Context

2. Context • Government carried out extensive research • Asked parents what they know and want to know • Main concern was: ‘What’s happening to my child?’ • Plea: ‘I want to hear about Curriculum for Excellence from the professional who knows my child’ • Local context: ‘I want to hear how my child’s school is implementing it’ • Toolkit of information produced as support for staff • Equips practitioners to talk to parents • Developed in consultation with practitioners and parents

3. Curriculum for Excellence • Raising standards • Improving knowledge • Developing skills

4. A coffee cup

5. A kite

6. A basketball

7. A cup of coffee, a kite, a basketball All familiar objects

8. Look again There are opportunities for learning all around us in everyday life. Parents can have fun with this too. That’s bringing life to learning and learning to life.

12. The challenge Equipping our children with the knowledge and skills we believe they will need • to succeed in a future we don’t yet know • to secure jobs yet to be invented • to build self-esteem and resilience • to harness knowledge yet to be discovered.

13. What’s the aim? Curriculum for Excellence: the three pillars • Raising standards • Improving knowledge • Developing skills …Bringing life to learning and learning to life

14. Why change? • Preparing young people for an ever changing world • Nurturing them to be: – successful learners – confident individuals – responsible citizens – effective contributors • Build on Scotland’s reputation for having a great education system

15. What’s different? • A planned ‘learning journey’ from 3 to 18 • Improved learning and teaching • New qualifications More rigorous assessment Provides skills for learning, life and work Learning more relevant to the modern world

16. The curriculum • Broad and deep education • General education till the end of S3, then options • Covers expressive arts, health and wellbeing, languages, mathematics, religious and moral education, sciences, social studies, technologies All staff have responsibility for: – literacy – numeracy – health and wellbeing

17. How does it work? • Broad guidance • National standards and resources • Putting trust in the professionals Sharing best practice across the profession Unique ‘Glow’ network joins up the country

18. What will young people experience? • A broad and deep education Learning according to needs and interests Better engagement More able to apply knowledge Support for learning and with life’s challenges Easier transitions: between stages, beyond school Make useful links between subjects Active learning: questioning, doing, thinking Sense of progress through assessment Options in the senior phase Achievements outside school valued: whole picture

19. What parents can do Sharing, planning and learning! • Play, talk, read – visit www.infoscotland.com/playtalkread/ • Spend time together • Show interest, listen, share • Praise, encourage, support • Ask about their interests and challenges • Ask for help – visit www.infoscotland.com/justask • Talk to them about how they are feeling

20. What else can parents do? Drink coffee

21. What else can parents do? Fly a kite

22. What else can parents do? Play ball

23. Further information Parents can find out more www.parentzonescotland.gov.uk Teachers and other professionals: www.curriculumforexcellence.gov.uk The partners working to deliver Curriculum for Excellence are: Scottish Government www.scotland.gov.uk The government has responsibility for the national education system Learning and Teaching Scotland www.LTScotland.org.uk Develops the curriculum, provides information and guidance on learning and teaching Scottish Qualifications Authority www.sqa.gov.uk Develops, marks and manages the qualifications process HMIE www.hmie.gov.uk The inspectors who monitor the quality of education