IT has been more than a decade since the introduction of Curriculum for Excellence (CfE), a curriculum spanning ages 3-18, which aimed to better prepare children and young people for the workplace and citizenship in 21st century Scotland. The curriculum has been widely praised worldwide, but its implementation has been controversial in Scotland.
New research at the University of Stirling, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, explored how the curriculum is made and experienced by young people and teachers in secondary schools across Scotland. It has also examined the effects of CfE on schools and students.
The results are sobering. We found evidence of curriculum narrowing: a reduction in the number of National 5 qualifications taken by S4 pupils in comparison to the number of Standard grade qualifications taken in the past, notably in Social Subjects, Expressive Arts, and Modern Languages. We also saw significant differences in subject selection between schools and year groups. One of the starkest findings was that this narrowing of choice was stronger in areas of social and economic disadvantage.
What does this mean for Scotland’s young people? Put simply, curriculum narrowing has a detrimental effect on young people’s outcomes. And this exacerbates existing disparities in educational opportunities.
