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Recent worldwide trends in curriculum policy have re-emphasised the role of teachers in school-based curriculum development. Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence is typical of these trends, stressing that teachers are agents of change. This paper draws upon empirical data to explore school-based curriculum development in response to Curriculum for Excellence. We focus on two case studies – secondary schools within a single Scottish local education authority. In the paper we argue that the nature and extent of innovation in schools is dependent upon teachers being able to make sense of often complex and confusing curriculum policy, including the articulation of a clear vision about what such policy means for education within each school. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article examines the introduction of organized sports into the curricula of Scottish private and public schools in the late 19th and early 20th century. The process was initiated and maintained by school administrators whose strong personalities gave them great influence in Scottish education, and who were inspired themselves by the philosophy of English private schools which stressed the moral importance of sports to the development of the student. Sports are considered as part of an overall transformation in Scotland's education to reflect a British identity closely associated with its Empire at the expense of strictly Scottish national characteristics.