Curricular Levels
The Curriculum for Excellence [CfE] is Scotland’s National Curriculum for all pupils from age 3-18 yrs. In broad terms it has three main sections: Early learning and childcare (Pre-school and P1), A Broad and General Education [BGE] (P2-S3) and National Exams (S4-S6). As pupils pass through Early years and up to S3 their progress will be recorded as CfE levels. The National Standard of Levels and Expectations are shown.
The Levels are very broad, for example most pupils will have achieved Second Level before they arrive at Secondary school and will then spend most of S1 to S3 moving through third level and then starting Level Four part way through S3.
Progress through each level is shown by four different stages of learning.
These are:
- B Beginning to learn at the level
- S Showing some progress in learning within the level
- G Demonstrating good progress in learning within this level
- V Demonstrating very good progress in learning at this level
An example of how this might look is shown below:
- Start of S1. Second level achieved. Beginning work at third level (3B)
- Midway S1 Showing some progress in third level (3S)
- End of S1/ Start of S2 Showing some progress in third level (3S)
- Midway S2 Demonstrating good progress in third level (3G)
- End of S2/Start of S3 Demonstrating very good progress in third level (3V)
- Midway S3 Third Level achieved. Beginning work at fourth level (4B)
It is important to note that this is an illustration only and some pupils will make more progress than this while others make less progress. Sometimes pupils will not be working towards the National Curriculum for Excellence levels, they may be following individual milestones and will not be assessed against CfE levels.
In the Senior Phase (S4-S6) pupils are working towards national qualifications. There are many different types of qualification available to young people in Scotland, the level of difficulty of these qualifications is known as its SCQF level. SCQF level 4 is approximately equivalent to CfE level 4. This means that a pupil who was working at CfE L3 in a subject in S3 might progress to National 4 (N4) in that subject when they are in S4. A pupil who was working at CfE L4 in a subject in S3 might progress to National 5 (N5) in that subject when they are in S4.
Typically a pupil might take a mixture of National 4 and National 5 qualifications in S4, then take a mix of N5 and Higher exams in S5 and could end up taking a mix of N5, Higher and Advanced Higher exams in S6. In order to be confident of success at the next level pupils would ideally be attaining at least a grade C at the level below e.g. for an S4 pupil who wants to choose Higher Geography in their S5 options, they should be attaining a grade C or above in their N5 exam
How do the New Qualifications compare to the exams we you sat?
