Curriculum for Excellence is designed to equip young people for
life in the twenty-first century. Building the Curriculum 4: skills
for learning, skills for life and skills for work sets the context and
expectations for skills development.

‘The development of skills is essential to learning and
education to help young people become successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors. The skills and attributes which children and young people develop should provide them with a sound basis for their development as lifelong learners in their adult, social and working lives, enabling them to reach their full potential.’

(BtC4, 2009d, p 2)

What do we mean by ‘skills for learning, life and work’?

People use different terminology to refer to skills or attributes. ‘Skills for Scotland’ 2010 set out a wide range of
skills that might be included in any definition. It focused on a number of overlapping clusters of skills:

• Personal and learning skills that enable individuals to become effective lifelong learners;
• Literacy and numeracy;
• The five core skills of communication, numeracy, problem solving, information technology and working with others;
• Essential skills that include all of the above and
• Vocational skills that are specific to a particular occupation or sector

All children need to be flexible and adaptable, with the capacity to continue developing the new skills which they will need for the rapidly changing challenges of life, learning and work in the modern
world. The skills for learning, life and work for Curriculum for Excellence referred to in the document are
often cross-cutting and transferable across the whole range of curriculum areas, contexts and settings. They are skills that can be developed by all learners, whenever and wherever they are learning.

Importantly, learners should develop skills in personal reflection
on their learning and development. This enables them to identify
and articulate their strengths, achievements, skills and next steps.
All learners should be given regular opportunities to develop
reflection skills through the profiling process.