Henry Hepburn’s editorial in Tes Scotland on 8 February is a must-read (“Let’s return to the high ideals that sparked a national conversation”). It reminded me of the excitement and enthusiasm for Curriculum for Excellence in my school. We embraced the freedom it presented and sought “opportunities for adventure”.

There was so much happening and changing. We developed the “away day” where staff were freed from the routine of the day to explore new ideas and be refreshed. We developed professional learning so we could learn from each other - killed off the idea that CPD is a course you “go to” or something “done to you”.

What else? Staff took on various “champion” roles - such as literacy, cooperative learning and restorative practices champions - while active literacy and cooperative learning were embedded in lessons. We developed a system of review, using peer-to -peer involvement to share learning

And we were bold. We ripped up the traditional timetable and built in longer slots for collaborative lesson planning and delivery.

We embraced, too, new courses to ensure equality of access for all: vocational courses plus inserts into the more traditional syllabus, to tap into the potential in each pupil. Listing these today might seem old hat, but in the mid-Noughties they were groundbreaking.

Pupils and partners became part and parcel of our decision-making processes: from the weekly consultative group meeting to the annual improvement planning and review, together with analysis and disbursement of development funds

And this is only what I can remember, 12 years on - there would have been more besides.

News editor’s take: We can admire the ideals of CfE even if we rue the reality

Quick read: ‘Scottish education system needs a fundamental reboot’

Long read: Is Scotland’s curriculum really narrowing?

Initiatives, crucially, were not top-down: they involved teachers, pupils and partners. No ideas were dismissed out of hand, but they were researched and tested out. We took risks; we were pragmatic; we were “change radicals”, you might say.

Taking risks in education

All of this was underpinned by a “moral purpose and a desire for social justice that are the defining features of Scottish education”, as Henry Hepburn’s piece put it.

So where did it go awry? A number of external and unforeseen factors got in the way - the greatest of which is probably austerity and the squeeze on the public purse, including teachers’ pay. The education system is also to blame for getting bogged down in structures, in guidance notes, in a plethora of changing expectations and reluctance to move away from the Higher as the gold standard in Scottish education. It all got too complicated and hidebound in bureaucracy.

So let’s take up the challenge and return to the high ideals that sparked the 2002 “national conversation” that paved the way for Curriculum for Excellence. Let’s reignite the passion and enthusiasm that was engendered back then.

But this time, let’s not lose sight of the importance of keeping teachers at the heart of the discussion and the implementation - don’t do it to them, do it with them.

Isabelle Boyd is a former secondary headteacher in Scotland, who recently retired as assistant chief executive at North Lanarkshire Council