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Introduction This document sets out guidelines for the development of information and communications technology (ICT) capability for pupils aged 5-14 in Scottish schools at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The guidelines are based on existing good practice, but also take account of local initiatives and the national development agenda. They set out a progression of knowledge, skills and attitudes in ICT as pupils progress through primary school and the first two years of secondary school. The guidelines set out a rationale, its associated aim and framework for the progression of knowledge, skills and attitudes in ICT 5-14. They describe content and contexts for pupils' learning. This requires careful planning and managing. Broad advice on learning, teaching and assessing is also included to assist schools ensure effective, progressive development of pupils' ICT capability. The guidelines describe a single attainment outcome and series of strands and targets for appropriate progression through the levels of concepts and skills in ICT, which generally build on those developed earlier. It is not expected that all of ICT 5-14 will be introduced at once. Time will be needed for implementation of a range of issues, such as the development of pupil outcomes at one level so that they can be built upon during the next. Schools and teachers are encouraged to regard the implementation of ICT 5-14 as a developmental process and not as a single event. The start of this process is familiarisation by all staff with the guidelines, then a review of existing practice and agreement on an action plan for development. The Guide for Teachers and Managers develops these ideas further. The guidelines are designed to provide a framework for the integration of ICT into existing classroom practice so that all pupils become skilled, confident and informed users and also gain the maximum benefit in using ICT in other curricular areas. These guidelines promote the permeation of ICT across the other curriculum areas of 5-14. There follows an example of how ICT can be integrated within, and used to enrich, other 5-14 curriculum areas, and further examples are provided in Section 6 of this document. A class of Primary 5-7 pupils undertook a project on road safety. Part of the project considered the issue of wearing seat belts in the back of a car. A survey of staff and members of the local community who drive cars provided the pupils with enough data to produce a chart of their findings. Comparative information and statistics on national surveys were acquired from the Department of the Environment's website: Belt Up in the Back. For Everyone's Sake. Curriculum areas: environmental studies, health education ICT strands: collecting and analysing information, searching and researching This example gives a flavour of how ICT can be, and currently is, set in context and can contribute to the 5-14 curriculum. These guidelines conclude with reference to specific issues for ICT such as the articulation of 5-14 with other stages of learning, the importance of ICT as a core skill, and a number of important current national initiatives that recognise and support the development of ICT. [RETURN TO 5-14 ONLINE] [BACK] [INDEX] [NEXT] © The 5-14 Curriculum (Scotland) Guidelines were produced by the Scottish Executive and Learning and Teaching Scotland and are reproduced with permission from the Queen's Printer for Scotland.