The Scottish Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) was introduced in 2010 to provide a coherent, competency-based education for children aged 3-18 years, aiming to better prepare young people for the modern world (Scottish Government, 2009). However, more than ten years since its implementation, there is growing evidence of a disjuncture between policy intention and practice at the school level. It has not been fully enacted in many secondary schools, and its provision is fragmented (OECD, 2015; RSE, 2018; Priestley, 2018; Shapira et al., 2021). This is significant because variances in provision have consequences for student equity and educational outcomes (Iannelli, 2013). Recent studies (e.g., Shapira et al., 2023) found that CfE led to fewer subjects being studied in the senior phase of secondary education, disproportionately affecting schools located in socially and economically disadvantaged areas. Immigrant children, often residing and attending schools in such areas, heavily rely on school resources (Arnot et al., 2014; Crul et al., 2017). Therefore, limited exposure to the broad curriculum and restrictions on their ability to explore diverse subjects and acquire a broad knowledge base through schools might negatively impact them more than non-immigrant peers, both in terms of educational attainments and broader outcomes indicating how well young people are prepared to succeed in the complex modern world.
This paper explored curriculum-making practices in Scottish secondary schools and the impact these practices have on the educational outcomes of young people from immigrant origins.

Aim of this Paper and Research Questions
Given limited evidence on immigrant children's educational experiences under CfE, our paper's main aim is to determine whether the breadth of the S4 (year four of secondary education in Scotland) curriculum affects immigrant outcomes and compare them with non-immigrants. To address the aims, the following research questions have been explored:
1. What is the association between the curriculum's breadth under CfE that 15-year-old students are exposed to at school and various outcomes evaluated by the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) study?
2. Is this association different for immigrant children and non-immigrant children in Scotland?
3. Are there attainment gaps in the various PISA measures between immigrants and non-immigrant children?
4. What factors (including individual characteristics of students, their families, and their curriculum provisions) are responsible for the attainment gaps in PISA measures between immigrants and non-immigrant children?

Datasets We utilized the 2018 Scotland PISA dataset alongside the Scottish Government's educational administrative data, which contains information on enrolments and attainment in national qualifications across various levels of the Scottish Credit and Qualification Framework in state-funded secondary schools. Operationalisation For the purposes of the study, a child is defined as an immigrant if one of their parents was born outside the UK. The breadth of the S4 curriculum was defined as the average number of subjects studied by S4 students in school. The outcomes of young people in this study encompass: a) Measures of mathematics, language, and science competencies b) Given the close alignment between the OECD's global competencies framework (OECD 2021) and the 'four capacities' of CfE, we further used the OECD measures of Global competences available in the 2018 PISA study as additional educational outcomes. Methods Our analysis employed descriptive and advanced methods of statistical data analysis, including linear multivariate regressions (Shapira et al., 2023). The dependent variables were the PISA measures of student outcomes described in the previous section. The independent variables included the characteristics of children (age, gender, motivation, enjoyment of reading, attitudes to studying), their family characteristics (parental level of education and occupational level, family socio-economic, educational and cultural resources, degree of parental involvement with their child’s studies), and the breadth of the curriculum they are exposed to, along with other characteristics of their schools.

Our preliminary findings (see Shapira et al., 2023) revealed that a broad S4 curriculum positively influences all examined outcome measures, showing no disparities between immigrant and non-immigrant children. Students attending schools with a broader S4 curriculum achieved higher scores on the PISA language and mathematics tests. Even after accounting for students’ backgrounds and school characteristics, the association between PISA test scores and curriculum breadth remained strong, positive, and statistically significant. Furthermore, the results additionally indicated that immigrant children in Scotland surpass their non-immigrant peers in academic achievements, including higher scores in mathematics, reading, and science tests. Investigating the drivers behind this enhanced performance revealed that cultural and educational resources available at immigrant children's homes in Scotland equip them with stronger test-taking abilities. For instance, reading enjoyment correlates with improved reading test scores among immigrant children. Emotional support and positive work attitudes also positively influence mathematics test results. Together, these factors completely account for the attainment disparity on these tests between immigrant and non-immigrant children. We did not find any difference in the performance of immigrant and non-immigrant children on tests of global competences and subjective well-being. In schools with a broader S4 curriculum, students, irrespective of their immigrant background, achieved higher scores on measures of global competence. Students in such schools were more prone to experiencing a sense of school belonging, gaining knowledge about diverse cultures, taking pride in their achievements, and feeling empowered to address global issues (Shapira et al., 2023). Our findings demonstrate that a broad secondary curriculum has yielded positive outcomes for all children in Scotland, regardless of their immigration status. However, our findings emphasise the crucial role of parental support, positive attitudes toward learning, reading enjoyment, and the availability of educational and cultural resources at home in enabling children to achieve better outcomes.

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