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 mathematics in Scottish schools.

They will help headteachers of primary and secondary schools and principal teachers of mathematics 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 mathematics 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 are 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 outcomes or 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 mathematics 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.

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 development programme. Section 5 of these guidelines offers some pointers relevant to the assessment of mathematics in the curriculum. Together with the separate guidelines on assessment, it will help schools and departments to review and develop existing assessment policies and build assessment procedures into classroom programmes, so that they genuinely support learning and inform next steps for individual pupils.

Section 6 of the guidelines addresses several specific issues relating to the content and scope of mathematics in the curriculum, about which teachers often express uncertainty. The advice and ideas in this section should help to answer teachers' questions and increase confidence in addressing these issues as an integral part of classroom learning and teaching.

These guidelines for mathematics offer advice about matters as they relate specifically to this part of the curriculum. Some of these issues, and other important matters such as equal opportunities, which should be considered in developing whole-school policies in a cross-curricular context, will be developed and discussed in later guidelines.