Curriculum, cont.

 

What is it?

What is the Curriculum for Excellence in Scotland?

“Scotland’s curriculum, the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE), helps our children and young people gain the knowledge, skills and attributes needed for life in the 21st century.  Scotland’s curriculum places learners at the heart of education.  At its centre are four fundamental capacities.  These capacities reflect and recognise the lifelong nature of education and learning.”

(The Four Capacities)

(Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence, Scottish Government and Education Scotland)

A refreshed narrative on Scotland’s curriculum, which sets CfE within the current context, was published in September 2019.  It is available in both English and in Gaelic.

Realising the Ambition (Education Scotland, 2020) discusses the early childhood curriculum as,

“… holistic.  It values children, recognising them as full of potential from birth.  Our role in developing a flexible, enabling and creative child-centred curriculum is to be responsive to the uniqueness of each child, their family and the context of the community in which they live.

‘Curriculum for Excellence Early Level’ is intended to support the implementation of a responsive, continuous play-based curriculum for children aged three to six.  It is important then that practitioners and teachers provide, through responsive and intentional planning, a blend of child-initiated and adult-initiated learning experiences.  The emphasis should be on child-centred play pedagogy to ensure continuity in children’s curriculum experiences”  (p. 52)

The key to enabling the curriculum is consideration of the principles of the 7 Principles of Curriculum Design: breadth, depth, progression, challenge and enjoyment, relevance, coherence, personalisation, and choice.  When the principles of curriculum design are utilised through a play pedagogy, practitioners can develop and track learning for progression with children.  In the Early Level, the focus in developing the curriculum for children through play is on the learning environments, experiences, and interactions. 

 

Key messages:

  • Seven principles of curriculum design:  Practitioners should know the seven principles of curriculum design and apply this to the Broad General Education of the children.
  • Curriculum rationale:  All practitioners “…are clear about the purpose of our curriculum framework.  It is based on shared values and takes full account of local needs and circumstances.  Our very good understanding of pedagogy and play in learning is evident in our delivery of the curriculum for babies, toddlers and the young child.” (HGIOELC, Education Scotland, 2016, p. 25)
  • Experiences and Outcomes:  Practitioners should be very familiar with the experiences and outcomes for Early Level and must create interesting opportunities for the children to develop their learning across these over their pre-school years, P1 or later for some.  Practitioners understand the purposes and possibilities of different play areas and materials, linking these to developing skills, knowledge, and understanding within the experiences and outcomes.
  • The four capacities: Practitioners are aware of the four capacities (Successful Learners, Confident Individuals, Responsible Citizens, Effective Contributors) and know what this looks like within playful learning.

The four contexts for learning:

  • Curricular areas:  Practitioners provide learning opportunities through all curriculum areas throughout the setting over the year using both the indoor and outdoor spaces.  Practitioners support development in the three main areas of the Curriculum for Excellence: Literacy, Mathematics & Numeracy and Health and Wellbeing. 
  • Interdisciplinary Learning (IDL) applies skills, knowledge, and understanding from various curriculum areas to multiple experiences and is not confined to a particular subject area. As a result, children have the opportunity to practice using these skills in a range of contexts, e.g. pre-reading or pre-writing skills, which are used within most spaces in a setting; mathematical skills and language are used across most experiences.  Within IDL, practitioners follow the interests of the children through both intentional and responsive planning, allowing children to see and experience the interconnectedness of their learning.
  • Opportunities for Personal and Wider Achievement:  Practitioners know each child as a learner and celebrate children’s individual achievements, including achievements from ‘beyond the gate‘, such as riding a bike without stabilisers, zipping up a coat independently, football medal, swimming certificate, etc.  Achievements are shared and celebrated in multiple ways between home and school, e.g. display on the walls in the setting, learning journeys, Floorbooks, newsletters and social media. 
  • Ethos and wider life of the school:  The setting’s vision, values, and aims should be embedded into practice, in word and action by all stakeholders.  Children are given opportunities to contribute to the wider life of the school.
  • Children’s progress:  At the end of the Early Level, there are clear benchmarks for different curriculum areas.  Practitioners should understand how to use progression frameworks to support, develop and challenge children’s skills, knowledge and understanding (Scottish Borders Council Frameworks, Trackers & Progressions can be found on the Emerging Literacy & Mathematics & Numeracy Portal pages).  Practitioners’ knowledge of the child as a learner supports recording children’s progress towards achieving the benchmarks at the end of the Early Level.  
  • Play pedagogy:  Practitioners should have a sound understanding of how the curriculum is delivered through playful experiences in the nursery environment and their interactions (Skills environments Literacy 2 and Skills environments Numeracy 2).  Practitioners need to have clear and robust systems to follow the learning cycle through play pedagogy.  This ensures a blend of child-led and adult-initiated learning from the intentional and responsive plans. 

