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INTRODUCTION
How to use these guidelines
The advice in these guidelines is based on existing good practice
in the design and planning of policies and programmes for the
learning and teaching of English language in Scottish schools.
They will help headteachers and principal teachers of English
to undertake a systematic review of the provision made in each
school or department, and to adjust and develop programmes of
work along the lines suggested. This process should help to ensure
that all pupils experience a coherent, continuous and challenging
programme of work, regardless of age, aptitude or physical or
social circumstances.
The starting point for such a review will be the school's or
department's own policy documents, which will have been developed
over a number of years, taking into account local circumstances,
priorities and resources, and Education Authority guidelines and
advice. These should now be reviewed in the light of the Rationale
(Section 1), which sets out the approach to learning and teaching
in English language developed in the rest of the guidelines. While
the rationale is unlikely to represent a radical departure from
existing practice, there may be a difference in emphasis or particular
areas of provision which will need special attention or development,
in order to achieve the kind of breadth and balance suggested.
Any review and adjustment of policy will mean that programmes
or plans of work will also have to be carefully reviewed. To help
with this process, Section 2 of the guidelines sets out the main
features of the structure outlined in the rationale as a number
of broad attainment outcomes. Within
each outcome is listed a number of strands
or aspects of learning which pupils will experience; most strands
have attached to them attainment targets
at five levels of attainment (although some strands are described
at fewer than five levels, or in a more general way).
These targets represent a progression in learning within the
strand, each target demanding more complex or sophisticated knowledge,
understanding or skills than the previous one. A careful audit
of existing programmes against this framework will help to ensure
that all the important aspects of English language are covered;
that programmes from one stage to the next represent a reasonable
progression for pupils; and that work is properly differentiated
so that all pupils are presented with work which is both appropriate
to their abilities and sufficiently challenging.
This process of adaptation and development will be informed by
the programmes of study in Section
3. This section shows some of the ways in which the kinds of learning
outlined in Section 2 can be approached in the classroom, and
will help teachers to plan and organize their teaching. Again,
much of what is already offered will probably continue to be suitable;
but the suggestions in this section will inform extensions and
amendments to current practice.
Each school or department is slightly different, and caters for
different groups of pupils. The advice given in Section 4,
Catering for the Needs of Individual Pupils, will help teachers
to adapt their programmes to the needs of each individual pupil
and particular groups of pupils. Advice is given here about learning
and teaching for pupils with learning difficulties, and for pupils
who need challenges beyond those offered at Level E, which is
the most advanced level of attainment described in this document.
Also in this section is advice about taking account of diversity
of language and culture in the English language classroom.
The national guidelines on assessment explain how assessment
should be developed as an integral part of classroom learning
and teaching, and will be the main source of advice and support
to schools about how to develop their own assessment policies
to complement the 5-14 curriculum and
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