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Targeting
Excellence
A commitment to excellence
has always been central to Scotland's educational
tradition. That tradition is based upon
- Celebrating
achievement and excellence
- Respecting learning
and its importance to community and individual
- Widening opportunity
- Balancing practical
and academic skills
- Promoting schools as
special places, capable of making a difference
and creating opportunity and challenge for every
child
- Developing
citizenship and positive values.
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These values are as relevant to modern
devolved Scotland as they have been in the past. In many
areas, Scotland's educational performance remains good -
48% of young people leaving school go on to further or
higher education. We have many areas of excellence on
which to build to ensure in Scotland a world class
schools system, where children and young people will
- Be confident,
motivated and well-rounded
- Be literate and
numerate - to a level at or above that of their
peers in the rest of the world
- Fully understand and
be able to play their part as citizens of a
modern democratic society
- Seize opportunities
open to them regardless of their background
- Be able to work
flexibly and to embrace change on a continuing
basis.
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| Targeting
Excellence sets out the Government's wide ranging
strategy to further these objectives. Significant
additional resources are being made available _ following
the CSR an additional £629m is available for Scotland's
schools over the next 3 years. This includes £377m
through the Excellence Fund which is being given to
schools to support targeted action to raise standards.
Increased provision is being directed to early years. |
| Each chapter
of Targeting Excellence describes a set of actions
already underway as part of the Government's radical
programme of improvement. Many initiatives are already
making an impact; others are in the process of being
implemented. |
| Each chapter
describes the next steps that the Government proposes to
build on the momentum of these initiatives. Targeting
Excellence also looks closely at all aspects of our
schools system to ensure that the environment in which
schools have to operate are fully in line with modern
requirements and expectations. |
| In this
summary document the key initiatives of the radical
programme for improvement and the proposed next steps of
each chapter of the White Paper are described in brief. |
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| Targeting Excellence in the Early Years |
| The early
years of childhood - covering pre-school and the first
few years of primary school - are crucial. A coherent set
of policies and initiatives to support early years is
being developed, linking early education with childcare
and support for parents. |
| This is a
time of rapid development in early years services: the
Government is committed to a major expansion of
pre-school education and childcare services, and to
ensuring that provision is of high quality. Where early
years services fully meet the needs and preferences of
children and of their parents, they will bring benefits
not only to individual children but also to families and
local communities. |
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| Already underway |
- Expansion of family
centres, providing support for families with very
young children
- Investment of £138m
over 3 years to secure for every parent who wants
one -
a part-time quality
education place for every pre-school year child
a part-time quality education place for every three
year old by 2002
- An expanded
curriculum framework for children aged 3-5 years
- Investment of £60m
over 5 years in the Early Intervention programme
- Investment of £52m
to reduce P1-3 classes size to 30 or below by
2001
- Investment of £66m
in classroom assistants to establish a ratio of
at least one adult for every 15 pupils in primary
schools
- Establishment of the
Early Years National Training Organisation
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| Next Steps |
- Consideration of a
new statutory duty on authorities to secure
pre-school provision in their area
- Reviewing the
planning requirements for children's services to
provide a clearer framework
- Preparing quality
standards for childcare and pre-school centres
- Improving links
between pre-school and primary school
- Developing a
framework of qualifications in the early years
and childcare sector
- Identifying and
disseminating best practice in the early years
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