Exploring Tensions and Challenges at the Broad General Education to Senior Phase Transition in Scotland’s Curriculum

Abstract

Since the implementation of Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) in 2010, many secondary schools have changed their curricular structure, influenced by the CfE requirement to run a period of Broad General Education (BGE) in the lower school to the end of S3. The flexibility afforded to Head Teachers means that schools have significant autonomy to design their own curriculum, which has resulted in a wide range of curricular structures in place across Scotland. However, schools find it challenging to attain a balance between ensuring learners receive their entitlement to a BGE in S1-S3 while also supporting progression to the senior phase.

This empirical research uses Glasgow secondary schools as a case study, and seeks to understand the reasons for the challenge, the nature of the challenge, and how schools manage and address the challenge. It interrogates relevant policies and examines the curricular structures and organisation of learning in Glasgow’s BGE curricula, as well as inspection reports. The researcher’s experience as a school leader in Scotland, faced with such challenges, has motivated the research aims.

The research offers explanations for why schools find achieving this balance challenging. It provides deeper understanding of the type of curricular structures in place in Glasgow, and the rationales for them, as well as how schools attempt to address the challenge. It makes recommendations for practice and policy to help alleviate the challenge and considers the implications of impending further national reforms.