The CfE and Glow News e-update provides you with updates on Curriculum for Excellence and support for practitioners, along with all the latest developments within Glow.
In this issue...
- Curriculum for Excellence implementation priorities – June 2011-12
- Curriculum for Excellence – Overview of key terms and features
- Curriculum for Excellence and Community Learning and Development (CLD) – Improving Life Chances
- Recently published support materials for practitioners:
- Supporting multilingual approaches with children and families
- Hip-hop culture: a primary motivator
- Curriculum models: Senior phase
- Assessment and moderation
- Health and wellbeing: a cluster approach
- Clim-ATIC Media Project
- Books for All: improving accessibility to curricular materials for print disabled pupils
- SCQF Partnership launches toolkit for employers
- Glow national site refresh
- Read the latest Glow Cookbooks
Curriculum for Excellence implementation priorities – June 2011-12
A document and accompanying letter have been published presenting the key milestones in the Curriculum for Excellence implementation programme for 2011-12, the action required at local level to achieve these and the national support which will be available.
Curriculum for Excellence – Overview of key terms and features
This is a four-page factfile with a handy summary of the key features of Curriculum for Excellence and the main language and terms used to describe these. The document includes the four capacities; the seven principles of curriculum design; the eight curriculum areas; the experiences and outcomes; levels; entitlements, assessment and many other aspects of the Scottish 3-18 curriculum.
Curriculum for Excellence and Community Learning and Development (CLD) – Improving Life Chances
This leaflet from the Scottish Government explains how Curriculum for Excellence and Community Learning and Development services are working together to improve the life chances of all young people in Scotland.
Recently published support materials for practitioners:
Supporting multilingual approaches with children and families - Lamlash Nursery School has a high proportion of families who speak English as an additional language. Multilingual, multimedia resources have been developed to improve daily communication between staff, children and families.
Hip-hop culture: a primary motivator - The project initially developed out of the need to support and motivate a group of learners. Primary 7 can be a testing and challenging time for many young people. The dance project was an excellent vehicle to focus the learners in a positive way.
Curriculum models: Senior phase - Many schools are progressing with the development of detailed plans for delivery of the senior phase to those young people who started S1 in 2010/11. In practice, these plans will be introduced when they reach S4 in 2013/14. Two new models of the Senior Phase have been added to the Building your Curriculum pages – Hawick High School and All Saints RC Secondary School.
Assessment and moderation - This resource will help to develop practitioners’ understanding of moderation as a key feature of Building the Curriculum 5: A Framework for Assessment. It will benefit all staff involved in assessment and moderation - practitioners, school/centre managers, authority personnel and partner providers.
Health and wellbeing: a cluster approach - Several school clusters from across Scotland were supported in developing ways of delivering health and wellbeing (HWB) experiences and outcomes which promote effective partnership models. From the outset, clusters worked on planning with a range of partners in their learning community. They were encouraged to focus on a line of development from early to fourth level, within one of the six HWB organisers. The clusters explored the progression of knowledge and skills and planning for learning, teaching and assessment.
Clim-ATIC Media Project - This project took place within the Cairngorms National Park, an area with a unique natural and cultural heritage, where the impacts of anthropogenic climate change are becoming a reality. The project aimed to involve young people in exploring these impacts, identifying opportunities and considering adaptations to climate change through the medium of film. This was an interdisciplinary project that allowed pupils to make connections between their learning in school and the world outside.
Books for All: improving accessibility to curricular materials for print disabled pupils - Developing the four capacities is central to Curriculum for Excellence, and pupils who cannot access printed text readily experience a barrier to developing as independent learners, confident individuals, successful learners and effective contributors. The Books for All project has been focusing on raising awareness of the issues for pupils with a print disability.
The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework Partnership launches toolkit for employers
The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework Partnership (SCQFP) has launched an Employer Toolkit, to assist employers in understanding how the SCQF can be used as a tool to support effective recruitment, skills utilisation and workforce development. Created in partnership with Skills Development Scotland (SDS), the toolkit is a step-by-step guide for employers on how to make full use of the SCQF in HR and recruitment practices, including advice on how to write effective job descriptions and level them against the Framework. Further details are available from the SCQF Partnership team at info@scqf.org.uk
Glow national site refresh
With the new school term comes a new national site for Glow. It is clean and fresh and there are new resources and groups that users will enjoy. We wanted a site that featured links for all users, so we have taken away some of the links that were just for staff and they can now be found in the national staff area, instead.
Glow TV will be a huge part of what we do in the coming year, so the new site features prominent links to both the full schedule and a monthly calendar, as well as a link to the schools’ channel page that explains how schools can get involved.
Read more about this on the Glow Scotland blog.
Read the latest Glow Cookbooks:
Maths resources in Glow Learn – Part 1 - New maths content has been added to Glow in the form of Maths Alive games and Maths Alive videos. Suitable for both primary and secondary pupils, the content contains nearly 200 activities from first to fourth levels.
Glow Science captivates the imagination - This is the thinking of Katy Sowden, a teacher from Williamston Primary School in Livingston. Katy and pupils from her Primary 7 class were recently asked about the impact that Glow Science has had in their classroom. You can watch what they had to say in a video clip in this cookbook.
Spanish Resources in Glow Learn - New Spanish content has been added to Glow Learn in the form of Sonica Spanish activities, relevant for both primary and secondary pupils. There are approximately 150 activities, particularly suitable to second and third levels.
Sharing Instrumental Performance Videos at St Aidan’s High School - Alan Jenkins is a music teacher at St Aidan’s High School in North Lanarkshire who wanted to use Glow to share instrumental performance videos with his pupils. This Cookbook focuses on how Alan has started to make the instrumental performances available to St Aidan’s pupils and his tour takes you through what he has currently set up in the Glow Group.
Using a wiki as an evidence store for pupil e-portfolios - Maureen Atkins, a Maths teacher at St Aidan’s High School in North Lanarkshire, is involved in using e-portfolios with the S1 year group. Maureen was keen that evidence of pupil achievement that she had captured in the classroom would be available to be used by the pupils when creating posts in their e-portfolios. This Cookbook focuses on the Maths Store Glow Group and on the wiki.
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