Information and critical literacy visits - Curriculum for Excellence Early and First Level

Since January I have been busy visiting primary schools and a nursery as part of the work I’m doing for Learning and Teaching Scotland CfE Literacy Team – Real and Relevant – Information and Critical Literacy Skills for the 21st Century Learner’ (Early and First Level).  

The visits have been amazing with lots of information and critical literacy activities based around some of the CfE learning outcomes and experiences.

I have written them up as postings / case studies for the National Information Literacy Framework (Scotland)

• Questioning – Kilmacolm’s innovative Blooming Blooms approach - children and parents are introduced to the benefits of questioning. Questions were based on Bloom’s Taxonomy and produce in conjunction with the parents linked to familiar fairytales.


• Critical Literacy @ Lasswade Primary School  - the school formed a working group to plan and implement Critical Literacy which is seen as “the way that we interact with and make meaning from different texts” and “involves the reader analysing and engaging with a text”.


• Information Literacy in Junior (Primary) 2 St Margaret’s School, Edinburgh - children working on a research activity finding facts about food and also an evaluation activity evaluating the Picallili Monster they had made from food. Linked to Health and Well Being Curriculum for Excellence Experinces and Outcomes.  

They join the visit I did in December to St Margartet's School but this time to see Information Literacy in Junior (Primary) 1 .

I am now bringing all this together incorporating it into a CPD Toolkit / Resource Pack and will be presenting at LILAC 2010 (The Librarians Information Literacy Annual Conference) Limerick - Begin at the Beginning: Information Literacy in Primary Schools.

My thanks to the teachers and the schools, the local authority education resource services / library and information services for their assistance.