Curriculum Improvement Cycle Model
The Scottish Model for Curriculum Review (The Curriculum Improvement Cycle) takes around ten years to be completed. It is anticipated that each review cycle starts and ends with an exercise similar to the National Discussion on Scottish Education. This means that the first year of the cycle was 2023 / 2024 and we should expect another National Discussion in 2032/2033.
The National Co-Design Group for Curriculum review which met between December 2022 and May 2023 developed the following model for reviewing the Scottish Curriculum.
The model 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. This will help identify areas for closer focus.
- Engagement and co-creation – planning, engagement, collaboration and processing of feedback to test draft workstreams. Importantly in the Scottish model in this stage the implementation strategy is also co-designed.
- Share, Learn and Adopt – local capacity building and professional development; development of support material; monitoring of experiences of teachers and students.
- Mobilise, monitor and evaluate –mobilise the system around the approach and implementation. Once the new approach is mainstream, the cycle begins again in terms of monitoring and evaluation through inspectorate reports, research, feedback.
The last stage (evaluation) is interlinked with stage 1 (analysis), closing the review cycle.
| Year Published | Link |
|---|---|
| 2024 | Education Scotland (2024) Curriculum Improvement Cycle: Background and a Case for Change. Findings from the Pilot Curriculum Reviews 2023/24: A Discussion Paper CIC-A-CASE-FOR-CHANGE-PILOT-CURRICULUM-REVIEWS.pdf |
| 2024 | Education Scotland (2024) Curriculum Improvement Cycle. Towards an Evolved Technical framework: A discussion paper. CIC-Towards-an-Evolved-Technical-Framework-Discussion-Paper.pdf |
| 2024 | Education Scotland (2024) Curriculum Improvement Cycle. Language Matters. A Glossary of Terms Language-Matters.pdf |
| 2025 | Education Scotland (2025) Curriculum Improvement Cycle. Working Together to Make Change Happen: A discussion paper. Working-Together-to-Make-Change-Happen.pdf |
| 2025 | Education Scotland (2025) Background and Evidence Paper: Numeracy and Mathematics. Background and Evidence Paper Numeracy and Mathematics Nov 2025 |
| 2025 | Education Scotland (2025) CIC Explainer: An Overview of the Curriculum Improvement Cycle for Practitioners. CIC Explainer for Practitioners |
