The Curriculum for Excellence

I am Edinburgh born and bred and trained there as a teacher. As such I am always interested in what's happening in Scottish education. I was excited to learn that Scotland was changing its curriculum but not surprised as I remember a lecture when I was at Moray House about the similarities between the education systems in Scotland, New Zealand and Canada and then I ended up teaching in NZ! The Curriculum for Excellence (www.curriculumforexcellencescotland.gov.uk) has been a very interesting read. I am impressed by the values: wisdom, justice, compassion, integrity which I can relate to strongly in my own teaching; principles of curriculum design: challenge and enjoyment, breadth, progression, depth, personalisation and choice, coherence and relevance and the 4 capacities: successful learners, confident individuals, effective contributors and responsible citizens. I have been really excited to learn that after many years of National Testing in Edinburgh schools these tests are being abandonned at the end of this school year as the idea behind this form of testing contadicts the Curriculum for Excellence. This is so interesting to me as the issue of the introduction of National Satndards in NZ continues to be so fiercely debated by NZ educators.