In recent years Scottish Education has gone through a process of change, with the introduction of a new curriculum and new qualifications. Scotland’s curriculum for 3-18 is designed to provide young people with the knowledge, skills and attributes they need for learning, life and work in the 21st century. The knowledge, skills and attributes developed, will allow them to demonstrate four key capacities – to be successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors.

The curriculum is organised into the eight curricular areas:

• Expressive arts
• Health and wellbeing
• Languages
• Mathematics
• Religious and moral education
• Sciences
• Social studies
• Technologies

All subject areas contribute to the teaching of literacy and numeracy skills and are committed to developing these skills within the context of each subject. Health and Wellbeing is also explored across a wide range of subject areas within relevant contexts.

S1 to S3 – Broad General Education (BGE)

The Curriculum for Excellence requires that every child and young person in Scotland experiences a broad general education. This takes place from the early years to the end of S3, and is represented by learning across all curricular areas, covering all the experiences and outcomes. The key learning stages are:

• Early: the pre-school years and P1 or later for some
• First: to the end of P4, but earlier or later for some
• Second: To the end of P7, but earlier or later for some
• Third and Fourth: S1 to S3, but earlier for some

Senior phase: S4 – S6 and/or further education

Further information about the content of individual courses can be found on subject pages or at www.sqa.org