Conclusions of OECD review could lead to profound change for schools

THIS week sees the publication of the long-awaited OECD review of Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence (CFE). This review comes at a pivotal time, arriving as it does following the disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic

The OECD review presents, in my view, a much-needed opportunity to rethink the way we make the curriculum in our schools and colleges.

Critics have suggested that the OECD is not an impartial observer of Scottish education, and there may be some truth in this: CFE is closely aligned with the OECD ideology for curriculum, with its focus on learner-centredness; and the report is insufficiently critical of some of the design features of CFE, which have contributed to the curriculum becoming a bureaucratic box-ticking exercise for many schools.

A close reading of the report provides a more nuanced and critical picture. There are some far-reaching conclusions that, if taken seriously, will lead to profound changes to the curriculum, the governance of the system and the ways in which schools work. While the OECD praises many aspects of Scottish education, the report is highly critical in other respects. It presents a picture of a lack of a strategic vision for implementing the curriculum, over-complex specification, and a lack of coherence in policy messages.

This has served to make the implementation of CFE at best partial in many schools. The report makes many recommendations to address this situation, arguing that changes resulting from the review should take the form of a long-term, strategic approach.

The review suggests that Scotland needs not just a “refresh” of the message of CFE but a fundamental look at the way in which it is framed. This is presented as the need for a single framework document to replace the current smorgasbord of guidance from Education Scotland and other agencies. Such a framework would present a more coherent story about so-called 21stcentury knowledge.

The OECD advocates a much stronger alignment between the curriculum and senior phase qualifications – particularly a move away from exams towards more school-based, continuous assessment. The review calls for the creation of a single national agency to provide the expertise to steer curriculum reform, evaluate its impact on children and young people, and to keep the curriculum under constant review.

Finally, the review makes the case for better support for schools, including providing dedicated non-teaching time and resources for curriculum making by teachers and other practitioners. This is vital ; CFE is premised on the idea that it is developed locally by teachers and yet, to date, many teachers have lacked the time and space to make sense of complex new ideas and develop their practice from them. The OECD review has drawn some excellent conclusions and it is encouraging to see that the recommendations have been accepted in full by the Scottish Government.