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These slides are QCA’s thinking as of July 2008.
This will change!!!
PCR slide set version 2b. 030608
Independent primary curriculum review
July 2008
National Advisers and Inspectors Group for Science
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Background to the review
Independent review of the primary curriculum - led by Sir Jim Rose
QCA is working with Sir Jim to:
• gather evidence
• engage stakeholders
• carry out development work on curriculum design and content and the place of personal development
• manage national consultation
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What are we trying to achieve?
A flexible, coherent primary curriculum that inspires commitment to learning and improves standards by:
• reducing prescription and increasing flexibility so that schools have more opportunity to tailor teaching and learning
• enabling schools to strengthen their focus on developing essential reading, writing and numeracy skills across the curriculum
• providing an entitlement for all pupils to experience a broad and balanced curriculum
• enabling a greater emphasis on development of the whole child
• focusing on improving progression and smoothing transition.
The challenge and the opportunity
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What are people telling us?
A revised curriculum needs to:
- help children to develop the core skills of literacy, numeracy and ICT
- provide a better balance between knowledge and understanding and the development of skills and attitudes
- make personal development integral throughout
- promote the skills of independence, creativity and enterprise
- encourage compelling learning experiences through relevant and meaningful content
- allow for flexibility and local ownership.
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What are people telling us so far?
Much confusion
• national curriculum, schemes of workand national strategy materials
• time allocations
• opportunities to shape a range oflearning experiences
• how everything fits together eg ECM not an added extra
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Curriculum design matters
The curriculum as experienced by children
The National Curriculum
The curriculum as supported by guidance, Strategies, SOW, Inspection
frameworks, publishers
The curriculum as designed by schools
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Timeline
Gather evidence
Identify essential elements of a national curriculum
Scope overall curriculum design options
Identify essential learning and progression statements
Agree presentation of material
Informal consultation
Formal national consultation
Revised primary curriculum sent to schools
First teaching
Jan – Jun
e
200
8July - D
ec
200
8
Ea
rly
2009
201
1L
ate
2009
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Gathering evidence
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Evidence has included:
• international reports on motivation, transition, models and skills
• views of hundreds of headteachers and teachers • insights from visits to hundreds of schools• outcomes from seminars with key stakeholders
including system leaders, unions, parents• work with our partner researchers at CUREE• systematic literature reviews of key reports• responses from thousands of primary children• regular QCA monitoring over the last ten years
with more than 1000 schools
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Implications from this evidence…
The implications from the evidence summarised so far suggest that there
are, at least, twelve characteristics of an effective curriculum
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The curriculum:
1. is underpinned by a set of aims and design principles
2. is presented to encourage schools to challenge, inspire, engage and motivate all learners
3. promotes coherent personal development, skills and attitudes to learning
4. articulates the essential knowledge, understanding, skills, attitudes and attributes that we want our children to acquire - brought together into more coherent areas of learning and subjects
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The curriculum:
5. is articulated in the form of a common national framework to promote flexibility and personalisation
6. is articulated to comprise the entire planned learning experience to which children are exposed
7. promotes and supports a wide repertoire of teaching and learning approaches and encourages schools to match their different strategies to contexts and needs
8. makes clear its expectations for progression in learning and how these expectations relate to national standards and desired outcomes
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The curriculum:
9. is built on a good understanding of existing knowledge of child development
10.is underpinned by an approach to assessment which is integral to teaching and learning, offers children useful feedback on their progress and engages them actively in the learning process
11.promotes evaluation at all levels, building up from assessment for learning in its widest sense through teacher reflection on practice, through schools to national level evaluations such as Ofsted reports
12. is planned based on clear education outcomes
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Approaches to curriculum design
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Approaches to curriculum design
Curriculum design frameworks can be broadly categorised as:
Subject based
England, Norway, Slovenia
Areas of learningIB, Scotland, NI, Queensland, NZ
Skills based
RSA, Opening Minds, Enquiring minds
Theme based
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Curriculum design criteria
Will this design help more schools to:
1. design engaging, challenging and inspiring learning experiences to meet their pupils’ individual needs and raise standards?
2. strengthen the focus on numeracy, reading, writing, speaking and listening?
3. ensure learners have access to a broad and balanced curriculum, including languages?
