Curriculum for Excellence: A Guide for Teachers & Parents
A clear, jargon-free guide to Scotland's Curriculum for Excellence — the five levels, eight curriculum areas, CfE Experiences & Outcomes, SNSA assessments, and how it differs from the English National Curriculum.
Preview
Page count: 2. Print-ready PDF — letter / A4 friendly. Click image to see all pages.
CfE structure — the key terms
- 1 Five levels Early (Nursery–P1) → First (P2–P4) → Second (P5–P7) → Third/Fourth (S1–S3) → Senior Phase (S4–S6). Children progress at their own pace — some move faster through levels.
- 2 Eight curriculum areas Expressive Arts; Health and Wellbeing; Languages; Mathematics; Religious and Moral Education; Sciences; Social Studies; Technologies. Plus Gaelic for Gaelic Medium schools.
- 3 Experiences and Outcomes (Es&Os) The specific statements describing what children should learn. Written as 'I can...', 'I have...' statements. Teachers use these to plan and assess.
- 4 Broad General Education (BGE) The curriculum from Nursery to S3 — designed to give all pupils a broad foundation before specialisation. The BGE is CfE's most distinctive feature.
- 5 SNSA (Scottish National Standardised Assessments) Taken in P1, P4, and P7. Online, marked automatically, no pass mark. Diagnostic — to support teacher judgement, not to rank schools.
- 6 HMIE / Education Scotland Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education — Scotland's school inspection body. Equivalent of Ofsted in England but generally considered less adversarial in approach.
Learning objective
Understand the structure of Curriculum for Excellence; explain the five levels and eight curriculum areas; and know how Scottish assessment (SNSA) differs from SATs.
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