Whose Curriculum Is It?
Working with Stakeholders
Many schools work with their stakeholders
to think through what should be in the
curriculum. So who should be consulted?
Teachers – the trained professionals?
Employers – those in need of able and
skilled future employees?
Parents – who need to be confident of the
appropriateness of the curriculum and
informed enough to support children’s
learning?
Governors – with overall responsibility for
the quality of the curriculum?
Students – whom we hope will be inspired
by the curriculum?
This is a matter for each school to decide
© Curriculum Foundation
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Working with Stakeholders Case Study 1
A group of Secondary Schools in Surrey was considering how to introduce
competencies into the curriculum. They worked with local employers to
draft the list of competencies and then the employers and schools worked
together on ways of assessing progress in the competencies.
The outcome was a set of practical ‘challenge days’ where pupils had to
work in teams to solve problems. There was great ‘buy–in’ from pupils
and parents because of the employer involvement.
But, before we can think about assessing competencies, we need to think
about how they fit with the subjects, and how they can be acquired.
© Curriculum Foundation
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Competencies and Curriculum Principles
Seeing learning in terms of competencies as well as subjects
suggests several principles about curriculum organisation. For
example:
• The curriculum needs to be be more than subjects
• Learning needs to involve knowledge, skills and understanding –
but also attitudes and values
• Pupils will only develop skills with practice
• Skills need to be developed in the context of knowledge
• To apply skills and knowledge, we need practical situations that
have some meaning for the pupils
You can probably think of more. This is something you can do with
stakeholders.
© Curriculum Foundation
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Working with Stakeholders Case Study 2
A school in Birmingham began to question how
appropriate its curriculum was for all of its young
people. This led to fundamental questions about the
purposes and aims of the curriculum and the school’s
values.
Consultation events were organised when parents,
governors, teachers and employers, in mixed groups,
discussed the purpose of the curriculum and
produced ‘stick man’ descriptions of the ideal
outcomes for a student in the 21st century.
The results shaped the school’s aims and values as
well as the key attitudes, skills and competences.
There was universal agreement that the time spent
represented a sound investment.
© Curriculum Foundation
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Finalising Your Curriculum Principles
If you have already carried out the stick man exercise you will
have described the ideal learner with a set of words and
phrases which can now be classified into groups.
You could use the ‘building blocks’ of the curriculum as the
headings for these groups or you may wish to devise your own
categories.
Once this grouping has been done there will need to be a
process of rationalisation, removing duplication and merging
similar items to produce a description which is comprehensive
but also coherent and manageable.
The next challenge is to turn these words into a set of
curriculum principles which will guide the design process and
ensure the quality of the curriculum.
© Curriculum Foundation
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World Class Curriculum Principles
Curriculum Foundation colleagues have worked on curriculum designs in many
countries and have often been asked what a truly world class curriculum would look
like.
No two schools are the same and therefore the design process inevitably produces
principles which differ from one school to the next. Hence there is no blueprint, no
‘one size fits all’ set of curriculum principles.
However, there are common features which every curriculum should have if it is to
prepare our young people for success in the 21st century global economy.
From these common features, the Foundation has developed a set of ten World
Class Curriculum principles, grouped into four domains.
The document A World Class Curriculum – The Principles is available from the
Foundation website: Click here
These principles are offered here to show how a set of curriculum principles might
be expressed and presented and NOT as the right answer!
© Curriculum Foundation
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Organising Your Curriculum Principles
The process by which you arrive at your own set of curriculum
principles is for you and your colleagues to decide but you may
wish to categorise the principles into domains in a similar way.
Curriculum designers certainly find it easier to take account of
principles if they are grouped into categories.
Take a look at the four domains:
Values, aims and
principles
Key competencies
for learning and
The world’s major
branches of
Community, local,
national and
life
learning
global contexts
Consider a traditional, examination-focussed curriculum. To
what extent would you expect each of the four domains to be
represented?
Is there an appropriate balance of these four domains in your
school’s current curriculum?
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Auditing Your Curriculum
Also available on the Foundation website is the World Class
Curriculum audit: Click here
Schools can use this audit tool to RAG rate* the curriculum
against each of the ten principles.
Many schools have used the audit as a starting point for their
curriculum development process but it can be used at any stage,
including at this point to cross-check or quality assure draft
school principles.
Colleagues have reported that it leads to deep and valuable
conversations and helps schools on the path to developing a
quality curriculum.
*RAG rating: Red = not met; Amber = partially met; Green = fully met
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In this Unit we have looked at:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Curriculum planning and curriculum design
The building blocks of the curriculum
The wider aims of education – preparing for life
A set of competencies
Working with stakeholders
Principles underpinning the curriculum
In the next Unit we shall look at:
• How competencies can be built into subjects
• Deep learning and national requirements
In the meantime – work on those lists of competencies with
your stakeholders, and the principles that flow from them.
© Curriculum Foundation
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Do you recognise
"Education
is not
this
man?
filling
a bucket,
but lighting a
fire."
He had an
interesting view of
the purpose of
The
Irish poet
education.
W. B. Yeats
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