Which progressive trends align with CfE?
IB Progressive Trends
Critical analysis
Student choice
Transdisciplinarity
Range of skills testing
Constructivism
Child-centred
Education of the whole child
Criterion-referenced
AV and AL (languages)
Open plan rooms
Multiple perspectives
Curriculum for Excellence’ purpose is to help children become successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors. The IB Curriculum is known for its inquiry-based learning and encouraging understanding and respect towards people from different cultures and backgrounds. Both curricula are child-centred and follow a holistic approach towards education. As such, CfE and the IB overlap in many ways in terms of education trends.
Students are encouraged to look for and find out information and facts for themselves with a discussion followed, which enhances their critical thinking ability. However, in the IB this method is more common.
Regarding the student choice, in both systems, which are child-centred, learning is often based around students’ feedback and what they would like to learn and how. This goes hand in hand with getting to know children very well to be able to prepare such lessons that will be engaging, challenging and children will be motivated and inspired to learn. In both education systems, an individual approach is taken towards education of each individual child. Teachers are encouraged to get to know their learners as much as possible to be able to provide them with such lessons all children will find interesting. Therefore, many and various teaching methods are to be adapted when planning lessons to ensure all children will be able to learn in the way that best suits them.
In the IB, learning is more transdisciplinary–based than in the Curriculum for Excellence. In Scotland, subjects are separate e.g. English Language, Maths, .. ,however, in the IB, what children learn is based around six themes: Who we are; Where we are in place and time; how we express ourselves; How the world works; How we organize ourselves and Sharing the Planet. This structure allows for phenomenon-based learning, which means that when a concept is studied e.g. Water cycle, it can be discussed from many points of view – linguistical, mathematical, … This allows for more holistic approach.
To ensure the health and wellbeing of students, GIRFEC, Getting It Right for Every Child, a national approach, is there to support each individual child. GIRFEC is interwoven with educational organizations and institutions. This enables teachers and other staff at school to realise if there is something wrong and the concern can be taken further.
During my first placement in Scotland I have experienced open plan rooms when community groups were taking place. Children from grades P5-P7 were divided into six groups. Each group had a different task and goal to achieve. For example, the group I was observing focused on growth mindset development. Children first read a book encouraging the growth mindset development and then created special puppets based on the story in the book. The next step was a play, which they performed to younger classes. At the end, they were reading the story to the younger ones and helped them to create their own puppets.
