Just a bit about me to set my blog in context.
I have been involved in Scottish education for a long time, first as a Modern Studies teacher in the secondary sector and more recently as an Education for Citizenship Development Officer within a Developing Global Citizenship team at Learning and Teaching Scotland (LTS). LTS provides advice, support, resources and staff development to the education community, creating a culture of innovation, ambition and excellence throughout Scottish education.
In January this year I was awarded a travelling scholarship from the English Speaking Union in Scotland which is enabling me to spend the summer learning about curriculum development in other countries. It’s a great opportunity to take a break from working so closely within one system, having time to reflect and to learn about what’s going on elsewhere. I am passionate about education for citizenship (EfC) and our approach here in Scotland within the new curriculum gives educators lots of opportunities to engage with the key outcomes of EfC through a range of specified contexts. We think of children and young people as citizens of today, not citizens in waiting and as such there is an emphasis on ‘active’ citizenship.
In my proposal to the ESU I talked about being interested in the impact new curriculums are having on children and young people. Many national education systems are redefining the content of the curriculum and rethinking learning and teaching methodologies as consideration is give to how best to prepare young people for the challenges and uncertainties in a rapidly changing world. I am particularly interested in the notion of increased learner participation and voice which is explicit in many of these new developments.
One of the main reasons for choosing to visit Singapore and South Australia is that the two areas of curriculum development I’m going to be looking at have had plenty of time to become embedded. National Education in Singapore was launched in 1997 and Learning to Learn in South Australia has been in place since 1999. I’m interested as much in the content as well as the process and more imp0rtantly the possibility of learning lessons for Scotland as we embark on Curriculum for Excellence.
Hope you get into the Singapore schools.
I am really enjoying the blog, and last night explored all the links.
I was very interested by some of the approaches to education in Singapore. The government funding for visits and extra curricular activities, and that the pupils are then graded in these areas.
The targeted funding, with top down support for bottom up initiatives.
Finally, the traditional teaching and discipline combined with the holistic child based approach, whereas in the UK these two areas are mutually exclusive.
The last point really grabbed me, and is something that has been going on in my head for some time, but I didn’t realise this was happening in Singapore.
Thanks for your comments Dilys. I will be visiting schools this week so hope to get a better idea of how things work in the classrooms although I have already been warned that things will look different as the furniture has been rearranged to take into account social distancing because of the H1N1 virus so no group work, it will look very traditional I expect.