The curriculum

Curriculum for Excellence

The Scottish curriculum is currently undergoing a period of enormous change. Curriculum for Excellence is an ambitious programme of reform aimed at creating world-class learning opportunities for every child and young person from 3 to 18, preparing them for life in the 21st century.

For more information on the future of the Scottish curriculum, go to the Curriculum for Excellence website. 

Glow

Glow is one of the key tools being developed to improve educational outcomes for Scotland's children and young people. It is a huge project - a national schools intranet, digitally linking all of Scotland's 800,000 educators and pupils in a safe and secure online environment.

For more information, visit the Glow website.

The current curriculum

Until Curriculum for Excellence takes effect, the curriculum will continue to be structured in the following way:

Early years

Research has shown that good quality pre-school education improves all-round development in children, and since 2002 part-time pre-school education has been provided free for all 3- and 4-year-olds in Scotland.

National guidelines for the education of children aged 3 to 5 have been published in the form of A Curriculum Framework for Children 3 to 5. For more information on the pre-school curriculum, visit the Early Years website.

5 to 14 curriculum

The aim of the 5-14 curriculum - which is currently under review - is to promote the teaching of a broad, coherent and balanced curriculum that offers all pupils continuity and progression as they move through primary and the first two years of secondary school. 

For more information, and guidelines for the broad curricular areas, visit the 5-14 Curriculum website.

National Qualifications

The curriculum for secondary schools and colleges of further education comes under the National Qualifications (NQ) programme. NQs are made up of Standard Grades and National Courses and Units (which include Access and Intermediate levels, Highers and Advanced Highers).

For more information, visit the National Qualifications website.

SCQF

The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework promotes lifelong learning in Scotland. Through the Framework, anyone in Scotland can find out about all mainstream qualifications in Scotland and plan their future learning.

Further information on the SCQF can be found at the SCQF website.