Teaching And Learning

Curriculum for Excellence

Curriculum for Excellence places learners at the heart of education. At its centre are four fundamental capacities. These capacities reflect and recognise the lifelong nature of education and learning. The four capacities are aimed at helping children and young people to become:

Successful learners
Confident individuals
Responsible citizens
Effective contributors

Curriculum

Curriculum is defined as the totality of all that is planned for children and young people from early learning and childcare, through school and beyond. That totality can be planned for and experienced by learners across :

Curriculum areas and subjects
Interdisciplinary learning
Ethos and life of the school
Opportunities for personal achievement

Curriculum areas

There are eight curriculum areas:

Expressive arts
Health and wellbeing
Languages (including English, French (P1-7) and Mandarin (P4-7))
Mathematics
Religious and moral education
Sciences
Social studies
Technologies.

Literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing are recognised as being particularly important – these areas are seen as being the ‘responsibility of all’ staff.

Our Curriculum Rationale

Curriculum Rationale summary (005)

Our Curriculum Rationale

Related links

Benchmarks – The Curriculum for Excellence Benchmarks set out clear statements about what learners need to know and be able to do to achieve a level across all curriculum areas.
Experiences and outcomes (often called Es+Os) are a set of clear and concise statements about children's learning and progression in each curriculum area. They are used to help plan learning and to assess progress.
Resources to support the Refreshed Curriculum for Excellence Narrative - These resources have been designed to support practitioners in engaging with the Refreshed Curriculum for Excellence Narrative, published on 9 September 2019.
Principles and practice - The principles and practice documents are essential reading for practitioners as they begin, and then develop, their work with the statements of experiences and outcomes.
Building the Curriculum - The 'Building the Curriculum' document series provides advice, guidance and policy for different aspects of Curriculum for Excellence including: the curriculum areas assessment; and developing skills for learning, life and work.
Minutes from the Curriculum and Assessment Board - The Curriculum and Assessment Board has been established to improve curriculum and assessment policy in education.