1. Curriculum for Excellence Experiences and Outcomes:
the curriculum for all learners
from 3 to 15
Support for Reflection and Engagement
This PowerPoint can be used to give an overview of Curriculum for Excellence and to give initial support for familiarisation with the structure of the framework. It can be used by anyone when beginning to consider how to use the curriculum framework for planning their contribution to the education of Scotland’s children and young people as the experiences and outcomes apply wherever learning is planned.
The term ‘teacher’ is used within the curriculum guidance for this presentation to refer to those adults in teaching situations in all sectors and settings, and ‘staff’ or ‘practitioners’ to include professionals from the broader range of services to children.

2. Overview of Curriculum for Excellence
Why does Scotland need
Curriculum for Excellence?
What is
Curriculum for Excellence?
How did we reach
this point?
Look across
and within
curriculum areas
Next steps?

3. Overview of Curriculum for Excellence
Why does Scotland need
Curriculum for Excellence?
What is
Curriculum for Excellence?
How did we reach
this point?
Next steps?

4. Curriculum for Excellence?
Why does Scotland need
Curriculum for Excellence?
Future economy and
society: each individual
needs the skills and
attributes for life, work
and learning
To ensure the highest
standards of attainment
and achievement

5. Overview of Curriculum for Excellence
Why does Scotland need
Curriculum for Excellence?
What is
Curriculum for Excellence?
How did we reach
this point?
Look across
and within
curriculum areas
Next steps?

6. The aim is to develop these four capacities in all learners.

7. Entitlements A coherent curriculum from 3 to 18
A broad general education from age 3 to the end of S3 or equivalent
A senior phase: opportunities for qualifications and other planned opportunities to develop the four capacities
Learning through the experiences and outcomes across all curriculum areas
- Breadth achieved through learning across all the experiences and outcomes in the eight curriculum areas up to the third curriculum level
- Most learners will progress towards fourth level in chosen areas at appropriate points during S1 to S3
Opportunities to develop skills for learning, skills for life and skills for work, literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing
The best personal support to allow high levels of achievement
Opportunities and support to move into positive and sustained destinations post school
What will be new is the concept of laying out a set of entitlements for all children and young people which they can expect to benefit from.
We have spoken about the concept of coherence from 3 to 18.
What is innovative and what will require further discussion is the concept of a broad general education from age 3 to the end of S3 (about age 15). A broad general education will include all the experiences and outcomes across all the curriculum areas up to the third level.
The document describes this as an education which provides every child and young person with: literacy and numeracy; skills for learning, skills for life and skills for work; learning across a broad curriculum covering science, language, mathematics, social studies (including Scottish history), expressive arts, health and wellbeing, religious and moral education and technologies; an emphasis throughout this broad curriculum on Scottish contexts, history and culture and Scotland’s place in the world; learning available in a range of ways including interdisciplinary projects and a range of opportunities to ensure a broad approach.
Secondary schools are familiar with the concept of a senior school which is focused on qualifications and other personal development opportunities but ‘the senior phase’ in Building the Curriculum 3 will require fresh thinking.

8. all that we plan for children and young people’s learning
The curriculum:
all that we plan for children and young people’s learning
Values:
wisdom, justice,
compassion, integrity
Effective teaching
and active,
sustained learning
Entitlements
Experiences
and outcomes
from early to fourth levels
in eight curriculum areas
The next slide shows entitlements in detail.
Alignment of
assessment, qualifications
self-evaluation and
accountability,
professional development
with purposes
Personal support
for learning
through choices and changes
into positive and sustained
destinations
Principles:
challenge and enjoyment
breadth, progression, depth
personalisation and choice
coherence, relevance

