About Curriculum for Excellence
What is Curriculum for Excellence?
Welcome and congratulations! You have chosen to join the teaching profession at an exciting time that offers great opportunities for new teachers. Scotland is currently pursuing its biggest education reform programme for a generation under the Scottish Executive’s Ambitious, Excellent Schools agenda.
Curriculum for Excellence is central to this reform agenda. At its heart, this is the programme of work that is reviewing the current curriculum. It aims to provide:
more freedom for teachers
greater choice and opportunity for pupils
a single coherent curriculum for all children and young people aged 3-18.
Work on the review began in 2004. The outcomes of this work will replace existing curriculum guidance for children aged 3-5 and 5-14. It is likely that there will be some impact from this work on certain aspects of the qualifications framework.
The review is being taken forward in a partnership between:
Learning and Teaching Scotland
Scottish Executive Education Department
HM Inspectorate of Education
Scottish Qualifications Authority.
The Curriculum Review Group has created a unified set of purposes and principles for the whole curriculum in Scotland, throughout the early years, primary school and secondary school.
Where did it come from?
In 2002 the Scottish Executive undertook extensive consultation on the state of school education through the National Debate on Education. The Debate showed that much of the Scottish curriculum is valued. However, it also revealed areas that need some improvement.
In response, Ministers set up the Curriculum Review Group in 2003 to identify the purposes of the curriculum and some key principles for its design.
The result of their work was A Curriculum for Excellence, which was published in 2004 and clearly states the values upon which the future curriculum is being built.
‘The curriculum must enable young people to build up a strong foundation of knowledge and understanding and promote a commitment to considered judgement and ethical action.’