Teachers - A Curriculum for Excellence

The purposes of the curriculum 3-18

The purpose of the curriculum for excellence programme is to improve the learning, attainment and achievement of children and young people in Scotland. It is also about ensuring that pupils achieve on a broad front, not just in terms of examinations. It is important to ensure that children and young people are acquiring the full range of skills and abilities relevant to growing, living and working in the contemporary world. Curriculum for Excellence aims to ensure that they will enjoy greater choice and opportunity to help realise their individual talents.

Since its inception, the aspiration for the development of the Curriculum for Excellence has been to enable all children and young people to become successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors to society and at work. 
The purposes of the curriculum are to provide the structure and support in learning which will enable them to develop these four capacities.

PlaceBook Scotland is supported by Learning and Teaching Scotland.

Placebook Scotland and the Curriculum for Excellence

Placebook Scotland is a project to focus attention on people’s appreciation of their sense of place. PlaceBook Scotland will celebrate the relationship between the people of Scotland and places that mean something to them. It is about capturing the unusual, distinctive quality of a place in a creative way through film, photographs, music and writing. It is about people of all ages telling their feelings and views of their local places. This can be uploaded online, and shared with others around the world on this site and will become an important record of what we think and feel about Scotland’s places. Children and young people’s views are vital to this project and it offers exciting opportunities to contribute to learning and the Curriculum for Excellence.

Principles for curriculum design

Challenge and enjoyment

Children should find their learning challenging, engaging and motivating. Through Placebook Scotland, learners of all aptitudes and abilities will experience an appropriate level of challenge. They will be active in their learning and have opportunities to develop and demonstrate their creativity, through writing, art, photography, music or film.

Breadth

All children should have opportunities for a broad, suitably weighted range of experiences. Through this project, Placebook Scotland offers a new context for learning. Children will not only be learning within the classroom, but they will be bringing their stories and experiences from outside to the classroom and then to a wider context, on the internet and the wider community of Scotland.

Progression

Children and young people should experience continuous progression in their learning from 3 to 18. Placebook Scotland offers opportunities for 3 to 18 and up to a professional level. Children can contribute to the site at a rate which meets their needs and aptitudes.

Depth

There should be opportunities for children to develop their full capacity for different types of thinking and learning. Placebook Scotland offers opportunities for developing and applying increasing intellectual rigour, through exploring the site and learning about other schools places; viewing other school groups uploads; learning about the geography and history of new places that other children feel are important.

Personalisation and choice

The curriculum should respond to individual needs and support particular aptitudes and talents. Placebook Scotland encourages the young person to feel their views and thoughts are important, which leads to increasing self worth and ability to make informed choices.

Coherence

Taken as a whole, children's learning activities should combine to form a coherent experience. Placebook Scotland offers opportunities to draw together different strands of learning in a coherent live project.

Relevance

Children should understand the purposes of their activities. They should see the value of what they are learning and its relevance to their lives, present and future. Placebook Scotland has a clear purpose to preserve landscapes for the future of Scotland and this project is asking children and young people for their views on what is important to them. This relevance will ensure interest in the project.

Placebook Scotland and the Curriculum areas

The curriculum areas are the organisers for setting out the experiences and outcomes. The curriculum areas that Placebook Scotland can contribute to learning are:

Sciences

Placebook Scotland contributes to learning of the environment by observing, exploring, investigating and recording.

Expressive arts

Through Placebook Scotland pupils can express themselves through writing, drawing, painting, photography and film. They can record the world outside and share that experience and enjoyment through creative and expressive presentation. They can contribute to other people’s enjoyment through this site. Seeing their work on a web site alongside professional artists, singers and photographers will open up the possibilities for pupils of future creative careers.

Social studies

It is important for children and young people to understand the place where they live and the heritage of their family and community. Through Placebook Scotland, children and young people will develop their understanding of the world by learning about other people and their values, in different times, places and circumstances, and how their environment has been shaped.

Technologies

Though being involved with Placebook Scotland children and young people will be learning through technologies. This enables pupils to gain the confidence and skills to embrace and use technologies now and in the future.

Health and wellbeing

Placebook Scotland offers children and young people opportunities to experience positive aspects of healthy living and activity for themselves. By becoming engaged in the world outside, through creativity, pupils will be more able to respond to developing the knowledge and understanding, skills, abilities and attitudes necessary for their physical, emotional and social wellbeing.

Cross Curricular Work

Placebook Scotland offers opportunities for working across the curriculum. The areas covered include the subjects above and will also cover sustainable development, citizenship, links with the wider community and enterprise.