A Curriculum for Excellence Focus Development Groups Aberdeen City Council

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A Curriculum for Excellence Focus Development
GroupsAberdeen City Council

• Peter Eavers
• Area Adviser
• 8th March 2007

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Effective teachersare highly creative,
weaving a variety of concepts and processes into
a deep understanding of what is being learned
Bennett and Rolheiser Beyond Monet The Artful
Science of Instructional Integration
Bookstation, 2001
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• We must strive to avoid the situation where
  teachers
• are forced into replacing meaningful action with
  frenetic activity
• Bennett and Rolheiser op cit

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• Here is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now,
• bump,
• bump,
• bump
• on the back of his head, behind Christopher
  Robin.
• It is, as far as he knows, the only way of
  coming downstairs,
• but sometimes he feels that there really is
  another way,
• if only he could stop bumping for a moment and
  think of it.
• Winnie The Pooh, A.A.Milne

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Time of opportunity for teachers and other
educators to

• Shape the curriculum of the future
• Think and act creatively in your own setting
• Be part of the solution to the issues raised in
  the National Debate and that arise as the review
  progresses

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Why Change?

• Improve motivation
• Curriculum overload
• Assessment driven
• Coverage
• Pupils are passive
• Teachers work too hard
• F word is missing
• Need to equip pupils for the 21st century
• A goal of the curriculum review is to give
  teachers more freedom to teach in innovative and
  creative ways. (Progress and Proposals)

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Aims of the programme

• Focus practice upon the child and around the four
  purposes of education
• Simplify and prioritise the current curriculum
• Encourage more learning through experiences
• Create a single framework for the curriculum and
  assessment 3-18

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Not an IKEA curriculum
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A Curriculum for Excellence

• Focus on methodology not the content
• Capacities will be embedded in the outcomes
• Build on Aifl, Citizenship and Enterprise
• Broad ideas tested through the engagement process

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Extending beyond subjects to include

• the ethos and life of the school as a community
• curriculum areas and subjects
• interdisciplinary projects and studies
• opportunities for wider achievement.

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What do we want from this?

• Contribution to Learning and Teaching Policy
• Opportunity to think in real depth
• Opportunity to road test and report back
• Real vision rooted in reality
• Something which will support teachers
• Ideas for future support and development
• INSPIRATION

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The Two Days

• Day One Personal Reflection
• Day Two - Professional Reflection
• All meaningful and lasting change starts first
  on the inside

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The importance of teacher voice

• We cannot tell teachers what to do. The
  situations they face in their classrooms are just
  too varied to predict. That is why professional
  judgement is so important
• Dylan Wiliam ETS Europe Conference 11 July 2006

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Successful Learners

• With
• Enthusiasm and motivation for learning
• Determination to reach high standards of
  achievement
• Openness to new thinking and ideas

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• And able to
• Use literacy, communication and numeracy skills
• Use technology for learning
• Think creatively and independently
• Learn independently and as part of a group
• Make reasoned evaluations
• Link and apply different types of learning in new
  situations

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Some things to think about

• Inclusion success for all?
• Literacy and Numeracy across the curriculum
• Application of learning
• Technology
• Methodology

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• The greatest enemy of learning is coverage. As
  long as you are determined to cover everything
  you guarantee most children will understand
  nothing.
• Howard
  Gardner

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Confident Individuals

• With
• Self respect
• A sense of physical, mental and emotional
  wellbeing
• Secure values and beliefs
• ambition

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• And able to
• Relate to others and manage themselves
• Pursue a healthy and active lifestyle
• Be self aware
• Develop and communicate their own beliefs and
  view of the world
• Live as independently as they can
• Assess risk and take informed decisions
• Achieve success in different areas of activity

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Some things to think about

• Inclusion confidence for all?
• Self-esteem
• The ebb and flow of confidence critical times
• Health and Wellbeing
• Climate and relationships ethos

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Emotional learning
Students who are anxious, angry or depressed
dont learn. People who are caught in these
states do not take in information efficiently or
deal with it well Daniel Goleman
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Responsible Citizens

• With
• Respect for others
• Commitment to participate responsibility in
  political, economic, social and cultural life

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• And able to
• Develop knowledge and understanding of the world
  and Scotlands place in it
• Understand different beliefs and cultures
• Make informed choices and decisions
• Evaluate environmental,scientific and
  technological issues
• Develop informed, ethical views of complex issues

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Some things to think about

• Participation for all?
• Do you teach citizenship or model it?
• Our pupils are citizens of the present not the
  future need to live it
• Opportunities for ethical debate
• Global citizenship

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Effective Contributors

• With
• An enterprising attitude
• Resilience
• Self-reliance

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• And able to
• Communicate in different ways and in different
  settings
• Work in partnership and in teams
• Take the initiative and lead
• Apply critical thinking in new contexts
• Create and develop
• Solve problems

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Some things to think about

• Leadership opportunities for all?
• Enterprising approaches contexts for learning
• How do you build resilience and self-reliance?
  strategies to cope with failure
• Methodology

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The capacities dont stand alone

• How does your capacity relate to others?

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Teachers are key

• to successful implementation of A Curriculum for
  Excellence.
• The quality of learning and teaching in every
  classroom and the inspiration, challenge and
  enjoyment which can come from teachers
  enthusiasm and commitment will be critical to
  achieving our aspirations for all young people.
  (Building the Curriculum 1 -
  p1)

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Teachers are key
confident individuals
responsible citizens

• The children and young people of Scotland need
  teachers who themselves exemplify the four
  capacities, who have a sense of community with
  their colleagues and who share in responsibility
  for the success of the school and all that
  happens within it. (p1)

effective contributors
successful learners
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Good teacher CPD

• is essentially collaborative rather than
  individual
• takes account of research evidence which
  indicates that the strongest influence on teacher
  choice of content and approach is the guidance
  and support of other teachers
• acknowledges that the capacity to lead learning
  and develop improved practice already exists in
  most schools
• everyone understands and accepts that there is no
  magic fairy dust, all-knowing expert or simple
  solution.
• Margaret Alcorn

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CPD Personal and Professional

• What CPD do teachers need to help them to develop
  this capacity in their pupils?
• How can we develop this capacity in teachers?

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And Finally

• Good luck!!