The rector of one of Scotland’s top schools has warned we are ”sleepwalking into a possible disaster” thanks to the new national curriculum.
Dr John Halliday, of the independent Dundee High School, believes pupils across the country could end up suffering from a narrow, impoverished education.
He has attacked the implementation of Curriculum for Excellence as filled with jargon and woolly thinking.
Dr Halliday has been in charge at Dundee High, which charges fees of up to £10,000 a year, since 2008. An Exeter University graduate, he completed his doctorate at Cambridge University.
Last year Dundee High had the third-best Highers performance in the country, with a 95.1% pass rate and almost three-quarters of its pupils passing five or more. That is a record the rector is keen to maintain but he feels CfE is an obstacle not only for his school, but for schools across the country.
Dr Halliday said: ”As the rector of Scotland’s second-oldest school I have always been a passionate believer in the values of Scottish education and have been delighted with the breadth and challenge my own children have enjoyed. However, I am becoming increasingly aghast at what is happening to our cherished curriculum.
”As an independent school we believe in progress and normally welcome new initiatives. Systems need to change. However, we have to ensure that standards are at least maintained. Unfortunately the Curriculum for Excellence has thrown up a number of major concerns for us.”
He added: ”There is a clear feeling now that we are sleepwalking into a possible disaster from which it may take generations to recover. An exaggeration? I wish.
”First, there is the astonishing decision to cut the number of subjects pupils take in S4 from eight to just six, or possibly five. How can it be that S2 pupils are being told they cannot choose three sciences in S4? What are the implications of this?
”Pupils will drop subjects in S3 without achieving any meaningful qualification. Their subject choice range for Higher will be consequently much reduced. The teaching of languages, creative subjects, even social sciences, will shrivel.
”The very names of the new qualifications National 4 and 5 smack of political conformism rather than intellectual aspiration.”
Dr Halliday said this reduction in subject choice is a betrayal of the excellent Scottish tradition of breadth and rigour. He said pupils elsewhere benefit from breadth those in the rest of the UK habitually take up to 10 subjects up to the end of S4.
Dr Halliday said: ”Young Scots will substantially lose out in competitiveness when it comes to applying to higher education, particularly if they wish to apply for courses outwith Scotland.”
As an independent school, Dundee High felt an obligation to its pupils to continue with eight subjects up to the end of S4.
Its rector said: ”At least we have the choice.”
The introduction of CfE was leading to a ”disconcerting new world”, he said.
Dr Halliday added: ”In my experience a school that offers a range of modern languages to Advanced Higher, three discrete sciences at all levels and subjects such as Latin and economics is one that provides the intellectual basis for pupils to move on to any university in the world.
”Similarly, the ‘creative’ subjects, such as music, art and drama, are a core element of any good school. The implementation of Curriculum for Excellence is threatening to impoverish rather than enrich the creative spirit our society so badly needs.
”The implementation process has been breathtakingly long-winded and unprofessional in its inefficiency. The endless meetings full of jargon and woolly thinking would be bearable if the reality were different, but it is surely unprofessional when S2 students currently making subject choices for exams in 2015 are doing so without full knowledge of the courses they will be taking.
”The underlying principles of Curriculum for Excellence are worthy, but in independent schools they have been our bread and butter for generations rather than a wondrous revelation.”
The introduction of Curriculum for Excellence is the biggest shake-up of the Scottish education system in a generation. Ministers believe it will ”futureproof” our children, giving them the knowledge and skills they and the country will need to compete in an increasingly globalised economy.
Critics have attacked the way it is being implemented and the way it works, arguing that it has made the job of schools even more difficult.See The Courier this week for an extensive investigation of what CfE means for our schools, our teachers and our pupils