Unit 1C A vision of a curriculum which provides all the learning needs of a young person in the 21...

Unit 1C

A vision of a curriculum which provides all the learning needs of a young person in the 21st century including knowledge plus skills and broader understanding

© Curriculum Foundation 1

This section gives an overview of the aspects of the curriculum designers need to take into account when planning how to equip learners for the 21st century

A Subject-based Curriculum


1905 2014 Reading and writingArithmeticNature studyHistoryGeographyForeign languageDrawingPhysical exerciseSingingManual trainingHousewifery

EnglishMathematicsScienceHistoryGeographyForeign languageArtPhysical EducationMusicDesign and TechnologyComputing

The current government described its intentions as follows: ‘to restore the National Curriculum to its original purpose – a minimum national entitlement for all our young people organised around the subject disciplines’ Compare:

Can you spot the difference? As we have seen, the 21st century demands more.

An Aims Based Curriculum

In their book ‘An Aims-based Curriculum: The Significance of Human Flourishing for Schools’ (2013),Reiss and White argue that the starting point for curriculum planning should be the needs and wants of young people rather than a set of predetermined subjects.They go on to point out that any rational design process for addressing these needs and wants will inevitably lead to a curriculum far richer than a list of required subject knowledge.As we have seen, a young person who is equipped for life in the 21st century has a wealth of skills, attitudes, qualities, values and dispositions in addition to subject knowledge.


What do young people need?When the former Qualifications Curriculum Authority (QCA) started the review of the English Secondary and then the Primary Curriculum in 2005, it asked a wide range of people this very question. It asked parents, teachers, governors, employers, faith groups, the wider public and pupils themselves. The resulting list was remarkably similar.Young people need to:


• Be creative• Communicate well• Be literate and numerate • Solve problems• Work together in teams

• Have a global perspective • Show initiative• Work independently• Be life-long learners

Do you agree with that list? What would you add or take away?

Common Around the World


We have also seen that people all over the world have the same ideas about what young people need. These drawings were produced in Leeds and Lithuania!

Creativity and ImaginationIf children are to be creative they obviously need experiences which will help develop their creativity.In his 1999 report, All Our Futures, champion of creativity in education, Prof Ken Robinson, suggested that ‘creativity always involves thinking or behaving imaginatively’. In their book “Creativity, Wisdom and Trusteeship” (2007) Professors Anna Craft, Howard Gardner and Guy Claxton explore the nature of creativity and wisdom and what it means to exercise a balance of the two.


The Principles of CreativityBoth Robinson and Craft et al provide food for thought for curriculum developers designing a creative curriculum


Robinson proposes the following principles:• Creativity involves imaginative thinking

and behaviour• Imaginative activity must be purposeful• The processes must generate

something original• The outcome must be of value in

relation to the objectiveClick here for: Ken Robinson TED talk

Craft et al describe the creative process as a combination of:• Convergent thinking • Divergent thinking• Practicality• Social worth

http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html

Creativity and StandardsIn his book The Primary Curriculum Design Handbook, Dr Brian Male deals with the perception that a creative approach will have a negative impact on standards:‘…all the schools achieved high standards in national tests because they took creative approaches, not in spite of them. …..not only will children learn enough to do better in tests, they will learn much more than this.’The book includes a wealth of practical examples of a creative curriculum


Higher Order Thinking


Create

Evaluate

Apply

Understand

Remember

Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning Objectives has remained a key element of teacher training since its publication in 1956

Clearly if young people are to be engaged in deep learning it is critical that the curriculum is designed to take account of all levels and not just memorisation and recall

Depth of KnowledgeNorman Webb identifies four levels of learning


Level Description

Level 1 Recall and reproduction – Recall of fact, information and procedure

Level 2 Application of skills and concepts – Use of information or conceptual knowledge

Level 3 Strategic thinking – Reasoning, developing a plan

Level 4 Extended thinking – Investigation, collection of data and analysis of results

Webb argues that deep knowledge is gained through learning experiences at all four levels - further evidence for curriculum designers to consider

Deep LearningIn a series of papers for the SSAT in 2006, David Hargreaves argued that deep learning results from students being actively engaged in their own learning rather than remaining passive recipients.This requires ‘co-construction’ of learning involving students and teachers. Students take responsibility and develop independence and a mature approach to their learning.Again, if such opportunities are to be a consistent feature of students’ learning experience, curriculum designers need to plan accordingly.


Impact on International Standards


• “PISA tests students’ ability to apply their learning to think critically, solve problems and make judgements”

• “Japan responded by moving away from a narrow knowledge-based curriculum and to focus more on skills and broader understanding”

Andreas SchleicherDivision Head OECD i/c PISA

So if the curriculum is to improve the nation’s performance in PISA tests it must have a strong focus on the higher levels of learning not just knowledge

The Curriculum and School Culture

What happens in any organisation is a product of its culture. School publicity often extols a culture of success and high standards.There is a range of tools available to schools for assessing culture.Schools facing challenging circumstances often adopt strategies through which to bring about a change of culture.Mick Waters in his book, Thinking Allowed on Schooling (2013), suggests a ‘Futures Learning Outlook’ grid as a tool for schools to examine how learning takes place, ie what happens at the interface between culture and curriculum.


A Futures Learning Outlook(The Curriculum Culture)

Big questions

Small matters

Philosophy

Compliance

One offs, special events Embedded, real learning

Quiet lifeExercising trudge

Using the Futures Learning Outlook Grid

• The nature of schools’ work is such that teachers must often find a compromise position along the spectrum between their philosophy of education and compliance with what must be done to address external pressures

• There is a similar tension between the big questions (science concepts, human achievement, threats to the environment, technological change, the arts and culture etc) and small matters (the crumbs of learning which are covered in lessons day by day)

• The quadrant in which a school predominantly finds itself determines the nature of much of the learning that takes place: culture has a significant impact on students’ experience of learning


A Culture for Learning?


Go back to the grid.What do you think school is like for learners in each of the four quadrants?Where do you think you would plot your school’s current predominant position?Where would you like your school to be?Why do you think Mick Waters uses the title ‘Futures Learning Outlook’ for this grid?This analysis can prove revealing and particularly useful to curriculum developers.

Key Learning in Unit 1

You should now have:

• your own clear definition of the curriculum and a vision of its potential impact on your learners

• a clear understanding of the importance of establishing curriculum aims and values at the outset plus an overview of how to go about it and what evidence to take into account

• a vision of a curriculum which provides all the learning needs of a young person in the 21st century including knowledge plus skills and broader understanding


Self-assessment: Do you feel confident with respect to this key learning?

Next Steps

After this unit you may wish to follow up some of the exercises with colleagues in your school, for example:

• Consider the wording of a school-wide definition of the curriculum• Carry out the ‘equipped for life’ exercise using the stick man or bag for life• Consider the extent to which existing school values are appropriate and

reflected in the curriculum• Consider the extent to which the existing curriculum covers learning other than

subject knowledge• Discuss and plot your school’s position on the ‘Curriculum Culture’ grid


The Next Unit

Unit 2 Title: Creating clear, world-class design principles developed with stakeholders

In this unit you will learn how to convert aims and values into curriculum principles which will provide the foundations for your high quality curriculum


Unit 1C A vision of a curriculum which provides all the learning needs of a young person in the 21...

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