What do we mean by ‘curriculum’?
The curriculum includes all subjects, courses,
enrichment, and other activities planned by the
school. These may be delivered in conjunction
with partners.
(Ofsted New Inspection Framework)
“It is easier to change the location of a cemetery than to change
the school curriculum”
Thomas Woodrow Wilson
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To look at some of the key changes in the
new draft curriculum.
Examine what schools need to do next.
Outline the content of the seminars on
Curriculum Design and planning.
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Every state-funded school must offer a curriculum which
is balanced and broadly based and which:
 promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and
physical development of pupils at the school and of
society, and
 prepares pupils at the school for the opportunities,
responsibilities and experiences of later life.
All state schools are also required to make provision for
a daily act of collective worship and must teach religious
education to pupils at every key stage and sex education
to pupils in secondary education.
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All subjects in the current National
Curriculum remain, although ICT has been
renamed ‘computing’ to reflect the greater
emphasis on practical programming skills.
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Languages are now to be compulsory at
Key Stage 2.
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How to teach the programmes of study: the programmes of study
state in outline what is to be taught, but not how it is to be taught.
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Which aspects of a subject pupils will study in depth – the
requirement is that schools cover the programme of study, but it
is for individual teachers to decide which aspects they wish to
emphasise.
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How long to spend on each subject – it is for schools to decide
how they are going to organise their timetable.
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How to arrange learning in the school day – there is no
requirement for subjects to be taught discretely – they can be
grouped, or taught through projects.
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What additional curriculum content they wish to teach beyond the
statutory programmes of study.
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2.3 All schools should make provision for personal, social, health and
economic education (PSHE), drawing on good practice. Schools are
also free to include other subjects or topics of their choice in planning
and designing their own programme of education.
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3.2”The National Curriculum is just one element in the education of
every child. There is time and space in the school day and in each
week, term and year to range beyond the National Curriculum
specifications. The National Curriculum provides an outline of core
knowledge around which teachers can develop exciting and
stimulating lessons.”
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3.4The Secretary of State for Education is required by legislation to
publish programmes of study for each National Curriculum subject,
setting out the ‘matters, skills and processes’ to be taught at each key
stage. Schools are free to choose how they organise their school day,
as long as the content of National Curriculum programmes of study is
taught to all pupils.
Page 6 Draft Curriculum 2014
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Promoting skills is a key feature of the current
National Curriculum and are embedded in the
programmes of study.
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communication, application of number, information
technology, working with others, improving own
learning and performance, problem solving
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The new proposed curriculum emphasises
the need for teachers to develop pupils’ spoken
language, reading and writing as integral
aspects of the teaching of every subject and to
use every relevant subject to develop pupils’
mathematical fluency.
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The emphasis is on core knowledge, the ‘nuts and bolts’ of subjects
that will ensure pupils have ‘a strong basis on which to build future
learning’.
Other subjects are treated in a more light-touch manner, although the
level of detail in, for example, the history curriculum is still substantial.
There is no mention of the development of thinking skills which is
embedded in the current national curriculum.
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3.1The National Curriculum provides pupils with an
introduction to the core knowledge that they need to be
educated citizens. It introduces pupils to the best that has
been thought and said; and helps engender an appreciation
of human creativity and achievement.
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Levels and level descriptors have disappeared and the
expectation is that children should have a secure grasp of the
concept by the end of each key stage.
The Government has already announced its intention to [reform]
how we report progress.
“We believe that the focus of teaching should be on subject content
as set out in the programmes of study, rather than on a series of
abstract level descriptions. Parents deserve a clear assessment of
what their children have learned rather than a ‘level description’
which does not convey clear information …
Approaches to the assessment of pupils’ progress and recognising
the achievements of all pupils at primary school will be explored
more fully within the primary assessment and accountability
consultation which will be issued shortly.’
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The programmes of study for English are set out year-by-year
for Key Stage 1 and two-yearly for Key Stage 2. The
programmes of study for maths and science are set out
year-by-year in KS1 and KS2. Schools are, however, only
required to teach the relevant programme of study by the end
of the key stage.
Within each key stage, schools therefore have the flexibility to
introduce content earlier or later than set out in the
programme of study. In addition, schools can introduce key
stage content during an earlier key stage if appropriate.
All schools are also required to set out their school curriculum
for English, maths and science on a year-by-year basis and
make this information available online.
By the end of each key stage, pupils are expected to know,
apply and understand the matters, skills and processes
specified in the relevant programme of study.
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Speaking and Listening is no longer a separate strand. Specific
requirements for pupils to discuss what they are learning and to
develop their wider skills in spoken language form part of the
English programme of study and there is a greater emphasis on
the development of discussion and debating skills in KS2.
Great emphasis on the teaching of phonics.
Increased emphasis on the teaching of grammar, punctuation and
spelling. The spelling appendix contain statutory word-lists for Year
3& 4 and Years 5& 6 which children are expected to learn.
The appendix on grammar and punctuation focuses on the teaching
of Standard English and the table shows when concepts for word,
sentence, text and punctuation should be introduced to and when.
Programmes of study for writing no longer specify which text types
children should study or write about.
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Greater emphasis on keeping key maths
fundamentals such as recall of time tables and
number facts a key focus through varied and repeated
practice. At the end of Year 4 children will be expected
to know their times tables up to and including 12x12.
A strong emphasis has been placed on mental and
written calculations of whole numbers, decimal and
fractions.
Renewed emphasis on problem solving. The first draft
was roundly criticised for stating the importance of
developing the ability to problem solve, but not
following through on this in the detail. This has now
been addressed, with an emphasis on problem solving
in all areas.
