In my commentary in our recent report Quality and improvement in Scottish education: Trends in inspection findings 2008/11 I said that we would continue to publish occasional reports on the findings of targeted and specific areas of provision. This report on the sciences 3-18 is one such report and the first in a series designed to present a picture of what it is like to be a learner in Scotland today from the ages of 3 to 18. Over time, it is anticipated that this series will enable us to measure the impact of Curriculum for Excellence on the experiences of, and outcomes for, children and young people.
Although we have much to celebrate in sciences education in Scotland, there is clearly room for improvement. We still have much to do to ensure that experience of the sciences for all children and young people is as good as it can be. There are numerous examples of highly effective and, indeed, outstanding practice which demonstrate what is possible. This report and the related follow-up activities marks the determination of Education Scotland to work with practitioners and the wider scientific community in Scotland and beyond to make sure that our children and young people achieve the best they can in the sciences.
I hope you find this report useful and I invite you to join with us in addressing the development points identified.
Bill Maxwell
Chief Executive
Education Scotland
Visit the Education Scotland website to access The Sciences 3-18 Curriculum Impact Project report, the Summary for Children and Young People and the Summary of Key Strengths and Aspects for Development.
Haven’t had time to read full report yet but I did enjoy reading the summary for children and young learners. I am very interested in their responses.
Attended the launch of the report yesterday and intend to read it in more detail over the weekend. The summary of Key Strengths and Aspects for Development will prove to be particularly useful for dissemination to staff back in school and provide a focus for taking forward our school Improvement Planning.
Could I suggest that the Science and Social Studies Impact Reports be uploaded to iTunesU library in the K-12 section alongside the other Education Scotland resources. This would enable them to be downloaded onto mobile devices.
An interesting report. It will be good to see the various ways in which the Aspects of Development are addressed in schools. I found the examples of good practice helpful and I will certainly signpost this report and the area for engagement to others.
I really enjoyed reading this report and was pleased to see that the key strengths of current provision were emphasised and celebrated. I was particularly delighted to see that sustainable development education, global citizenship and outdoor learning were being embedded effectively within the sciences curriculum of many schools and it was encouraging to see so many good practice examples relate to these areas.
I think the document and the aspects for development will provide a practical and helpful reference point for all involved in science education and will provide a sound basis for improving outcomes for learners. I’ll certainly be making good use of thsi report and will be signposting it widely. Well done to all involved!
An interesting and informative document,which I have forwarded to all of our Science staff for a read and have highlighted the good practices as a particularly useful read.
Could I suggest that we try to promote the SSPCA when dealing with Animal Welfare,as the link in Good practice 14 is to the RSPCA,whose work does not impact on animal welfare Scotland.
By all means use the teaching materials,but any donations etc. to the RSPCA will not count towards helping animals in Scotland.
Thank you all for your comments. We have certainly had very positive feedback from practitioners as we are out and about in schools, and lots of traffic via the blog to the report. Practitioners are telling us about plans to use the report as the basis for discussion and development work.
Thanks Janette for the suggestion re availability on itunesU, we will explore this further. Martin that is a good point about raising the profile of the SSPCA – many thanks for blogging and raising this. It would be good to hear from practitioners about any work with the SSPCA linked to sciences 3-18.