Scottish Curriculum For Excellence Essay

ICT is a valuable tool for supporting the learning as it extends teaching and learning in many ways. It allows teaches and pupils to use visual and auditory media to extend learning and encourage pupils to become actively involved.

Early childhood education curriculums are becoming a national curriculum in most countries. With more governments and society thinking about education of under-fives we are seeing shifts in thinking and education to meet the changing world. We are developing children skills for the future to create a society where children feel they belong and can contribute to society. Curriculums are being influenced my social, political, cultural, historical and theoretical issues that are impacting different curriculums in the world. I am going to explore and develop my understanding about three different curriculums to recognise the different influences affecting curriculums. I am going to explore the curriculums of Te Whāriki: New Zealand, Belonging, Being and Becoming: The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia and Curriculum for Excellence: Scotland. This will allow me to develop an understanding of other curriculums which I have not heard about to discover other way to education that I have not been taught in teacher’s college.

The purpose of this report is to look closely at the EYFS and national curriculum to see what the aims for ICT are. ICT teaches children a new way to learn. In some cases it is believed that educators underestimate children's ability to learn using ICT resources. ICT could be anything from using a programme on the computer to playing an ABC game on a toy which includes visual learning. ‘Children need a variety of applications which encourage a range of development, including creativity, self-expression and language’.

Technology is a tool for developing children’s inquiry-based learning through research and evaluation of information, and its relevance or if it requires further investigation. The role of technology in the curriculum should be to build on prior knowledge, of ‘what we know about learning, communicating, creating knowledge and sharing it, remains valid in the face of connected digital technologies.’ Understanding this leads teacher to the best practices to support authentic, meaningful teaching and learning (McFarlane, 2015,

The Curriculum for Excellence describes eight curricular areas, three of which assign a responsibility to all teachers regardless of sector; namely Literacy, Numeracy, and Health and Wellbeing (HWB). Whereas some form of instruction in reading, writing and arithmetic has always been a feature of formal education, Health and Wellbeing is a relatively new addition to the school curriculum, both in Scotland and globally .

A change in Scotland’s national educational curriculum was first debated in 2002 to highlight the changes needed to be made in order to fully prepare Scotland’s youth for the world outside of school. The debate resulted in the first steps to creating Scotland’s new curriculum for excellence and it was first introduced into some schools in 2004 where it was an option to either carry on with the old 5-14 curriculum, or to switch to the new curriculum. It wasn’t until the 2010/11 school session that it was fully implemented into schools across Scotland. The Curriculum for Excellence’s aim is to “achieve a transformation in education in Scotland by providing a coherent, more flexible and enriched curriculum from 3 to 18.” (Education Scotland, N.D)

In today’s day and age, it is very easy to locate anyone, from ages 4-24, plugged into technology at any given moment. Although the increased usage of digital media and information had forever positively influenced our society, it is important to remember our foundation and to develop ourselves and the future generation with a different, more traditional perspective of life. Prior to deciding to convert a school’s curriculum to a more blended learning environment, realizing the possible detrimental factors that using technology to facilitate learning could cause is high significant.

Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) in schools has been acknowledge as the most significant change in teaching practice in many years (Reeves ????). At the heart of the CfE lies the desire to develop four capacities within pupils to give individuals the necessary skills for work, life and learning. Abertay University’s curriculum is undergoing change designed to develop “Abertay attributes” in their graduates. Central to both strategies is interdisciplinary learning alongside the contextualisation of lessons to increase levels of engagement, attainment and success. This paper will consider the parallels between CfE and the Abertay TL Strategy, the Scottish Governments policy on attainment and draw conclusions on the role and potential of contextualised learning through the Dundee Academy of Sport project.

Another important benefit of implementing technology in the classroom is it can help teachers create personalize instruction and make it easier to provide accommodations. It can be very difficult and time consuming to differentiate instruction for a classroom of students. The use of technology can make this a much more workable task. By using technology, the teacher can differentiate instruction with just a few swipes per student. It also gives the teacher more options to work with depending on student need. For example, if a student has trouble writing, they can use an iPad with voice adaptive software to answer questions or complete assignments. This eliminates the stress they may feel being forced to write during an assignment or test situation.

A stakeholder is someone or a group of people that have competing interests, different views and a particular interest in the Australian Curriculum. Hudson’s definition of a stakeholder is “a person or persons, a group, an organisation or a government body that has an interest in the content and/or the philosophical direction of the curriculum” (Hudson, 2013, p. 39). The greatest influence on the design and content of the school curriculum is not from parents or teachers but by businesses and governments. This is because businesses and governments are of a higher role which allows them to have the bigger and final say. Parents and teachers are also stakeholders of the design and content of the school curriculum, however they do not hold the power to have the greatest influence of the final outcome but their views and

My aim in this unit is to look at inclusive learning and teaching in lifelong learning and explore it in the context of teaching Information Technology. I will analyse and evaluate aspects, strategies and approaches to inclusive learning. I will explain how areas like resources, functional skills, feedback and assessment opportunities can help learners achieve their goals and beyond. Also, I will show how important the learning environment is towards motivating learners and promoting respect for others.

Education has found its way into the loop of technology. Teachers are using ipads and laptops during class time to help conduct experiments, or share a presentation. This is allowing the students to gain instant access to the information they are seeking. Students also receive the opportunity to complete their homework online and print off their assignments instead of just using paper and pencil. Another pro for Technology in Education, there are countless sources out there which help enhance learning. In one research conducted, they compared the performance of teaching kids how to read a clock. One group was coached by an online app, another was shown by a toy clock, and the last group was trained by a drawing example. The results revealed that the children that were taught by the toy and app exceeded the paper drawing group (Galetzka).

With the integration of technology, students get direct, individualized instruction from the computer. This form of supplemental teaching allows them to engage with the information at times that are most convenient for them and helps them become more self-directed in the learning process. It also gives the teacher more time to accomplish classroom objectives, while freeing them up to help the students who might be struggling with certain lessons.

The use of technology has the ability to allow teachers to teach the student, instead of teaching the grade level. Jon Bower, CEO of Lexia Learning Systems, points this fact out when he states,

The use of technology has the ability to allow teachers to teach the student, instead of teaching the grade level. Jon Bower, CEO of Lexia Learning Systems, points this fact out when he states,