WIREDGOV

Scotland's youngest pupils are to benefit from the new approach to learning and teaching being embedded in the nation's classrooms through materials being issued to every nursery, pre-school and primary from today.

Children's Minister Adam Ingram said the Curriculum for Excellence Supporting the Early Level DVD will ensure our earliest learners are at the centre the biggest reform of Scotland's education system for a generation.

Thousands of copies of the DVD - which promotes outdoor learning and aims to enable better continuity of learning by easing the transition between pre-school and primary - will be issued this week.

Mr Ingram, who launched the materials at an Edinburgh nursery today, said:

"The early years of a child's life are when they are most receptive to experiences and stimulation, rapidly absorbing information and making huge strides in their development all the time. That's why this government is driving forward with an unprecedented focus on our youngest children and we are continuing that approach with Curriculum for Excellence.

"By ensuring children become familiar with this new approach to learning and teaching at the first opportunity we can engage them and challenge them early on, while ensuring an easy transition to primary school when the time comes.

"Curriculum for Excellence is promoting active teaching and learning which meets the needs of young people and prepares them for life in a modern, dynamic world. This new DVD - going out to every nursery, pre-school and primary - will mean that drive starts early so that our children have every chance to fulfil their potential."

The new DVD will help early years practitioners and teachers to develop successful practices in areas such as active learning, self evaluation, additional support needs and the learning environment - including making the best use of outdoor opportunities.

Bernard McLeary, Chief Executive of Learning and Teaching Scotland (LTS), the organisation that produced the resource on behalf of the Scottish Government, said:

"The Early Years Team at LTS has created this excellent resource which shares practical ideas from a variety of pre-school and primary settings through movie clips, CPD activities and reflective questions to stimulate professional dialogue.

"In supporting the implementation of the new curriculum, the DVD reviews the background to Curriculum for Excellence and explores its values, purposes and principles. It provides practitioners with helpful advice on approaches that make learning more relevant, engaging, challenging, motivating and enjoyable."

The Curriculum for Excellence guidance, known as Experiences and Outcomes, was published earlier this year. The new approach puts literacy and numeracy at its heart with all teachers equally responsible for teaching and an emphasis on cross-curricular teaching.

The teaching guidance outlines, from the perspective of a child or young person, what they expect to have learned at appropriate stages in their education. These will guide teachers in their lesson planning.

Scotland's Early Years Framework is driving an early intervention approach to build greater resilience within families and the Scottish Government recently launched a national parenting drive to help parents stimulate young children and put in place the building blocks for future life chances.

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