 

Ways we can do this:

Curriculum Rationale

Develop a clear curriculum rationale for your setting.  “It is important to ensure that everyone within the school is clear about what they aim to achieve through the curriculum. When a school has a rationale for its curriculum, it means that everyone involved with the school can answer the question ‘What do we want for our children and how will we work together to achieve this?'” (Education Scotland, 2021).  This is a way to connect the setting’s vision, values and aims with your pedagogical approach as a team.

Experiences and Outcomes

All practitioners should ensure that a wide range of experiences and outcomes are facilitated through play.  Literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing should be constant throughout the setting’s provision.  Provision of the wider curriculum is enabled throughout the year following the settings long term plans.  These plans may be based on a seasonal or nature approach but should always follow the children’s interests and needs as the central driver for learning.

Seven Principles of Curriculum Design

All learning must take account of these principles:

  • Challenge and enjoyment
  • Breadth
  • Progression
  • Depth
  • Personalisation and choice
  • Coherence
  • Relevance to the Eight Curriculum Areas – containing a range of subjects.

(7 Principles of Curriculum Design Leaflet, Angus Council)

The 4 Capacities

The Four Capacities can support reflection of our planning to ensure we are making provision for them, e.g. what opportunities do children have to be effective contributors in the setting?  Children’s awareness of the Curriculum for Excellence language will increase through its active use during interactions with practitioners.  The four capacities could be recorded in learning journeys and Floorbooks or on wall displays as evidence.

The 4 Contexts for Learning

Ensure that the planning takes full note of the four contexts for learning, providing wide opportunities for the children.  Practitioners fully understand what this looks like in ELC, and all planning should reflect them.

Curricular areas

Over the year, continuous provision should target all Early Level curricular areas of learning throughout the setting, both outdoors and in.  This is informed mainly through intentional planning.

Interdisciplinary Learning (IDL)

This is influenced by the children’s interests and needs and the “flow” of the year. However, responsive planning also covers many of the experiences and outcomes which arise directly from the children.

Ethos and wider life of the school

Opportunities for this might arise through interests such as Eco-group, Pupil Council, inclusion in whole school events, e.g. Book Week, Children In Need charity work, taking responsibility for tasks in the setting, representing the ELC in the school or in the wider community.  Ensuring ELC settings have regular visits from the senior management team to build relationships and embed the school and setting’s vision, values and aims.

Wider Achievements of the child

Families should be encouraged to share their children’s achievements and value each achievement. For example, blank “WOW” certificates can be shared with parents to fill in. In addition, each setting should be encouraged to visually promote children’s achievements, either on a child height learning or WOW wall, in a Floorbook, or in individual learning journeys.

Children’s progress

All practitioners should understand the learning cycle as part of their observations.

(Realising the Ambition, Education Scotland, 2020, p. 64)

Practitioners should understand the connections between what is observed, next steps, and how it will be achieved.  The next steps are informed by the aforementioned SBC progression frameworks and trackers. In addition, health and Wellbeing trackers should be in place.

Moderation of learning journeys ensures consistency across the setting in recording children’s achievements and progress towards the next steps by all practitioners.  There should be termly opportunities for meeting with senior management to discuss children’s progress and where interventions are required for either support or challenge.  Emerging Literacy Developmental Overviews and the SBC trackers will support practitioners to know the children as learners (see tabs at the bottom of the Emerging Literacy & Mathematics & Numeracy pages).

Play pedagogy

This is key to the delivery of the Early Level curriculum.  Each setting should clearly understand its pedagogy for play in delivering the curriculum.  Realising the Ambition (Education Scotland, 2020) provides a comprehensive guide for achieving this. 

(Play Pedagogy Toolkit, Education Scotland, 2021)

 

Linked Areas of Practice

Curriculum

Emerging Literacy & English

Fluidity of Early Level

Health & Wellbeing

Intentional Planning

Learning Environment

Learning Journeys

Making Learning Visible

Mathematics & Numeracy

Observations

Play Pedagogy

Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM)

Spaces

Sustained Shared Thinking

Tracking, Monitoring & Assessment

 

Tools  

Reflecting on Practice

SBC Guidance to support

National Guidance to support

Further Reading to support

Training to support