The Dimensions Curriculum for Excellence Skills Ladder is an essential part of the Dimensions CfE Creative Curriculum Toolkit.
It can also be used as a stand-alone resource, assisting with curriculum design to ensure focus on permanent, transferable skills from Nursery right through to P7. The focus of teaching and learning is directed towards processes as well as outcomes.
The Skills Ladder provides comprehensive coverage of all skills by Curriculum Area, by subject AND by year group.
The Subject Skills included under the Curriculum Areas are particularly helpful for curriculum subject leaders who are looking to monitor progression and continuity across phases and year groups. They are a useful tool for assessing progress within their subject or Curriculum Area.
Subjects included under the Curriculum Areas are:-
Expressive Arts - Art, Dance, Drama, Music
Science and Technology - Design Technology and Science
Place and Time - Geography, History
Faith and Community - R.E., Citizenship
Mathematics - Maths
Communication - English, MFL, ICT
Health and Wellbeing - Physical Education, Personal Wellbeing
The Curriculum Areas each have an overarching skills set which is not subject specific but actually connects the subjects within the Curriculum Area.
The skills are linked with the Curriculum for Excellence experiences and outcomes, where appropriate, so as to ensure a joined-up approach to organising learning. You will recognise the cross-referencing which aligns the skills in the Skills Ladder with the Curriculum for Excellence framework (e.g. MNU 2-20b). This ensures a breadth of learning and makes it easier to track progression.
We have devised a simple way of organising skills using these headings, as appropriate to each Curriculum Area:-
- Investigation
- Observation
- Application
- Recognise
- Reflect
- Respond
- The skills from the Skills Ladder are mapped in with the curriculum themes used in the Dimensions CfE Model, making it easy to chart progression and continuity across each phase and within each theme.
- A set of Lifelong Learning Skills are provided to help equip pupils with the tools for effective, generic learning. These skills also come in the form of ‘I can’ statements.
- As there is a main focus on developing creativity within Dimensions, we have included a skills set which is not subject-bound and, when applied across the curriculum, will help to nurture the overall creativity of pupils.
- The Skills Ladder pack comes complete with a CD-Rom and a spiral bound handbook containing the following:- Curriculum Areas, Year groups, Creativity and Lifelong Learning skills. The files in each section of the CD contain all the Skills Ladder content in Microsoft Word format for ease of use, allowing you to copy and adapt for planning purposes.
Dimensions CfE Skills Ladder Pack £195 + VAT + £3.95 P&P
