Dr Bill Maxwell, Chief Executive of Education Scotland, outlines how a major milestone has been reached in the delivery of Curriculum for Excellence.

‘Today marks the successful completion of a major programme of work designed to help support the ongoing development of the new curriculum in schools as our team in Education Scotland published the latest tranche of materials to support the new National Qualifications.  As of yesterday, all of these materials are now available on Glow.

Providing these support materials means teachers have an opportunity to see some good examples of how courses can be shaped and delivered. They provide some examples of materials which teachers can use directly in building their own courses, but we will also continue to encourage and champion the development of practitioners own teaching materials and the sharing of good practice.

We have worked with hundreds of teachers in developing this material. I am confident they will become a valuable resource for many others across the country, as have many of the earlier support materials we have already published.

Local authorities and schools are already making good use of the materials we have already issued and our inspections are increasingly providing us with real-life examples of how schools are rising to the challenge of increased expectations brought about by the implementation of the new curriculum.  We will continue to work with teachers and respond to their feedback on these materials to help ensure we are delivering the best support resources possible.

As of the end of April, 95 sets of web-based course materials have been published across the full range of National 4 and National 5 qualifications.  This adds to 69 sets of advice and guidance notes which are already available as well as 77 professional focus papers, covering all subjects at National 4 and National 5.  

I’m pleased to report this major milestone has been achieved on target as we continue to deliver resource materials in support of the new curriculum.’

Dr Bill Maxwell, Chief Executive, Education Scotland