Curriculum For Excellence Essay

Every Child Matters 2003 consider the wellbeing of children and young people from birth to the age of 19. The law has five principles that provide a safe environment for children and young people while they are in care. The five outcomes ensure children’s and young people’s needs are met and have the support they need to be healthy: to be safe, to enjoy and achieve, make a positive contribution and achieve economic well-being. The law ensures that every child is mentally, emotionally and physically fit and obtaining the care that meets their needs. For example, in children’s residential home children will be encourage to eat a healthy balance diet. By providing a

The Common Assessment Framework 2009 aims to identify additional need and promotes information sharing and coordination of services. Working Together to Safeguard 2003 outlines legal requirements for safeguarding, promoting welfare, roles and responsibilities of professionals and working together to keep children safe. The Munro Review 2012 regards the rights, wishes and feelings to shape the provision of services. The Safeguarding and Welfare Requirements of the Statutory Framework for EYFS 2014 outlines responsibilities for childcare providers for children 0-5 years. Special Educational Needs and Disability Code 2014 provides guidance relating to promoting the welfare of children and young people with special educational needs and

In Scotland there is the Curriculum for Excellence which aims to achieve a transformation in education by providing a coherent, more flexible and enriched curriculum from 3 to 18.

The children act 1989 has influenced some settings by bringing together several sets of guidance and provided the foundation for many of the standards practitioners sustain and maintain when working with children. The act requires that settings work together in the best interests of the child and form partnerships with parents or carers. It requires settings to have appropriate adult to child ratios and policies and procedures on child protection. This act has had an influence in all areas of practice from planning a curriculum and record keeping. The every child matters framework has

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 the Comprehensive Curriculum Project (CCP) is to analyze the myriad of issues that have arisen over the last few years revolving around curricula and its use in the classroom, school, and district. With the 2010 state adoption of the Common Core, educators experienced many different transitional issues and developmental issues revolving around the curricula. In order to develop a deeper understanding of these issues it is important to conduct interviews, look at the Teacher Working Conditions survey, and to analyze local organizational models that might affect the transition to the new standards.

This influential piece of legislation arose from the Green Paper ‘Every Child Matters’ and identifies five outcomes for all children:

The safeguarding of children is a crucial part of the approach and is also a nationwide, inter-agency responsibility. It applies to every child, with a range of needs. Well-defined measures are constantly required to direct immediate action to guard children. The children and young people's bill will legalise and take forward the GIRFEC approach to supply children and young people with a ‘named person’, this will hopefully help to safeguard the child and support the family.

In recent times safeguarding of children has once again come under spotlight with cases such as Madline McKan and the horrific murders of Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells. Prior to this the Children’s act of 1984 and updated 2004 version highlighted that all professionals have an obligation to report suspected abuse. There was a public inquiry in 2000 to address the failure of the law which was not upholding the protection of vulnerable children. There was changes to the legislation and the government set up The Every Child Maters (ECM) initiative. This works in line with current legislation Working Together to Safeguard Children 2006 Act. This Act authorised guidance on how organisations and individuals should work together to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people in accordance with the Children Act 1989 and the Children Act 2004. All organisations must have the succeeding policies and procedures:

I teach in an eighth grade classroom that is set in a Jr-Sr. High school. It is located in the Jr. High hallway, near the rear of our high school. I have thirty-two student desks situated in rows and two small tables at the front of my room used for paper pick up. I painted my room a turquoise beach blue and it is decorated with various beach themed paraphernalia. I also have many inspirational quote posters up around my room, hoping to engage my students into deeper thinking. The students all have their own Chromebooks and I have a desktop computer as well as a Samsung Tablet. Many computer applications suited for 1:1 schools are used in our building. We begin our day at 7:40am with a zero period for professional development and meetings. The students have seven, forty-five minute periods beginning at 8:20am and continuing until 3:15pm. My classes include four “regular” English classes, one “Honors” class, an Essential Skills class that rotates every week with two other teachers, and a prep period. My duties throughout the year consist of sponsoring the Jr. High Student Council as well as parking lot duty for two weeks during second semester. We adhere closely to the Indiana State Standards and use the ISTEP and NWEA mandated assessments. We, as teachers, are given free rein to teach how we see fit; however, we were asked to submit curriculum mapping outlining the content/topics, key terms, sources/resources, assessments

Education Scotland, the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) and the Scottish Government designed the Curriculum for Excellence to offer flexibility, appeal to young digital learners and enrich Scotland’s education system (Education Scotland, 2015b). CfE offers an up-to-date, progressive and “coherent curriculum” to motivate and engage pupils allowing them to reach their full potential (Education Scotland, 2013). Due to an evolving digital world, technology has become culturally relevant for our digital young learners, and it is necessary to incorporate technology into education in order for pupils to successfully engage with the curriculum, to enrich learning and also transform teaching in order to achieve an inclusive education. As Jalasvirta (2010) states, we reside in a technological ubiquitous world so it is imperative include technology in education. Education Scotland (online) state that pupils are more engaged and interested when curricular content are supported with technology and visual aids. To promote the use of technology in schools, information and investment on resources is made available for practitioners to avail of, to enhance learning and teaching (Wesley, Krockover & Hicks, 2008). The Scottish Curriculum for Excellence has a section dedicated to allow for flexibility and creativity in the use of technology to enhance pupil’s learning in the geography experiences and outcomes and developing attributes and

Students are expected to become well educated, self-thinking, and creative citizens. When teachers are expected to teach to a state guided curriculum students are limited to the standards and content of knowledge. Students are all given the same multiple choice test, on the same day, at the same time. Students are not given a chance to show their depth of knowledge.

The Children’s Act 2004 – provides the legal basis for how social service and other agencies deal with issues relating to children. It arose from the Green Paper “Every Child Matters” and identifies the following outcomes for all children:

[The body of your paper uses a half-inch first line indent and is double-spaced. APA style provides for up to five heading levels, shown in the paragraphs that follow. Note that the word Introduction should not be used as an initial heading, as it’s assumed that your paper begins with an introduction.]

According to Floyd, Mimms and Yelding (2008) Webster’s Dictionary defines health as “the condition of being sound in body, mind and spirit… freedom from physical disease or pain.” This definition has very much taken the holistic view. Wellbeing is a term in which reflects on the positive emphasis on health and can be broken down into six aspects know as environmental, physical, social, emotional, mental and spiritual. To achieve a high balance of wellbeing it is vital that a person is able to balance and take care of each aspect effectively. Underdown (2007) implies that in 1948 the World Health Organization (WHO) defines health as ‘a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not just the absence of disease or infirmity.’ This definition took a holistic view as it mentions mental and social wellbeing and it was supported as it focused on a person being healthy rather than not being ill. However, this definition has been widely criticized. Seedhouse (1986) believed that for someone to be in perfect state of health is unachievable and unrealistic.