuss issues with colleagues and stakeholders from other sectors must have been on many peoples’ evaluations at the end of the day, I know it was on mine.

On a different note, my mind was also slightly preoccupied today with the notion that what we are trying to do here has so many similarities to what was going on in the Caprivi Region of Namibia when we were there. Literacy is their greatest challenge to learning and so many of the comments really resonated with my experiences of working there on behalf of VSO. I made a list of the similarities:
- The literacy levels of parents is key to the success of the pupils
- There are many barriers between us as professionals and those parents most in need of support, and it is very difficult to engage those most vulnerable.
- One of these barriers is childcare. Parents here struggle to attend training as they have other children to look after, just like in Namibia.
- Getting the community to actively engage in the life of the school is challenging, and becomes more so as pupils move up through the years to High School.
- And on the notion of language, Caprivians are desperately trying to ensure that all lessons are taught in English as opposed to their various mother tongues. Meanwhile Matthew is busy championing the return of the Scots’ mother tongue to the classroom. A lesson for the future for the Caprivians I think.

I know in many ways it shouldn’t surprise me that we are all so similar, but for some reason it does.