The Curriculum Improvement Cycle (CIC) is a systematic review of the Scottish curriculum to ensure it remains up to date and relevant for children and young people. In the second of a two part article (first part here) Ollie Bray, Strategic Director at Education Scotland, explains how we have gone about designing the model for Curriculum Review in Scotland.
One of the key recommendations from the report Curriculum for Excellence: Into the Future (OECD, 2021) was that Scotland should:
“Develop a systematic approach to curriculum review: Scotland could consider establishing a curriculum review cycle with a planned timeframe and specific review agenda, led by the specialist stand-alone agency.”
In my previous article I explained that post the publication of the 2021 OECD report a number of key activities took place to inform the proposed model for curriculum review in Scotland. These activities included: a rapid evidence review of how others systems review their curriculum and identification of common features across systems; the formation of a short-life co-design group to consider what a review cycle might look like in Scotland; testing of the emerging model with existing stakeholder groups (including the Scottish Government Teacher Panel and the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland Curriculum and Qualifications Group); refining the model and the creation of a set of success criteria to ensure that as work on the CIC is progressed it remains focused and realistic.
All of the above activity led to the creation of a draft working model for Curriculum Review in Scotland that was taken to the Curriculum and Assessment Board (CAB) in June 2023 and received detailed feedback from a number of CAB members including ADES, EIS, GTCS, NASUWT, SFC, SQA, SSTA and Universities Scotland. Feedback was also received from Professor Louise Hayward and Professor Mark Priestley who are also members of the CAB. This feedback was taken on board and was included in the current and working review cycle model.
A Working Model for Curriculum Review in Scotland
Our working model for curriculum review in Scotland consists of four distinct but interlinked stages:
- Analysis – ongoing reviewing of feedback from practice on how the curriculum is working at all levels (ELC, schools, colleges, regional, national), studies on future trends including international evidence (PIRLS, TIMSS, PISA) and research on specific issues.
- Engagement and co-creation – planning, engagement, collaboration and processing of feedback to test draft workstreams. Importantly, in the Scottish model for curriculum review in this stage the implementation/adoption/realisation strategy is also co-designed.
- Sharing, Learning and Adopting – local capacity building and professional development; development of support material; monitoring of experiences of teachers and students.
- Mobilising, monitoring and evaluating – monitor and evaluate impact and effect of changes as they are being made. Gather feedback to support improvement as part of the ongoing cycle. Cycle begins again.