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Data handling no longer is statutory in Year 1 .
Children in Year 3 will be expected to read the
Roman numerals 1 to 12 on a clock and in Year 4
they will be expected to read the numerals from
1 to 100.
Use of calculators is restricted and should now
only be introduced near the end of KS2.
Calculators will be banned in the KS2 maths
SATS papers in 2014
Expectation that children can read and spell
mathematical vocabulary at a level consistent
with their word and spelling knowledge.
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There have been some changes to the science
Programme of Study since the first draft, mainly
around the way in which ‘working scientifically’ is
treated. Following strong criticism that the knowledgebased approach had gone too far in science, the
balance between fact based objectives (‘identify and
name…’) and enquiry-style objectives (‘observe and
describe…’) is more even.
The recommendation in KS1 is that most of the
learning about science should be done through the
use of first-hand practical experiences.
Questioning is also highlighted as an important aspect
of the learning.
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Much of the content is familiar, although some
topics has been re-organised and moved across a
key stage.
For example, sound, electricity, and light have been
taken out of Key Stage 1 and are now taught only in
Key Stage 2 in the primary curriculum.
There is some new content particularly on the solar
system, speed and evolution. Forces is now not
introduced until Year 6.
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The guidelines for all other subjects are much less detailed
than those for English, maths and science, simply outlining
the aims of each subject and listing the content to be taught
at each key stage.
How is the curriculum being slimmed down?
 Mr Gove says there will continue to be requirements for the
teaching of art and design, design and technology,
geography, history, ICT, music and physical education across
all the primary years. "Programmes of Study in these subjects
will, however, be much shorter to allow for the maximum level
of innovation at school level in the development of content in
these areas."
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Investigative questioning
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No KS1 comparison with other
UK locations.
Factual knowledge, e.g. name
and locate the continents &
oceans at KS1
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UK focus at KS1, plus one nonEuropean comparison.
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Europe & the Americas covered
at KS2.
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Identification of rivers,
mountains, etc. in UK.
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OS four-figure grid references
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No mention of environmental
sustainability.
No African, Asia or Australasian
geography
What is no longer included
What is new
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A revised draft is being circulated but not yet published.
A major rewrite" is likely to see more emphasis given to world history
alongside the mainly British focus originally suggested by the
Department for Education (DfE). Schools will also be given much more
freedom – current mandatory requirements will become suggestions.
Five- to seven-year-olds will not have to learn about the Victorian poet
Christina Rossetti, as suggested in the current draft, but instead could
be told about the more modern figures of LS Lowry, Neil Armstrong.
Five- to seven-year-olds will no longer have to grapple with "the
concept of the nation", as controversially suggested in the February
draft, but instead should be taught about "changes within living
memory".
Guardian Paper June 21st
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The newly statutory Key Stage 2 languages curriculum
specifies the teaching of one of the following languages:
French, German, Italian, Spanish, Mandarin, Latin or
Ancient Greek.
The teaching should provide an appropriate balance of
spoken and written language and enable the children to
make substantial progress.
Modern language teaching is to focus on practical
communication, and Latin or Ancient Greek teaching to
provide a linguistic foundation for learning modern
languages and for reading comprehension.
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The current Programmes of Study and attainment
targets for all foundation subjects in Primary schools will
be disapplied from September 2013, as will those for
English, maths and science in Years 3 and 4 (‘to give
teachers greater freedom to prepare pupils for National
Curriculum tests in these subjects when they reach Year
6’).
Teachers in Years 1, 2, 5 and 6, however, will need to
continue to following the current Programmes of Study
for English, maths and science, in order to prepare
children appropriately for SATs.
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All learners and schools have different characteristics. Schools need to
ensure the curriculum is appropriate within the context of the community
it serves.They should take account of the individual needs of all children
in the school, the local context, the particular skills and enthusiasm of the
staff, the distinctive ethos of the school, the resources available in the
wider community, and also their knowledge of good practice and what
delivers results
The new statutory requirements will need to be incorporated into the
curriculum but there is no one way or model that should be imposed.
Each school should develop a vision for the curriculum made up of:
-the statement of curriculum intent;
- the agreed aims and outcomes of the curriculum;
- values and beliefs about learning, which will underpin the school’s
approach to curriculum design;
- the key principles that will determine what an effective curriculum looks
like in practice;
- the key skills and competencies they want to develop.(core essentials)
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Audit current provision, content and structure
against agreed aims and outcomes:
• Analyse long term plans and identify;
-areas of strength and how you know;
-aims and outcomes which are not being met;
Ascertain the views of the pupils on the current
curriculum
Armed with this analysis schools can then start creating
a Framework of Learning Expectations for each year
group.
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The course will set out to cover the following
questions:
1. How do we go about designing a curriculum, which sets out
clearly what we want the children to learn and the experiences by
which they will learn it and builds upon the current good practices
within the school?
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2 How should the learning be organised most effectively to achieve
the above?
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3. How will the success of the curriculum be measured?
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How effective individual schools’ current curriculum provision
is and how they know.
The key learning principles and values which should underpin
the design of an effective curriculum and the key skills and
competencies that run through all subject areas.
How subject knowledge, skills, understanding and personal
development can be integrated through meaningful learning
experiences.
Ways of overcoming the perceived constraints of content,
time and structure.
Ways of embedding higher order thinking skills to deepen
children’s learning.
Learning opportunities outside of the classroom.
Ways of evaluating how successful a curriculum has been in
enabling the children to learn what was intended.
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