Scottish education has always been proactive in celebrating the birthday of our national bard. Pupils have enjoyed the bard's work through music, poetry and drama and have gained great insight into their own vibrant history and culture.

Learning and Teaching Scotland, working in partnership with Determined to Succeed, the Robert Burns World Federation and West Lothian Council, has produced support ideas and materials. Our aim is to enhance the creative learning and teaching of Burns in Scottish schools.

This cross-cutting approach reflects and underpins the purposes and principles of Curriculum for Excellence, demonstrating how studying the life and work of Robert Burns can be embedded across the curriculum.

These materials and ideas have been provided to support the celebration of Burns in Scottish schools and are not prescriptive. Teachers, in the spirit of Curriculum for Excellence and Teachers for Excellence, are being encouraged to use the ideas and adapt them to enrich the pupils' learning experiences.