September | 2018 | Katie's UoD ePortfolio

Exercise 3

Educational trends are constantly changing with a major emphasis on how children are taught. In the 1960’s the traditional way of teaching involved things such as memorisation, same content for all, teacher centred, academic intelligence, closed classrooms and machine-scored tests. Now the IB focuses a lot on being child-centred, student choice, range of skills testing, education of the whole child and open plan classrooms. There are obvious similarities in what the CfE and IB are aiming for.

For example, being ‘child-centred’ aligns with CfE’s approach of GIRFEC which ensures children and their families are put at the heart of all decisions made ensuring that the appropriate support is available if needed. Student choice in schools is emphasised in the CfE as it is a principle within the curriculum meaning that learning planned for children responds to each of their individual needs. Traditional trends seen a lot of tests which determined how “intelligent” someone was whereas now a range of skills are tested, and intelligence isn’t based on memory but rather on the whole child. Scottish education is seen to have more open-planned classrooms in schools to broaden their learning experiences with opportunities of shared leaning with peers in different classrooms.

Exercise 4

The two main similarities between the Primary Years Programme and Curriculum for Excellence is learning being child centred and interdisciplinary learning. Having a child-centred learning approach within both curriculums means that children will have the initial interest to learn as they have the choice and involvement of what they are learning. This allows children to be engaged in their learning which in turn makes a better learning environment and experience for all. The IB has six subject areas: Language, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, Arts and Personal, Social and Physical Education which is similar to the CfE which has expressive arts, health and wellbeing, languages, mathematics, RE, sciences, social studies and technologies. Interdisciplinary learning means that learning is explored across all these areas so that children can begin to make connections between the real world making their learning relevant and meaningful. For example, measurements can be explored through baking which covers more than one subject area. Finally, another similarity is using reflection as a tool for leaning. Both the IB and CfE have their children look back on their learning to see if any improvements can be made and what went well in their learning that they might use again.

Exercise 2

The IB’sten core values are; inquirers, knowledgeable, thinkers, communicators, principled, open minded, caring, risk takers, balanced and reflective which can be compared and contrasted to the Curriculum for Excellence’s four capacities of; Successful learners, Confident Individuals, Responsible Citizens and Effective Contributors.

Although the IB may be more specific in terms of what they are looking for from their learner’s, a lot of their values correspond with our four capacities intertwining the two curriculums as they have the same end goal.

For example, as a Successful Learner, the CfE aims for children to be enthusiastic and motivated to learn, have determination to succeed and being open-minded. They should be able communicate well, use literacy and numeracy skills, technology, learn independently and as a part of a team etc. Already we can see that within being a Successful Learner, the IB’s core values of open-minded, inquirers, communicators cross paths as they encourage their learners to do the same. Within CfE, being a confident individual means having self-respect, having ambition, being aware of their mental, physical and emotional well-being e.g. by having a healthy lifestyle, assessing risks, having their own beliefs etc. Again, similar to that of the IB’s values of knowledgeable, thinkers, risk-taking and balanced. Being a responsible citizen means that our learners should have respect for others, be open-minded to and understand different cultures, being fair and being considerate to the world around them. Similar to being ‘caring’, ‘principled’ and ‘knowledgeable’ within the IB. An effective contributor is seen to have resilience, working in partnership, problem-solving and using initiative which coincides with a few IB values e.g. being ‘reflective’ and ‘thinkers’.

During my first-year placement, I was involved in a “Big Battery Hunt” with my class, where the children were able to write letters to local companies with the aim of them donating batteries to our school. Our class were responsible citizens as we collected batteries, counted them and gave them to recycling showing our commitment to participating responsibly in life. Similar to the IB’s value of ‘caring’ where is states that they act to make a positive difference to the world around them.

Through exploring both the Curriculum for Excellence’s capacities and comparing the International Baccalaureate’s core values, I can appreciate the similarities that they both have in order to nurture and prepare their learners for the outside world. The IB’s values interlock with CfE’s capacities well where I also found that a lot of the values discussed can fit into more than one capacity, meaning that both curriculums run similarly.