9. The curriculum framework: what are the experiences and outcomes for?
They describe national expectations for learning from the early years to the end of S3 (age 3-15).
Together, they embody the attributes and capabilities of the four capacities.
They apply to the totality of experiences which are planned for during a child’s education.
All the experiences and outcomes to the third level and those selected for study at the fourth make up the broad general education to which all children are entitled.
By exploring the entire set of experiences and outcomes, staff will be able to see the curriculum from the early years to the end of S3 as a whole. Those who teach a particular stage will be able to see where their contribution to a child’s learning and development sits in the span of progression. Secondary teachers will also see where they can make contributions to experiences and outcomes from more than one curriculum area. Staff can then plan, with colleagues, their contributions to each learner’s education and also support learners in making connections in their learning. By doing this successfully, they will ensure that each learner experiences a coherent curriculum, achieves the highest possible standards and is prepared to move successfully into the senior phase and a positive and sustained destination.
The title ‘experiences and outcomes’ recognises the importance of the quality and nature of the learning experience in developing attributes and capabilities and in achieving active engagement, motivation and depth of learning. An outcome represents what is to be achieved. Taken as whole, the experiences and outcomes embody the attributes and capabilities of the four capacities.
They apply to the totality of experiences which are planned for children and young people, including the ethos and life of the school and interdisciplinary studies as well as learning within the curriculum areas and subjects. This means that they apply beyond timetabled classes and into, for example, enterprise and health activities and special events. The exceptions to this statement are where specific sets of experiences and outcomes are specialised: Gàidhlig, Gaelic (learners) and classical languages and religious education in Roman Catholic schools.
Building the Curriculum 3 – A framework for learning and teaching explains that each child and young person is entitled to experience a broad general education. The broad general education takes place from the early years to the end of S3 and is represented by learning across all of the experiences and outcomes to the third curriculum level together with those selected for the study at the fourth, as far as is consistent with each child or young person’s needs.

10. How is the guidance structured?
The curriculum areas
Health and wellbeing across learning
Literacy across learning
Numeracy across learning
Expressive arts
Health and wellbeing
Languages:
Literacy and English
Literacy and Gàidhlig
Modern languages
Gaelic (learners)
Classical languages
Mathematics
The guidance is structured under the heading of the curriculum areas. Some curriculum areas, for example language, include more than one set of experiences and outcomes. The guidance also includes separate sections for literacy, numeracy and aspects of health and wellbeing, which are the responsibility of all staff. The framework is less detailed and prescriptive than previous curriculum advice. It provides professional space for teachers and other staff to use in order to meet the varied needs of all children and young people.
Religious and moral education
Religious education in Roman Catholic schools
Sciences
Social studies
Technologies

11. What does the guidance include?
Principles and practice section for each curriculum area
Experiences and outcomes for each curriculum area to the third level and those selected for study at the fourth
The broad general education to which all children are entitled from pre-school to S3*
*The exceptions to this statement are where specific sets of experiences and outcomes are specialised: Gàidhlig, Gaelic (learners) and classical languages and religious education in Roman Catholic schools.
These are available for all curriculum areas in the same broad format.

12. How are the experiences and outcomes structured?
Principles and practice sections: essential information
Introductory statements
Presented across early, first, second, third and fourth levels to indicate progression
Organised into lines of development
Some explanations
The principles and practice sections are essential reading for staff as they begin and then develop their work with the experiences and outcomes. They describe, for example, the purposes of learning within the curriculum area, how the experiences and outcomes are organised, features of effective learning and teaching, broad features of assessment, and connections with other areas of the curriculum.
The introductory statements within the frameworks and experiences and outcomes provide broad aims of learning within the curriculum area and act as reference points for planning from the early to the fourth levels.
The statements of the experiences and outcomes themselves describe national expectations of learning and progression from the early to the fourth curriculum level, during the period from the early years to the end of S3. They do not have ceilings, to enable staff to extend the development of skills, attributes, knowledge and understanding into more challenging areas and higher levels of performance.
In most areas of the curriculum there is an appendix which provides brief explanations to help readers as they interpret the statements.
The experiences and outcomes are set out in lines of development which describe progress in learning. Progression is indicated through curriculum levels, which are explained in the table in the next slide.

