Expressive Arts – Curriculum, Learning, Teaching and Assessment

Welcome to the Expressive Arts home page of the Learning, Teaching and Assessment Team at Education Scotland. Opportunities for learners to achieve the overarching principles of Scotland’s curriculum through expressive arts are well documented; however, learning in the arts also ensures that children and young people develop the knowledge, understanding, skills, capabilities and attributes which they will need to flourish in the 21st Century. Furthermore, a successful expressive arts experience will also enhance advocacy for arts and culture in the future.

These highly successful experiences in the expressive arts also rely on meaningful partnerships with professional arts organisations, Higher and Further Education institutions, as well as partners such as ourselves at Education Scotland. Not only does this provide fantastic opportunities to dynamise the curriculum for learners, but it can also provide excellent professional learning for staff too.

Curriculum Support and Professional Learning

Education Scotland offers free bespoke Curriculum Support across the Expressive Arts Curriculum. The purpose of this is to provide tangible support working alongside practitioners in all sectors and local authorities to improve learning, teaching, and assessment for teachers and learners.

Support and Professional Learning (anything from an hour to a full day) can be negotiated and built to support the needs of cluster groups, subject networks, individual schools, and subject departments and can cover a number areas of focus, in consultation with practitioners and/or local authorities.

The support can take place virtually or in person, depending on demand. Information is also available on existing networks (local, regional or national) as well resources available for practitioners. To discuss your requirements please contact: Neil.Millar@educationscotland.gov.scot

Curriculum Support:

Area of Focus	Possible Content
Curriculum Design: Expressive Arts in the BGE Primary and ELC	Exploring, refreshing and/or designing your Expressive Arts curriculum. This could involve working together to review your current curriculum and considering how it might potentially be developed.
Curriculum Design: Expressive Arts in the BGE Secondary (Specific to either: Art and Design / Dance / Drama / Music)	Exploring and refreshing your current curriculum in your Expressive Arts subject area. This could involve working together to review your current curriculum and considering how it might potentially be developed as well as opportunities to look at Interdisciplinary Learning across the arts.
Curriculum Design: Mapping progression in Expressive Arts in the BGE: Primary & Secondary	Exploring progression in your current Expressive Arts curriculum. This could involve working together to review your current curriculum alongside colleagues in your cluster to develop effective progression.
Data Analysis: SQA data and/or Insight data and/or current research into Expressive Arts delivery and/ or SQA data	Analysis of SQA results per each department/across a school/across the LA/across the RIC. Similarly, considering and analysing research data (quantitative and qualitative) about engagement, progression in schools in primary and secondary BGE.
Closing the poverty-related attainment gap: The place of expressive arts learning in improving literacy and numeracy outcomes.	The place of expressive arts learning in improving literacy and numeracy outcomes. This session could explore strategies which can be used to raise attainment in literacy and numeracy through the range of strategies.
Learning, Teaching and Assessment: Assessment and Moderation	Exploring how you currently assess in expressive arts and how this might be developed using a mixed-economy of assessment. This could involve co-creating assessment items or discussing existing formative and summative assessment arrangements. This could be a school, departmental, faculty and/or cluster moderation exercise.
Learning & Teaching: Pedagogical Approaches	Exploring and sharing the many effective pedagogies in expressive arts learning and teaching that support meeting learners needs.
Learning, Teaching and Assessment: Agreeing Standards	Exploring how agreement might be reached on achievement of a CfE Level in Expressive Arts. This could involve working with colleagues from other departments or cluster working across sectors.
Leadership of Learning in Expressive Arts: Secondary (Art and Design / Dance / Drama / Music)	Exploring leadership in expressive arts in the secondary sector and how this might be developed. This could involve specific CLPL in a department according to agreed areas of focus.
Leadership of Learning in Expressive Arts: Primary	Exploring leadership in expressive arts in the primary sector and how this might be developed. This could involve support for expressive arts co-ordinators in developing their understanding of progression in language learning.
Leadership of Learning in Expressive Arts: Local Authority	Working with LA representatives to scope out, supplement and support the development of Expressive Arts provision and partnership working with other national arts organisations and agencies, including skills auditing and developing ongoing, sustainable models for teacher training and upskilling in the Primary sector.
Leadership of Learning in Music: Local Authority Working	Local Authority working with LA representatives to scope out, supplement and support the implementation of Instrumental Music Provision, including skills auditing and developing ongoing, sustainable models for teacher training and upskilling in the Primary sector.
Leadership of Learning in Expressive Arts: Universities and Initial Teacher Education	Working with Universities and ITE (Undergraduate and/or Postgraduate) students in both Primary and Secondary to pedagogy, assessment, IDL. Similarly, to develop understanding of the roles of national agencies as well as an overview of the Expressive Arts curriculum in a Scotland within a variety of contexts.
Curriculum Design: Innovation in Expressive Arts	Working with key stakeholders to create bespoke courses and qualifications to meet different contexts of schools and learners as well as exploring the use of meta-skills in the development of Expressive Arts.
Curriculum Design: Innovation in Expressive Arts	Exploring the proposed Film and Screen curriculum as part of Expressive Arts as well as offering professional learning around this. This is currently offered in conjunction with our partners in Screen Scotland.

Networks

The National Expressive Arts Network is a network of practitioners drawn from Local Authorities, Early Learning Centres, Schools, Further and Higher Education as well as other bodies such as professional arts organisations/freelancers and SQA. There are sub-groups covering Art and Design, Dance, Drama and Music as well as the Strategic Board of the Network made up of Quality Improvement Officers/Managers and other appropriate personnel. Again, please get in contact if you wish to discuss this further.

Key Documents

Film and Screen Curriculum

On September 10th 2025 Education Scotland, along with Screen Scotland and the Scottish Government, launched the national roll out of the Film and Screen curriculum as part of Scotland’s curriculum.

As part of the national rollout we published a new framework, alongside Screen Scotland, to support the the 3-18 film and screen curriculum.

This framework aims to help clarify the knowledge, skills and benchmarks for children and young people learning about film and screen from early to fourth level.

This follows the successful pilot of the draft film and screen curriculum from 2022 and will inform the ongoing work of the Curriculum Improvement Cycle.

Professional learning for teachers and practitioners continues to support the opportunity to gain second subject registration with GTCS in Film and Screen.

Further information on this development to Scotland’s curriculum can be found here:

A Draft Film and Screen Curriculum for Scotland | Screen Scotland

Primary Music and Literacy Resource

We recently launched, in partnership with Children’s Classic Concert, an Expressive Arts (Music) and Literacy resource for primary schools: Roving Reviewers. This resource aims to support teachers in developing pedagogy between Music and Literacy as well as providing opportunities for children to articulate their unique thoughts and feelings through listening, writing and communicating. You can find information relating to the resource here:

New musical resource encourages primary school pupils to become roving reviewers | News | Education Scotland

Music and literacy in primary classrooms | Resources | Education Scotland

Numeracy in Expressive Arts

We also launched our Numeracy in Expressive Arts support package and guidance. You can find it here:

Numeracy in Expressive Arts | Learning resources | National Improvement Hub (education.gov.scot)

You can also watch the webinar that supported the launch of the guidance here: