1. Thematic inter-disciplinary planning & A Curriculum for Excellence Western Isles February 2007: Workshop session

2. “Here is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now, 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

3. ACfE Principles Challenge & enjoyment Breadth Progression Depth Personalisation & Choice Coherence Relevance

4. Aims of the ACfE programme Focus classroom practice upon the child and around the 4 purposes of education : (successful learners; confident individuals; responsible citizenship; effective contributors) Simplify and prioritise the current curriculum Encourage more learning through experiences Create a single framework for the curriculum and assessment

5. Proposals: looking at the curriculum differently Single framework 3-18 Promote learning across a wide range of contexts and well planned experiences More than curriculum areas and subjects, also –Ethos and life of the school –Interdisciplinary projects and studies –Opportunities for personal achievement Equip young people with high level of literacy and numeracy skills, health & wellbeing, enterprising approaches, citizenship, skills for life & work

6. Cross-cutting Themes A Curriculum for Excellence offers a way of unifying the curriculum through themes such as enterprise, citizenship, sustainable development, health and creativity. Often seen as add-ons, these can be built into the curriculum framework.

7. “The curriculum areas should provide a basis for learning and the development of skills across a broad range of contexts. They offer opportunities for citizenship, sustainable development, enterprise, creativity and cultural aspects. ….. It will be open to schools to organise the outcomes and experiences differently (for example by designing challenging interdisciplinary projects), …to plan for progression, breadth and depth of learning.” p15, Progress and Proposals 2006

8. Interdisciplinary projects and studies “The curriculum needs to include space for learning beyond subject boundaries, so that learners can make connections between different areas of learning. ….. To be successful, these activities need to be well planned with a clear purpose and outcomes in mind.” (Progress and Proposals 2006)

9. Making Choices in learning “The proposed changes to the structure of the curriculum give us an opportunity to look differently at choices in learning at all stages. … We would like to work with schools to explore possibilities for different approaches to personalisation and choice...e.g., whether it would be desirable and possible for choices to take place over a more extended period across S1-S3, ….approaches to subject choice which are not based on the current modal structure..” p15-16, Progress and Proposals 2006

10. Learning Outcomes & Experiences The work of commissioned writers Links to values, purposes & principles Links across curricular areas Links to cross-cutting themes

11. Around the Country Citizenship conferences highlighted many examples of excellent practice through workshop presentations (keep in touch through LTS Education for Citizenship website) Interdisciplinary topics in secondary (eg Trinity Academy, Edinburgh, Africa Week) Different Languages One Spirit and Roads to Equality (Shawlands Academy Global Citizenship) Responsible Travel (St Aiden’s HS Wishaw)-English Language module but with opportunities for geography, environmental and enterprise education Anderson High School, Lerwick

12. Nursery Learning through Play from nursery into primary Developing the potential of the outside play area to develop understanding of the environment Health promotion in the nursery (General consensus is that the nursery experience promotes the V/P/Ps of ACfE anyway & it is how we can capitalise on this method of learning in primary & secondary that is important)

13. Collaborative Working Opportunities for collaborative planning Enhanced transitions result Teaching methodologies reviewed De-cluttering the curriculum through an interdisciplinary project

14. Examples from WL Secondary Schools Quality in Learning: integrating co-operative learning, critical skills programme & AifL to develop the 4 capacities of ACfE across the curriculum Core skill development across the curriculum Improving curricular choice (Skills for Work courses) Developing confidence through drama approaches across the curriculum Values and S3 Boys (an experiment in Physics)

15. Recognition of Achievement How do we recognise broader skills and achievements more explicitly? Robust, convincing and highly valued Must not become a new bureaucratic burden for schools

16. Make time of opportunity for teachers and other educators to: Shape the curriculum of the future Think and act creatively in their own setting Be part of the solution to the issues raised in the development of ACfE

17. Challenges Management of change Varying levels of awareness Understanding of purposes and principles Readiness of staff to interpret and use simplified guidance Focus on literacy and numeracy Cross-curricular issues Staff focus on external accountability and qualifications Nature of CPD

18. A Curriculum for Excellence 2007