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.

The talk given by Dr Suzanne Zeedyk was extremely interesting – to learn that thanks to evolution, babies are being born much earlier than they used to be and that it is one of the reasons why our brain is so flexible and we can learn new skills such as a new language. This flexibility also helps us to cope with a variety of situations and survive in different environments.

As primary practitioners, we might be teaching children who come from wealthy as well as poor families and as such, we should also be aware of how children, who have been brought up in an environment, where there is for example domestic violence, might react to various situations in the classroom and why. As Dr Zeedyk says, in this case the child´s brain always monitors for threat and as such, they cannot concentrate on something else. That is the reason why these children cannot sit quietly. Such children, who were raised in this kind of environment, will always think that a world is a threating place. And as such, it is very important for us, teachers, to build positive relationships with these children and provide them with a safe place outside their home, where they can experience world in a different way. It is also harder for these children to connect with other people. Therefore, teachers should create a balance between individual, group and whole-class work when planning lessons. When children are working in groups, we make sure they stay on task while building relationships via various activities and discussions.

The documentary called the “Sugar Crash” that focused especially on the health issues in Ireland was eye-opening. It is unbelievable how much sugar not only children but adults eat in a day. According to the WHO, adults should eat maximum of 16 teaspoons per day. And 3-year-old children should not consume any sugar at all. The study shows that people in Ireland eat 4 times more than they should. The consequences it has on our health are countless e.g. on our teeth. There was a case when a child needed to have more than ten teeth exctracted because of the damage the sugar did to their teeth.

It is extremely worrying to see how much the number of obese children has risen. The documentary says that before 1980, Irish people were the thinnest in Europe. However, now, they are 4th in terms of the sugar consumption.

It is important for parents, in particular, who need to become role models for their children, to start paying attention to what they give to their children. When preparing food, we should always refer to the “Food Pyramid” as it will help us prepare the right meals and portions. People often make the mistake by assuming that zero fat-product is a better option overall. However, it usually means that extra sugar has been added.

According to what I have seen, especially in the UK and in Ireland, people often buy soft drinks and crisps and allow children to eat it as a normal snack. However, how children are brought up affects their future lifestyle including what food they will buy and eat. What people ate as children has a great impact on what they will eat as adults. Therefore, the best and most effective way is to give children healthy food from the start (give children water instead of soft drinks and give them fruit and vegetables and natural dairy products) because later in life they are more likely not to experience issues with sugar and avoid temptation of products with high amount of sugar.

From my point of view, there should be a greater emphasis on healthy lifestyle and eating fresh food in the UK, Ireland and in other countries. Teachers have the power to change it by introducing such topics to children at an early stage of their learning to help them establish understanding of the importance of healthy eating. Through various activities and class discussions, we can talk to children about a negative impact unhealthy eating can have on their health.

Some schools that are located in deprived areas have started to apply a very effective approach, in my opinion, by giving children fruit for free during the day.

To link it with the Scottish Curriculum, the topic is related to the Experience and Outcome:  “I am developing my understanding of the human body and can use this knowledge to maintain and improve my wellbeing and health.” HWB 0-15a / HWB 1-15a / HWB 2-15a / HWB 3-15a / HWB 4-15a

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