SecEd The ONLY weekly voice for secondary education Inside this issue


Scottish Learning Festival 2010: Special preview


August 26 2010 Price £1.00 www.sec-ed.com


An in-depth look at what this year’s Scottish Learning Festival has to offer. With Curriculum for Excellence a core theme, the seminars and exhibition could prove invaluable Pages 4 to 7


Using ICT with autistic students


We visit Isobel Mair School to find out how they embed new technologies with autistic students Page 10


Young Human Rights Reporter of the Year


SecEd has teamed with Amnesty International to launch the Young Human Rights Reporter of the Year competition, open to S3, S4, S5 and S6 Page 15


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Mood of uncertainty over new curriculum


by Sam Phipps


Secondary pupils across Scotland officially embarked on a “Curriculum for Excellence” last week amid parental concerns over what it means for their children and union complaints over teachers’ hours and resources. Michael Russell, education


secretary, said the new curriculum would bring “fantastic” examples of “imaginative” teaching, but despite widespread support for the overhaul in principle, a mood of uncertainty has accompanied its introduction. Looming budget cuts are one


source of anxiety, with two major teaching unions threatening to take industrial action unless the chang- es are adequately funded over the coming months. Curriculum for Excellence has already been implemented at pri-


mary level but the process has been far more fraught at second- aries, where its broad goals and “flexibility” have caused confu- sion, not least over how new quali- fications will work. “The overall impression we


have got from parents is that the bulk of information that has come out on the new curriculum until very recently has been gobbledy- gook,” said Eileen Prior, execu- tive director of the Scottish Parent Teacher Council (SPTC). “If professionals in the educa-


tion world find it hard to under- stand, then parents have very little hope of doing so,” she told SecEd. The fact that curriculum, quali-


fications and the way teachers teach are all part of the change makes it hard to grasp the “catch-all” of Curriculum for Excellence in prac- tice, she said. However, there was still plenty of goodwill towards the new system.


“I wouldn’t say the overall reac-


tion is negative. It would be nonsense to say there was one parent view. It’s just very difficult to unpick it all and say what it means for your child. How will their development and per- formance be graded? How will their individual learning style be met?” The SPTC is also concerned


about the increased emphasis on parental involvement enshrined in the curriculum. “On the face of it, it’s a good thing. But we know a substantial portion of parents who do not or cannot get involved. Are those children going to be doubly disadvantaged?” Curriculum for Excellence


was set in motion several years ago by the former Labour/Liberal Democrat coalition but its succes- sor, the SNP, has enthusiastically developed it. “Teachers in secondary schools


around the country have made good progress and put in a lot of hard


work to make sure they are ready to put Curriculum for Excellence into practice this year,” Mr Russell said. “We have put in place a wide


range of support and resources. Now is the time to put it into action and seize the opportunity to deliver real improvements in our educa- tion system and ensure our young people have the skills they need for the future.” However, Anne Ballinger,


general secretary of the Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association, said teachers faced “burn-out” because they had to work so hard to develop classroom materials. “In order to deliver the new cur-


riculum, teachers will be required to work well in excess of their contracted hours. “Those kind of additional hours


cannot be sustained and we fear the impact will be that many staff will face exhaustion and burn-out, par- ticularly when many schools have


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cut support staff to the bone,” Ms Ballinger said. The country’s biggest teaching


union, the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS), again urged the Scottish government to delay the introduction of new exams, sched- uled for 2014. Ronnie Smith, EIS general


secretary, said: “For an initiative often described as the most radi- cal programme of change in our schools in a generation, Curriculum for Excellence has brought little dedicated funding and very few new resource materials for schools. “Many teachers have serious


concerns over the timetable for the introduction of these new qualifica- tions and the EIS continues to call for a delay in the introduction of these new exams until Curriculum for Excellence is better embedded in all schools and subject areas.” Both unions are planning to ballot for industrial action over workload.


SCOTTISH EDITION


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