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Richard Ledingham

Tuesday 24 January 2006

Today's subject workshop focussed on the Higher curriculum in Scotland. First of all...what a nightmare! The geography course is full of extremely interesting topics...yes one or two bits need to be done away with and other bits could be added....but overall it is a very well grounded experience.

The problem seems to be assessment and the complete lack of time to explore the topics. From the initial 160 hours proposed the course was implemented as 120 hours with an optional 40 hours to be used at the school's discretion...naturally many schools used this time not for the existing subjects but for 'pet projects' - new higher subjects. The next problem seems to arise when combined classes are taught (Higher and Int. 2) because unlike Standard Grade (3 levels taught from the same curriculum) these two levels are founded on separate curriculums (i.e some Higher topics are not taught at Int 2 and vice versa). This means that a mixed class will effectively require the teacher to halve the time they spend on teaching Higher or Int 2. So the 120 hours has become 60! Now factor in the NABs, which the pupils hate due to stress, the teachers dislike as they are a sign of mistrust by the SQA and cannot be used in appeal cases and you are left with 48 hours. Finally take away the hours that are lost through revision weeks, holidays and other anomalies and you are effectively left with 40 hours to teach a 160 hour course. Needless to say this creates somewhat of a problem and the result is that what could be a hugely fascinating subject is crammed into a tiny amount of time....not allowing the pupils to actually enjoy the process of learning and actively discouraging the teacher from talking about any of the topics at depth.

Now obviously I am new to teaching and I don't have all of the facts at my disposal but there seems to be a fundamental problem...not with content but how it is taught. Spreading Higher over 2 years would allow for much greater depth to be given to topics and allow pupils to actively engage in non didactic experiences. What is the point in drilling information into the pupils' heads if they see no relevance in it and the whole experience is in no way enjoyable!

Well that appears to be quite a rant and I will probably be bombarded with emails from people who are much more informed than me. However I feel that this weblog is not only an important method for my own reflection but also a means of instigating some sort of thought or debate amoung those already in the profession as to what someone new is presented with. Hopefully tomorrow will provide more insights as we tackle Advanced Higher!

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