Just one extra training day for new curriculum

A PLEDGE by Scotland's education secretary to allow teachers extra training to prepare for the new Curriculum for Excellence has been decried as "too little, too late".

• "Teachers are best placed to work with learners to improve outcomes" Mike Russell

The Scotsman has learned that Mike Russell sent a letter on Friday to every teacher in the country announcing the addition of an extra in-service day – a training day when pupils are kept home – in the summer term.

The offer is intended to prepare teachers for the much-criticised Curriculum for Excellence which will begin in August. But teaching unions have warned that one extra training day will not be enough to prepare them, and have called for greater investment in new resources such as textbooks.

A spokesman for the EIS teaching union said: "This, while welcome, is only a small step in the right direction, and much more still needs to be done to provide better support to schools and teachers as they work to deliver this ambitious programme of curricular improvement.

"In this time of diminishing budgets and falling teacher numbers, there is still a real need for proper funding and additional resources for schools if Curriculum for Excellence is to deliver on its promise."

Ann Ballinger, general-secretary of the Scottish Secondary Teachers' Association, echoed the sentiment, and added: "We need subject-specific advice. It is simply unacceptable to give a lesson which is all-singing, all-dancing because teachers have been doing that for years. What we need are concrete proposals."

Senior voices across the schools sector, including some of those responsible for its creation, have criticised the Curriculum for Excellence as vague and woolly.

In his letter, Mr Russell says: "I am committed to the principle that you, the practitioners, are best placed to make decisions about how to work with learners and their parents to improve learning outcomes. However, I am equally committed to ensuring that detailed arrangements, for example in relation to assessment and qualifications, will improve national standards and are workable."

Mr Russell reveals he has written to the curriculum's management board for a review on its progress and asserts a "great deal" of work is being done locally and nationally to support implementation of the new curriculum.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: "We have put in place an additional implementation year, brought in three extra teacher in-service days and agreed Curriculum for Excellence as a key shared commitment with local government, supported by increasing levels of funding for councils."