Even before the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) was launched in 2010, there were questions about the direction and implementation of the reforms.
Many teachers doubted how prepared they were and worried about increased workload. There was also concern about the content of the some of the courses.
Now that thousands of pupils have been through the first National exams over the summer, some context can be applied to those concerns. It will take at least two years before we know how the pupils will end their school careers, so any final assessment is still some way off, but some of the worst predictions of chaos have not come to pass. Cautiously, we can say: so far, so good.
The central principles of the new curriculum also remain sound. Schools should be more than exam machines and should encourage a broad education that prepares pupils as much as possible for life after school. As far as possible, the system should also be based less on learning by rote and more on classroom-based assessments.
However, if there is one lesson to be learned from the last four years, it is that massive upheaval in the education system can be stressful for pupils, parents and teachers and should be avoided if possible. Yesterday Michael Russell, Scotland's Education Secretary, appeared to acknowledge this when he announced that future reform of the content of CfE would be more gradual.
Speaking at the annual Scottish Learning Festival in Glasgow, Mr Russell said new specialist forums involving all interested parties would be set up to monitor different areas of the curriculum and ensure changes were made when required.
If successful, the forums could make several improvements. The first would be to keep the content of CfE under review to ensure it is still relevant to pupils. Secondly, the new forums could help ensure that teachers can raise concerns in good time and that they are heard by the Scottish Qualifications Authority and the Scottish Government.
But thirdly, and just as importantly, continuous review of the nature proposed by Mr Russell should help avoid the sudden change that has so disturbed many teachers and instead foster more gradual reform that is easier and less stressful to implement. It also has the benefit of being a bottom-up reform rather than top-down, which some of CfE has been perceived to be.
The curriculum body Education Scotland has already moved to establish the first forums covering areas such as digital learning and mathematics, and future groups will also cover languages, sciences and other subjects.
Curriculum for Excellence remains a major reform, and it is still in its early stages. But a process of review that seeks to involve as many in education as possible at all levels has the potential to smooth the transition. Evolution is preferable to a big bang - for the sake of teachers, but mostly for the sake of the pupils.
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