INCA Education around the world
Scotland : Appendix
5-14 Programme for Curriculum and Assessment
The curriculum in Scottish primary education is not determined by statue or regulation but by advice provided by the Scottish Government in non-statutory guidance. Prior to the 'Curriculum for Excellence' as described in the mainstream curriculum chapter, guidance was provided in the suite of publications known as the '5-14 programme for curriculum and assessment'. Details of that previous provision is provided below.
The 5-14 programme for curriculum and assessment covered the structure, content and assessment of the curriculum in primary schools and in the first two years of secondary education. 2
The aim of the 5-14 curriculum was to provide breadth, balance, coherence, continuity and progression. To achieve this, the curriculum was divided into a number of broad areas, set in an appropriate balance. Progression was measured by attainment of six levels based on an expectation of the performance of the majority of students at certain stages between 5 and 14 years of age. 18
The 5-14 curriculum was divided into five broad curricular areas: language, mathematics, environmental studies, expressive arts, and religious and moral education. For each curricular area there were broad attainment outcomes, each with a number of strands or aspects of learning that students experience (see 5.2.2. for further information). Most strands had, attached to them, attainment targets at five or six broad levels: A-E or A-F.18
Compulsory subjects
The curricular areas studied during primary education in Scotland were:
- Language (comprising the components English language and a modern foreign language).
- Mathematics.
- Environmental studies (comprising the components science, social subjects and technology).
- Expressive arts (comprising art and design, drama, music, and physical education).
- Religious and moral education (RME) with health education (HE) and personal and social development (PSD).2
All curriculum areas were further divided into specialist areas known as attainment outcomes. 18
Cross-curricular subjects
Cross-curricular aspects aimed to address important and developing contemporary issues and to prepare students for life in a society which is changing rapidly. They included:
Personal and social development Education for work and enterprise Education for citizenship The culture of Scotland Information and communication technology Health Education
These aspects were often addressed in contexts and topics already identified in programmes for the five curriculum areas. 18
Time allocation
The curriculum in Scotland is non-statutory and guidelines are produced which schools and education departments of local authorities are free to interpret and adapt to suit the particular circumstances of their school and community. As a result, schools may have varying numbers of actual hours spent teaching, different allocated teaching periods and different timetables for teaching all subjects and curricular areas. The 5-14 guidance material recommended minimum percentage allocations for broad curricular areas (see below). 17 The learning experiences contained within these minimum recommended time allocations (80 per cent in total for the 5-14 curriculum represented a basic entitlement for every student in Scottish primary education. The table below shows these percentages for the five main curriculum areas. 18
| Curriculum area | Minimum recommended time allocation |
| Language (including a foreign language from no later than P6) | 20 per cent |
| Mathematics | 15 per cent |
| Environmental studies (ES) | 15 per cent |
| Expressive arts | 15 per cent |
| Religious and moral education (RME) with personal and social development (PSD) and health education (HE) | 15 per cent |
The flexible use of the remaining 20 per cent of teaching time was based on the needs of students and the development priorities of the school and local authority. This was a local resource; any decisions about its use informed and derived from the school development planning process and, in particular, initiatives to raise standards of attainment and strategies for strengthening learning and teaching. 18
Formulation of curriculum
In the 5-14 curriculum, curricular areas usually comprised more than one component. Mathematics was the only area not made up of different components. Although, like the other curricular areas, it was further divided into specialist areas known as attainment outcomes. 18
The curricular areas and their components were:
- Language (comprising the components English language and a modern foreign language).
- Mathematics.
- Environmental studies (comprising the components science, social subjects and technology).
- Expressive arts (comprising art and design, drama, music, and physical education).
- Religious and moral education (RME) with health education (HE) and personal and social development (PSD).2
The table below shows how the different elements of the curriculum guidelines fitted together. People, events and societies of significance were a strand in the environmental studies curriculum area; the table below shows the route to this particular strand, highlighting the component and attainment outcome into which it fits. The cells which are not highlighted indicate the other options at a given level. 19
| Curriculum Area |
|
|
Environmental studies |
|
|
| Component | Science | Social subjects | Technology |
|
|
| Attainment outcome | People in the past | People and place | People in society | Skills in social science | |
| Strand | People, events and societies of significance | Change and continuity | Time and historical sequence | Nature of historical evidence | |
| Attainment target | A, B, C, D, E, F | ||||
Key skills
There were core skills in the 5-14 curriculum which were those skills required by all children in their daily lives and which provide a strong foundation for citizenship, employment and lifelong learning. It was the responsibility of all teachers at each stage of education to promote such transferable skills which encouraged young people to be lifelong learners, confident in their abilities to develop and use skills and knowledge in a range of contexts at different times of their lives. The core skills included:
- Personal and interpersonal skills, including working with others
- Language and communication skills
- Numeracy skills
- ICT skills
- Problem-solving skills
- Learning and thinking skills.2
All subjects and courses had a contribution to make to the development of such core skills. (The national certification process provided opportunities for students to have their achievements recognised in the specified core skills of problem solving, communication, numeracy, ICT, and working with others. This involved the accreditation of previously certificated attainment, underlining the importance given to the development of core skills throughout the stage.) 18