4. put personal development at the heart of the curriculum?
5. design a curriculum that supports learners’ transition into and out of primary education
Is this design likely to inspire and galvanise the school workforce? Will this design be accessible for parents?
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Subject based
The curriculum would continue to be set out according to subject disciplines. These subjects could include any or all of the subjects in the current primary national curriculum and potentially introduce others such as languages or citizenship.
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Areas of learning based
Areas of learning bring together existing subjects in terms of the type of thinking and learning they involve. Elements of some subjects would appear in more than one area.
English, Languages, ICT A&D, D&T
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Skills based
The programmes of study could be set out by skills and illustrate contexts for developing each skills. Progress could be specified in terms of the development of skills and their application in an extended range of contexts.
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Theme based
Essential learning set out as a series of themes encompassing a range of subject content and skills. Each theme could have a clear focus on specific skills and identify particular opportunities for personal development. If themes were sequential, they could set out a structure for progress.
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Pros and cons of using each design to structure the curriculum at national level
1.En
gag
ing
learn
ing
exp
eriences
2. Stren
gth
en litera
cy and
nu
meracy
3. Intro
du
ce ran
ge
of su
bject d
isciplin
es
4. Pu
t perso
nal d
evelo
pm
ent at th
e hea
rt
5. Su
pp
ort tra
nsitio
n
6. Insp
ire and
ga
lvan
ise scho
ol
wo
rkforce
7. Pro
mo
te pu
blic u
nd
erstan
din
g
Subject based
Areas of learning based
Skills based
Theme based
EY
KS3
EY
KS3
EY
KS3
EY
KS3
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Approaches to curriculum design
Subject based
England, Norway, Slovenia
Areas of learningIB, Scotland, NI, Queensland, NZ
Theme based
The challenge and opportunity is to create a design that draws on the best of each approach.
The challenge and opportunity is to create a design that draws on the best of each approach.
Skills based
RSA, Opening Minds, Enquiring minds
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Challenging false polarities
It is possible to have:
• skills and knowledge not skills or knowledge
• direct focused teaching and child led exploration
• good standards of attainment and well-rounded learners
• a focus on literacy and numeracy and a broad and balanced curriculum.
• opportunities for the power and passion of specialist teaching and thematic teaching that makes connections between subjects
• time to develop some skills regularly and often and time for deep immersive learning over extended periods of time
• learning that introduces children to the big ideas and events from the past that have shaped the world and connects learning to the contemporary issues of our times, such as sustainability
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Essential components of a national curriculum
• Clear aims that highlight the importance and value of the primary phase of education
• Areas of learning / subjects that set out the essential ‘cultures’ that need to be passed on to our children
• Skills that help children to access learning, such as literacy, numeracy and the use of ICT
• Aspects of personal development that identify the skills, attitudes and attributes that children need to develop to become successful learners, confident individuals and responsible citizens
• Desired outcomes and standards that set out expectations
• Principles to inform curriculum design at school level
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Putting it all together (1)
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Putting it all together
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Putting it all together
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Putting it all together
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Putting it all together
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Putting it all together
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Putting it all together
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Putting it all together
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Putting it all together
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What next?
• Helping to develop the detail…..
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Get involved
• Our children deserve a curriculum that will engage, challenge and inspire
• We are working with the school workforce and our education partners to develop a curriculum that does this
• This is your opportunity to help put the learner at the heart of the curriculum
• Get involved: www.qca.org.uk/curriculum
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Personal development(Skills, attitudes and
attributes)
Areas of Learning / subjects Skills
Principles of Curriculum Design
Aims for Primary Education
The School Curriculum
Successful learners, who enjoy learning, make progress and achieve.
Confident individuals who are able to live safe, healthy and fulfilling lives.
Responsible citizens who can make a positive contribution to society.
Communication, language and literacy
Mathematics, problem solving and reasoning
Scientific and technological learning
Human and social understanding
Expressive arts and culture
Physical development
Personal development
Learning behaviours
Emotional behaviours
Social behaviours
Reading
Writing
Speaking and listening
ICT
Secures the fundamentals in literacy and numeracy
Provides opportunities for depth and breadth
Secures personal development
Considers the entire planned learning experience
In tune with child development
The National Curriculum
Essential components
National expectations Desired outcomes
