A Curriculum for Excellence: a review of approaches to recognising wider achievement

The is the report of work undertaken by the Quality in Education Centre of the University of Strathclyde on behalf of Learning and Teaching Scotland into Recognising WiderAchievements of young people both in and out of school.Desk research and empirical research were undertaken in January and February 2007. This short timescale inevitably limited the extent of the work undertaken. The views ofstakeholders were sought through interviews and questionnaires. Definitions of wider achievement have been emerging in the UK since four key areaswere identified by the DfES (DfES, 1984). These were recognised in 'National Records of Achievement' and included recognition of achievement (exams and other activities), motivation and personal development, curriculum organisation, and a document of recordthat is 'recognised and valued'. Further policy development in the 1990s and into this century raised further issues including the range of activities and variation in types oflearning, equity of access to opportunities, and challenges of assessment

Continuing professional development of early years managers and practitioners working with children under 3 years of age: executive summary

The Faculty of Education at the University of Strathclyde was commissioned by Learning and Teaching Scotland to undertake research into the continuing professional development provision (CPD) for early years practitioners and managers across Scotland, specifically focusing on provision for thoseworking with children under 3 years of age. The aim of the research was to identify ways in which those working in early years centres might be better supported through effective CPD opportunities, designed to meet the needs ofchildren and their families. The research was carried out between April and September 2008

Physical education at preschools: practitioners’ and children’s engagements with physical activity and health discourses

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in British Journal of Sociology of Education on December 2013, available online: http://wwww.tandfonline.com/10.1080/01425692.2013.848780This paper focuses on one aspect of a qualitative study concerned with investigating the place and meaning of ‘physical education’ to practitioners and children at three preschools in Scotland. We examine the ways in which the participants engaged with discourses related to physical activity and health in order to construct their subjectivities. Fourteen practitioners and 70 children participated. Research methods employed were observations, interviews with adults, a group drawing and discussion activity with children, and interviews with children. Both the adults’ and children’s talk illustrated the dominance of neoliberal, healthism meanings which position individuals as responsible for their own health. While the children’s talk primarily centred on health as a corporeal notion, the practitioners tended to talk about physical activity and health in both corporeal terms and in relation to the self more holistically. The practitioners also talked about physical activity as a means of regulating children’s behaviour

From teaching physics to teaching children : beginning teachers learning from pupils

This paper discusses the development of beginning physics teachers' pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) in the context of teaching basic electricity during a one-year Professional Graduate Diploma in Education course (PGDE) and beyond. This longitudinal study used repeated semi-structured interviews over a period of four-and-a-half years. The interview schedule followed a line of development through the secondary school electrical syllabus in Scotland. Fifteen student teachers were interviewed during the PGDE year. Six of them were followed up at the end of the Induction Year (their first year as a newly qualified teacher), and again two-and-a-half years later. Thematic analysis of the interviews showed that before the beginning teachers had taught any classes, their initial focus was on how to transform their own subject matter knowledge (SMK) about electricity into forms that were accessible to pupils. As the beginning teachers gained experience working with classes, they gave vivid descriptions of interacting with particular pupils when teaching electricity which showed the development of their pedagogical knowledge. This played a significant role in the teachers' change of focus from teaching physics to teaching children as they transformed their SMK into forms that were accessible to pupils and developed their general pedagogical knowledge

Experiences and Outcomes of Preschool Physical Education: an analysis of developmental discourses in Scottish curricular documentation

This article provides an analysis of developmental discourses underpinning preschool physical education in Scotland's Curriculum for Excellence. Implementing a post-structural perspective, the article examines the preschool experiences and outcomes related to physical education as presented in the Curriculum for Excellence ‘health and wellbeing’ documentation. The article interrogates the ways in which developmental discourses are evident throughout this and related documentation and how these discourses might ‘work’ to produce specific effects on practitioners and children as they are deployed and taken up in Scottish preschool education contexts. This analysis involves speculating about potential consequences for practitioners' and children's experiences and subjectivities. In conclusion, it is suggested that practitioners should critically engage with the curriculum, as uncritical acceptance of the discourses underpinning it could lead to practices that may have negative consequences. Furthermore, the article proposes that future research should investigate the ways in which the discourses privileged in the Curriculum for Excellence ‘health and wellbeing’ documentation are taken up and negotiated in Scottish preschool settings

'We don't learn democracy, we live it!' : consulting the pupil voice in Scottish schools

As the education for citizenship agenda continues to impact on schools, there is a need to begin the discussion around examining the kind of initiatives that can push it forward. In Scotland the proposals should, it is argued, permeate the curriculum throughout the school. Yet there is the fear that the responsibility of all can become the responsibility of none. This paper examines, through case study research carried out by the authors, initiatives in schools designed to take forward the citizenship agenda in the light of children's rights. The first two relate to firstly the impact of pupil councils in primary schools and secondly the impact of discussing controversial issues in the primary classroom. The third outlines the impact on values and dispositions of developing more participatory, democratic practice in the classroom. The paper concludes by calling for both more initiatives of this type and more evaluation of their worth

Challenging the 'New Professionalism': from managerialism to pedagogy?

In recent years there have been changes made to the conceptualisation of continuing professional development for teachers in both the Scottish and English systems of education. These changes have been instigated by successive UK governments (and more recently, by the Scottish Executive), together with the General teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) and the General Teaching Council for England (GTCE). This paper argues that these changes have not provided a clear rationale for CPD, but instead have introduced tensions between the concept of teacher education and that of training. The need for a less confused understanding of CPD and its purposes is underlined, as is the need for school based approaches to continuing teacher education. Arguably, teacher education must move from technicist emphases to a model which integrates the social processes of change within society and schools with the individual development and empowerment of teachers

Children, play and computers in pre-school education

The paper reports a study designed to inform the development of an information and communication technology strategy for the pre-school years of education. The main methods of collecting evidence were observations at seven pre-school settings and interviews with at least two practitioners and a number of children at each site. Practitioners generally referred to children “playing with the computer”. We describe some of the problems to be found in the emphasis on free play in nurseries and play groups when this means children are using computers as complete novices. There were few examples of peer support; adults rarely intervened or offered guidance and the most common form of intervention was reactive supervision. Interaction with a computer was therefore a limited experience for most children, but we provide examples of guided interaction that suggest a way forward for professional development

Guided interaction in pre-school settings

The aim of this study was to explore how guided interaction could create opportunities for learning with information and communication technologies (ICT) for children aged three and four. The study was grounded in the naturalistic environment of the playroom, in a context of free play and child-initiated activity, and focused on interventions selected and implemented by practitioners. Guided interaction describes the ways in which children’s interactions with computers and other forms of ICT can be actively supported in pre-school settings. The paper presents a framework that illustrates proximal and distal guided interaction and the modes by which they are enacted. The concept of guided interaction (i) provides a tool for thinking about the different modes by which learning can be supported in pre-school settings and (ii) helps practitioners to articulate, reflect on and legitimise changes in pedagogy, en-abling them to find new approaches to working with ICT. The paper provides an account of the analysis underpinning the development of the concept, followed by a description of its characteristics and the different types of learning that can be supported. An adapted version of this analytical framework has potential both as a research tool and to support changes in practice for professionals in other sectors of education