13. How can you see progression in the structure of the curriculum framework?
Curriculum levels describe progression and development. There is a dotted line between the third and fourth level to demonstrate the close relationship and likely overlap between the two levels. Fourth level will provide the depth of experience based on prior learning from the third level.
Note: Some statements cross more than one level.
These describe learning which needs to be revisited, applied in new contexts and deepened over a more extended period. In all of these cases, effective planning is needed to ensure that each learner is continuing to make progress.
Note: Some statements are shown in in italics.
All staff have a responsibility to continue these. They include particular experiences and outcomes within health and wellbeing and all of those for literacy and numeracy. A further group of experiences and outcomes, relating to the use of information and communications technology to enhance learning, are to be found within the technologies framework.
Note: Some statements are shown in lighter text.
These are experiences and outcomes which are essential building blocks for a particular aspect of learning and development but which are found to be in a different curriculum area. To keep the frameworks as simple as possible these have been kept to a minimum.
Note: Sometimes there are fewer statements at third level than in second and fourth.
This happens because of the particular significance of the third levels as part of the entitlement for all young people. They represent a drawing together of a number of aspects of learning within that curriculum area.

14. Line of development code
What do the ‘codes’ mean?
LIT 1-01a
Curriculum area code
LIT – literacy
Level code
Line of development code
Code denoting number of outcomes within line of development at that level
The example LIT 1-01a represents a literacy outcome at first level. 01 denotes that this outcomes appears on the first line of the framework. If an outcome was labelled LIT 2-14a, then this would be a second level outcome on the fourteenth line down. The small ‘a’ shows the relationship between this outcome and others within the same line. In the English and literacy frameworks, only the early level occasionally has additional outcomes and experiences within the same line. When this happens, the early outcomes would be labelled LIT 0-01a, LIT 0-01b, LIT 0-01c
The codes are purely for ease of reference

15. The experiences and outcomes: how did we move from the drafts to the published versions?
1475 questionnaires
937 from groups
241 trialling reports
University
of Glasgow
analysis
20 focus groups
2012 other submissions
Plans to address issues raised:
edit - explain - exemplify - CPD
This slide illustrates the very wide range of activities and teacher involvement in the process of developing the final guidance for publication. Key partners, specialist groups and stakeholders had an opportunity to engage. In addition to the 20 focus groups, held by University of Glasgow, a further 17 focus groups for key stakeholders were organised by e.g. LTS.
Further consultation with teachers and others
Published version

16. What happened in response to feedback?
Editing and sometimes restructuring of the sets of experiences and outcomes
Provision of further explanations where needed
Plans for exemplification of how the experiences and outcomes can work in practice – this will be published over the coming months
Specific technical and other points addressed
Actions fell into four categories: editing (changing the wording of the experiences and outcomes); further explanation (through the principles and practice sections or through short notes in the appendices to many of the sets of experiences and outcomes); exemplification (further material which teachers asked for to clarify how the outcome might be turned into practice or to demonstrate expected standards – this material will follow through a development programme which will take place over the coming months); and CPD (priority professional development identified or continuing professional development identified).
The detail of what has changed can be found in the sets of slides for each curriculum area.

17. Next steps? Teachers can usefully:
look across the entire set to see where their contributions will be
understand their responsibilities within health and wellbeing; literacy; numeracy
familiarise themselves with the framework which relates to a particular stage/subject.
Teachers will find it useful to:
scan across the whole set of guidance
look at specialist areas
look at the responsibility of all
work with other colleagues, including partner organisations, to share knowledge, see connections, develop creativity and imagination.
The detail of what has changed can be found in the sets of slides for each curriculum area.

18. Now find out about a particular
curriculum area.
Each curriculum area has its own set of slides with some reflective questions to assist with engagement. Go to the Getting started slides in the curriculum area.