SNP ministers urged to scrap Scotland's Curriculum for Excellence

SNP ministers have been urged to scrap Scotland's Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) in favour of a return to a "traditional knowledge-based curriculum".

Scottish Conservative education spokesman Oliver Mundell said the current approach is "an anchor that will keep dragging down school standards".

He said: "Teaching and learning should be the central focus of our schools and we must halt the drift towards our teachers doubling up as social workers and well-being experts."

The Tories announced the policy at their conference in Aberdeen.

The Conservatives want Scotland's Curriculum for Excellence scrapped

Mr Mundell said: "Scotland's education system used to rank among the best in the world before the SNP came to power.

"We should return to the strong, traditional, teacher-led approach that gave so many of us who went to our local school a decent start in life.

"Quality, knowledge-rich, universal education is at the heart of being Scottish. We pride ourselves on being a nation of innovators, entrepreneurs, and thinkers.

"We are at risk of losing all that if we keep sticking with the same distinctly un-Scottish approach that has seen our schools plummet down international league tables.

"We should return to Scotland's curriculum and ditch the SNP's Curriculum for Excellence.

"Curriculum for Excellence is now beyond saving. Over 20,000 pages of guidance haven't fixed it, they've only burdened it more and confused what it was supposed to achieve.

The OECD review has been set up to fail and will never get to the bottom of what is wrong with CfE.

"The current approach is an anchor that will keep dragging down school standards and artificially limiting opportunities for our young people.

"The knowledge-based, rigorous and confident curriculum we once had was much better than the fuzzy and often contradictory guidance that dominates now.

"Teaching and learning should be the central focus of our schools and we must halt the drift towards our teachers doubling up as social workers and well-being experts.

"This is often presented as kindness by the SNP but the truth is it is simply asking our schools to plug the gap for cuts elsewhere while educational attainment suffers as a result.

"We want to start a national conversation with teachers and education experts to design a replacement that would restore world-class Scottish education."

A Scottish Government spokesman said CfE “is the right approach for Scotland and it is viewed internationally as an inspiring example of curriculum practice”.

He added: “Throughout the pandemic it delivered credible results for our children and young people in the face of exceptional circumstances.”