4. Curriculum about more than just ‘preparing’ for the future

“Let’s shape educational thinking towards being in the moment and present. Seeing young people as citizens now - not seeing education as simply turning out widgets and workers - but focussing on individuals, family, and the globe.” Trade Union representative

School is no longer just about preparing learners for an unpredictable future. Since the four capacities were baptised, a combination of global trends has tested the old idea that schools are merely a preparation ground for life beyond school. The four capacities talk about learners becoming confident, successful, effective, and responsible, now and in the future. In reality, educators see evidence that they are capable today of being and doing all those things, arguably more so now than at any time in the past twenty years.

• Technological trends: most learners have a more powerful communication and creative device in their pocket than any school could offer them twenty years ago.
• Environmental trends: children and young people in Scotland are significantly concerned about the dangers of climate change (Scottish Government, 2022a).
• Political trends: schoolgoers aged 16 can now vote. Whatever age they are, they are active citizens with a unique voice - for example, in debates around examinations, LGBTQ+ rights and race equality.
• Health trends: the COVID-19 pandemic and remote learning have challenged preconceptions about the predictability of future school and work scenarios. They have exposed existing global and local inequalities in education and created questions on the value of examinations and qualifications.

These global trends contribute to a greater sense of urgency and unpredictability and contest the old norms that a curriculum's purpose is only to help young people become these things in the future.

Similarly, there was a broad consensus from participants that the current picture of Scottish education, using the four capacities as a critical lens, undoubtedly favours a bent towards developing the ‘successful learner’.

The overemphasis on developing the successful learner and accountability measures in the Senior Phase influences design choices in the Broad General Education (BGE) Phase, with evidence that it limits the breadth and options for young people (Shapira & Priestley, 2020).

There is an unresolved dilemma about whether the purpose of school should be about the rights of education for the sake of learning itself or the economics of employability and development of the young workforce.

Employers believe there needs to be a clearer route, earlier, for some learners: “If the academic path isn’t the right path, then you need to tool them to be work-ready. It’s a huge void between leaving school at 16 and being work-ready at 19… If a young person has a career goal… not everything has to fit into an academic timetable… It might take them three or four extra steps than their mate, but they can still achieve that call. We need to appreciate the importance of flexible choice.”

Meanwhile, across participants there’s some resistance against the idea that any schooling should be solely in service to the world of work:

“We’ve lost sight of what education is about. The depth and breadth of education have been lost because the balance has been tipped over. Teachers and classrooms have been thrown to the periphery. We are not a factory for industry.” Secondary Educator

Bearing this in mind, there was nonetheless universal consensus across all the research participants that the four capacities should not be allowed to become another tool of teacher accountability or reduced to a bank of tickable statements.

Academic Gert Biesta (2009) warns of the danger of ‘valuing what we measure’ rather than ‘measuring what we value’ (p. 33). Our interviews revealed many suggestions about better ways to develop and measure the value of skills and attributes in learners.

Youth work educators pointed out that their awards are not the purpose of the experience. Rather it’s about equipping young people to tell stories about what they’ve achieved.

Early Years educators felt that the principles of the four capacities underpin everything they do, and that “certificates have no value to the children” - it’s the celebration of achievement, not attainment that they value.

In Primary, there’s a plea to “trust the professionalism of teachers” when it comes to designing curriculum.

Secondary educators want to see learners at the centre of the process.

“We need to support learners to profile and reflect on their learning and include skills and capacities,” they say.

A Local Authority Officer asked that we “keep numbers out of it, keep it qualitative.”

You can download the full paper (PDF), return to the overview or read the next section.