Scottish education is changing for young people. In August, the new curriculum for children and young people between the ages of three and 18 in Scotland was implemented.
Curriculum for Excellence is being introduced to raise standards of learning and teaching and help improve children's life chances, equipping young people to meet the challenges of the modern world and apply their skills to whatever lies ahead.
So what does this look like in North Lanarkshire schools and how have they been preparing for these changes?
Greenfaulds High School pupils swapped Cumbernauld for a glimpse of Africa in an initative aimed at easing transitions between primary and secondary and developing young people's understaning of the world.
Celebrating Scotland and Greenfaulds High School's links to Malawi, the six month project brought together hundreds of pupils across the school and its six associated primaries to understand more about the continent and its political and social infrastructure as well as culture.
Incorporating art, technical, ICT, literacy, geography, modern studies, enterprise and music, the project helped give young people the skills needed for life and work in the modern world, as well as the knowledge and understanding of Africa and the challenges it faces.
Teacher William Harris said the project set high expectations of all the pupils involved. He said: "As the project was based on Scotland's partnership with Malawi the pupils could see the value of what they were learning and its relevance to their lives, present and future. The pupils found their learning in this project challenging, engaging and motivating and encouraged high aspirations and ambitions for all involved.
"Investigating the challenges faced in Africa developed the pupils understanding of not only the issues faced by the country but also Scotland's place in the world."
The project involved the whole school, with modern studies pupils learning about the ongoing challenges the African continent continues to face and explored our business links with Africa while in geography pupils learned about Africa through linking with a Malawian school. Music classes recorded African music that was to be played at the "Glimpse of Africa" exhibition, while technical classes investigated Malawian craftsmen and produced a carved Malawian Chieftain Chair. Pupils also designed and produced the posters and flyers for the "Glimpse of Africa" exhibition and ICT classes produced an EBook of the range of work produced for the exhibition.
Working with the local community and businesses was also integral to the project with pupils working with local artists who visited the school to run masterclasses. Art teachers also visited local primary schools over a two month period to work on projects to help ease the transition for pupils between the schools. The final result was a stunning three day exhibition of work which was held in Cumbernauld town hall.
Working in groups, sometimes across year groups, encouraged pupils to develop their communication skills and ability to work with others. Mr Harris said: "Pupils had to relate to each other within the various tasks and manage themselves during the project which gave them ownership. Highlighting the challenges experienced in the African continent meant pupils had to communicate their own beliefs and views when trying to make informed decisions. This helped develop their confidence through presenting their own work with pride to their peers, wider school and local community.
"It also strongly promoted creative and independent thinking, both individually and as part of a team. The interdisciplinary approach also meant that pupils were able to use knowledge they learned across the curriculum and relate it to the task in hand; making links with learning that apply in real life. The task used different kinds of learning with literacy, communication, creativity and technology all embedded."
The project meant a change in thinking by all departments involved. Pupils were not taught in isolation, but instead the subjects made links across the curriculum to make the learning more relevant to real life.
Mr Harris said: "The challenge was done over an extended period of time and built into the curriculum. The interdisciplinary approach brought together a range of subject areas and gave a cohesive structure to the learning experiences of our pupils. The fact that pupils were working with professionals in masterclasses brought a real life dynamic to the learning and the opportunity for pupils to take their work to exhibit to the wider community enthused pupils to produce their best work and be ambitious.
"This approach allowed pupils to be more creative and enterprising while improving cultural awareness too. The pupils were also very ambitious for the project and bringing in local artists to give masterclasses brought an exciting dynamic to the classroom environment.
"It really helped pupils develop skills vital for education and life in general. Creativity, problem solving, presentation, team working, enterprise, communication and ICT skills are all important and the project helped develop these while motivating the pupils, developing their confidence to be ambitious and to take pride in their work."