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All kinds of activities are conducted in the Scottish prep school classroom. The prep school program varied from school to school, but there was a considerable degree of similarity. This was imposed on the schools by their primary purpose, to prepare the children for their public schools and of course by Scottish educational guidelines. Scotland has its own qualification framework that is separate from that in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Thus the curriculum was more or less designed to conform to those requirements. The guidelines established by the senior schools were especially important. While many subjects are covered, there is a strong emphasis on literacy and numeracy. The curriculum as in English prep schools includes a major focus on the core subjects of reading, writing, and maths. There are many other subjects pursued along with the fine arts. Even with this emphasis on the basics, the other subjects are given a greater emphasis than the minimum guidelines. The art class is a favorite of many children permitting all kinds of hands on activities. Art teachers commonly prepared a program to expose the children to a wide range of medium. Most prep schools incourage the children to at least attempt to learn a musical instrument. This is one of the major changes made at prep schools both in England and Scotland in the 1970s and 80s. And quite a number of children do make the effort.
There is a strong emphasis on English literacy. This includes both reading and commucation (oral and written) skills. English is taught using literature as well as other media. The children are encouraged to observe the world around them and develop the languge skills to describe it. One school explains, "... we seek to inspire imaginative engagement with a variety of moral, social and psychological issues that are relevant to the life of every human being." The children in the classroom discuss and debate the subject material. The children's written work includes essays, letters, diaries, stories, poems, newspapers, and reports. Small class sizes mean that the teachers have the time to assess the children's work in detail, something tht is often not posdible to the same degree in the state system. The prep school program focuses on language skills to a much greater extent that schools in the state system. Prep schools once following a clasical curriculum, also gave considerable attention to Latin, This is no longer the case. The children are encouraged to take Latin at most prep schools. Learning Latin even at a basic level provides the basis for a more sophisticated understanfing of English and any romance languge the student may study. The schools now, however, offer options for students. Often the children less capable academically opt out. The schools give French lessons, but this is not given the attention that Latin once was. Given the size of the preo schools, it is generally not feasible to offer multiple foreign languages. The schools do attempt to provide the children a mastery of at least one foreign language. Here there is often associated culture studies. Students in the state system are less likely to achieve acquire similar foreign language skills..
There is also a strong commitmnt to numeracy. The schools seek to achieve a sound understanding of numeracy and the application of Mathematics. Lessons deal with information handling, number, money and measurement, shape, position and movement. Older children are challenged to collect and organize data. Lessons faciliate the use of fractions, percentages, decimals, and metric measures. The children by the time hry finish the program have acquired some basic skills in problem solving and enquiry.
There are many other subjects pursuedEnviromental studies is the modern rubric for the natural and social sciences. The princioal subhects pursued in the Environment Studies program are History, Geography, Technology and Science. History was an important subject in the prep schools from the very beginning. History is relatively easy to present to children at the prep school age because they love interesting stories. The children can be involved in all kinds of interesting projects. And with Scotland's rich history there are wonderful field trips that can be organized. And geography was touched on. The natural sciences were not for many years given much attention. This did not change appreciably until well after World War II. The 1980s were the first decade in which all the prep schools were teaching with well equipped science labs. Science and Technology for the older children are commonly taught bt specialist teachers. The goal is to provide a basic familarity with the the physical sciences and through them the world environment. Some of the children were very enthusiastic about science. Others told us that it was there least favored subject. Several schools had added a Craft, Design, and Technology component to the curriclum and the children were pursuing a range of interesting projects.
The schools have fine arts programs. The art class is a favorite of many children permitting all kinds of hands on activities. Art teachers commonly prepared a program to expose the children to a wide range of medium. Many schools have thriving music departments. Most prep schools incourage the children to at least attempt to learn a musical instrument. This is one of the major changes made at prep schools both in England and Scotland in the 1970s and 80s. And quite a number of children do make the effort.
