News Release
Updated: Tuesday, March 30, 2010 | 
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EIS WELCOMES SUPPORT FOR CFE BUT SAYS TEACHERS' VIEWS REMAIN VITAL
The Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) has welcomed today's announcement of additional support for the implementation of Curriculum for Excellence in schools, but has warned that the Scottish Government must take teachers' views into account on the timetable for CfE implementation.
Commenting on the Cabinet Secretary's announcement of a 10-point plan to support the implementation of CfE, EIS General Secretary Ronnie Smith said, “The EIS welcomes the commitment to providing additional resources and support to enable all schools to implement Curriculum for Excellence. Schools still need new resource materials and teachers require access to high quality professional development to support Curriculum for Excellence, so it is encouraging that the Cabinet Secretary has acknowledged these needs and is taking some steps to address them.”
Mr Smith added, “The announcement of an additional £3M for quality assurance and moderation of assessment is also a step in the right direction, although it is a modest sum when spread across 32 local authorities – each of which retains the freedom under the Concordat to spend this money in any way they see fit, and not necessarily on the purpose intended by the Cabinet Secretary in his announcement today.”
Moving on, Mr Smith said, “On qualifications, we welcome the apparent move away from proposed stand-alone qualifications in Literacy and Numeracy which won little support from teachers. We will await further details on the Cabinet Secretary's new proposals for assessing literacy and numeracy as part of existing qualifications in English and Maths. The key challenge will be to provide a meaningful assessment of literacy and numeracy which is valued by teachers, pupils, parents and employers but which does not add additional workload strain and pressure on pupils or for teachers of English and Maths.”
On promises to listen to teachers, Mr Smith said, “While we welcome the Cabinet Secretary's assurances that he will listen to the views of teachers, the real test will come when the results of the recent survey of teachers' readiness for CfE are produced, and the Management Board has made its recommendation based on this analysis of teachers' views. There should then be discussions with key stakeholders before the Cabinet Secretary takes any further decisions on the Curriculum for Excellence.”
“Overall, today's announcement marks a step in the right direction on Curriculum for Excellence. But, as ever, the devil is in the detail and we will need to see much more information on some of the Cabinet Secretary's proposals before we can make a definitive judgement on this new 10-point plan for CfE. The promises that the Cabinet Secretary has made are welcome, but it is the extent to which those promises are delivered that will determine the success of his plan and the pace of delivery of the Curriculum for Excellence,” said Mr Smith..
T: +44 (0)131 225 6244, F: +44 (0)131 220 3151, enquiries@eis.org.uk