Broad General Education in the Humanities
BGE Phase
Our BGE courses have undergone significant revision over the last two years, in line with school improvement and national priorities. In S1 and S2, we now deliver a curriculum model based on organising principles and themes. In S1 we treat the theme of 'origins' and engage pupils in thinking about a big question: Where do we come from? In S2 we treat the theme of exploration and consider the question: What is our place in the world? Modifications to existing courses have been made to align our programmes of learning with these overarching themes and to ensure curricular coherence across the BGE Phase. These courses are genuinely interdisciplinary in nature and support pupils' development of problem solving and enquiry skills. This focus on higher order thinking skills ensures that breadth of engagement with a field of enquiry supports depth of learning, and in so doing pupils gain a comprehensive understanding of curricular content.
Teachers in the Humanities Faculty employ pedagogical approaches that promote deep learning and open up the curriculum for pupils in innovative and imaginative ways. Our S3 courses, for example, have proved popular with pupils and uptake is high. Courses at this level include Revolution, Conflict and Peace, Superpowers and Our Changing Earth.
Teachers use structured discussion and debate in these courses to advance the learning of pupils and contribute to pupils' wider achievement in the area of literacy. Humanities classes are dialogical in nature and pupils benefit from the opportunity to develop their understanding through collaborative enquiry of this kind. Feedback from pupils indicates that they particularly enjoy this area of their learning in the Humanities.
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