‘Scotland’s national curriculum, the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE), represented a radical departure from Scotland’s previous prescriptive curriculum. While it has had great success in many areas, it has also been met with staunch criticism (Stobart, 2021). Regarding this criticism, and the increasing importance and relevance of Education for Peace, I believe it is worth considering a review of the Scottish Education System and associated curriculum. Over the course of this paper I hope to clarify what education for peace is, briefly critique the CfE, and suggest that there is very poor visibility of peace principles within the curriculum. Then I will lay out the steps of a review and what that may look like for Scotland specifically.’
Finlay Whitton, April 2024
In the following report, Finlay makes a contribution to our wider research on peace education by reviewing what Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence currently delivers, and what improvements could be made to embed peace education more successfully within it.