The Year of the Curriculum
The programme consists of four modules, each with two units:
What are we
trying to
achieve?
Module
1
What
are we
trying to
achieve?
How shall we
organise
learning?
How shall we
evaluate
success?
How do we
make it
happen?
Unit 2: Creating clear, world-class design
principles developed
with stakeholders
Curriculum Foundation
1
This 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 the
curriculum principles which will provide the foundations for your
high quality curriculum, taking account of key competencies.
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By the end of this second unit of module 1 you will:
•
have explored the building blocks of the curriculum and the
debates concerning recent trends in curriculum development
Go to section 2A
•
have a clear understanding of the place and importance of
competencies in a 21st century curriculum
Go to
section 2B
•
know how to engage stakeholders in developing curriculum
principles and how to ensure the school’s principles provide
designers with firm foundations for a quality curriculum
Go to section 2C
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“The
No school
prizes for
recognising
curriculumthis
must
man.
But
prepare
what did
young
he say
people
about the
for school
an
uncertain
curriculum?
future.”
?
“To do this, we need the traditional subjects,
but we also need young people to develop the
key competencies that will enable them to
cope with life in the 21st Century.”
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In the first unit, we were looking at how we can
prepare young people for the future. In this unit we
shall explore these “Key Competencies” that Mandela
mentioned. What are they? How do we build them
into the curriculum?
But first some thoughts about ‘curriculum planning’
and ‘curriculum design’, and then a look at what we
use to design a curriculum.
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Curriculum Planning
Planning can often mean making
a list of all the things that pupil
should learn and making sure
they are in the right order.
Not everyone looks forward to
planning meetings!
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Curriculum Design
Design is about constructing the learning experiences that pupils
will need in order to learn those things.
It is about ensuring that those experiences are effective and
compelling in themselves and that the sum total of the experiences
adds up to a coherent and worthwhile programme that meets the
ends that we seek.
Design is much more interesting.
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The ‘Building Blocks’ of a curriculum:
What is a curriculum made of?
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The ‘building blocks’ of the curriculum:
Knowledge
Possession of information
Skills
Ability to perform mental or physical operation
Understanding
Development of a concept: putting knowledge in
a framework of meaning
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Look at the following two questions and one
instruction. Are they asking for knowledge, skills
or understanding?
What is the capital city of France?
Find out what is the capital city of Mongolia.
Why is New York not the capital of the USA?
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Here are the answers.
What is the capital city of France?
To answer this question, you need knowledge. You need to be able to
When
look
curriculum
documents
is often
helpful
look at
Yes,aitwe
was
too
easy
really. However,
weitdo
need to
bear to
these
recall
piece
of at
information.
the
verb thatin
introduces
thewe
learning
distinctions
mind when
design expectations.
a curriculum.
Find out what is the capital city of Mongolia.
Knowledge
expectations
words
suchtoas:
know that,
The types of
experiencesoften
that start
pupilswith
need
in order
acquire
identify,
state,
knowledge
arename,
quite
different
from
theneed
onestothey
needtotoperform
acquirean
This
requires
you
to doetc
something.
You
be able
skills. YouIncan
people
information
they
to practise
skills.
operation.
thistell
case
to look
something– up
in have
an atlas,
or google
it, or
Skills
expectations
tend to start
activekind.
verbs: investigate, carry
ask
someone.
This requires
a skillwith
of some
out,
explore, construct,
etc being able to put knowledge in a
Understanding
comes from
framework of meaning. Knowledge is essential to understanding,
Why
is New
Yorkunderstanding
not
capital
USA?
Understanding
expectations
tendthe
to start
with ways
ofthe
demonstrating
but knowledge
without
would
beof
merely
that
understanding:
explain,Arecognise
etc. knowledge would be
disconnected
information.
collectionwhy,
of such
This requires you to understand something in order to explain it. You
the curriculum
of the
pub quiz.know – it’s Ulaan Baatar
In case
you
need to have acquired
thedidn’t
concept of a capital. You need to have to put
your knowledge into a framework of meaning .
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Look at some of the learning outcomes you have
written recently, or that are contained in your
curriculum planning. How many of these are about:
•
•
•
Knowledge?
Skills?
Understanding?
What was the proportion of each?
Are you happy with the proportion?
What do you think about the proportion of each in
the new National Curriculum?
We shall return to this issue later.
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For many years, we thought of the curriculum in terms of
knowledge, skills and understanding and we designed learning
experiences suitable for each. Recently, a debate has arisen
around the notion that knowledge is more important than skills.
Or that skills are more important than knowledge if you are on
the other side of the argument.
So, which is more important? Which side are you on? Have you
put your vote in the box?
Knowledge
Skills
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Yes,Do
it’syou
E.D.recognise
Hirsch. this man? He has
been very influential in the debate
Did you
notice
the sub-title?
says:
about
knowledge
versusItskills.
“What every American needs to know”.
Not “What every American needs to be
able to do, or to understand”.
This book has been taken to argue the
primacy of knowledge over skills, and
many people have jumped on the
bandwagon.
You may recognise the next person.
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“ Our problem is that
we have an education
system that elevates the
acquisition of skills
over the passing on of
concrete knowledge.”
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ED Hirsch took his ideas into
a set of school books – one
for each grade 1-12. If you
look inside these, they are
lists of facts (mostly about
the USA).
The idea has been taken up
in England as well:
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Of course, the English versions have more of a bias toward English facts, but they are
still mainly lists of facts.
This not to condemn them. We should reserve judgement at this stage. The
followers of ED Hirsch believe that facts are the most important aspect of learning,
and see them as the key to breaking the cycle of deprivation that means that pupils
from poorer homes tend to do worse at school than those from wealthier
backgrounds*. Hirsch based his thoughts on a wealth of experimental evidence.
We’ll come back to this – but first, look at the first draft of the new English National
Curriculum. These were the draft History Programmes of Study for Key Stage 2:
*You can see and hear Prof Hirsch explain this himself at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4Xf7LtN-Yg
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2013 Consultation draft of English National Curriculum
Key Stage 2 History Programmes of Study
•
•
•
•
•
•
early Britons and settlers, including:
•
the
Stone,
Bronze
and
Iron
Ages
•
Celtic culture and patterns of settlement
• Roman
conquest and rule, including:
•
Caesar,
Augustus, and Claudius
•
•
Britain
as
part
of
the
Roman
Empire
• the decline and fall of the Western Roman Empire
•
Anglo-Saxon and Viking settlement, including:
Heptarchy
• the
the
spread
of Christianity
•
key
developments
in the reigns of Alfred, Athelstan, Cnut•
•
and Edward the Confessor
the Norman Conquest and Norman rule, including:
•
• the Domesday Book
• Feudalism
• Norman culture
the Crusades
•
Plantagenet rule in the 12th and 13th centuries, including:
• key developments in the reign of Henry II, including the •
murder of Thomas Becket
Carta
• Magna
• de Montfort's Parliament
relations between England, Wales, Scotland and France, including:
William Wallace
• Robert
the Bruce
•
Llywelyn
and Dafydd ap Gruffydd
•
•
•
the Hundred Years War
life in 14th-century England, including:
• Chivalry
Black Death
• the
the
Peasants’ Revolt
•
the later Middle Ages and the early modern period, including:
Chaucer and the revival of learning
• Wycliffe’s
Bible
•
• Caxton and the introduction of the printing press
Wars of the Roses
• the
Warwick
the Kingmaker
•
the Tudor period, including religious strife and Reformation in the reigns
of Henry VIII, Edward VI, and Mary
Elizabeth I's reign and English expansion, including:
• colonisation of the New World
of Ireland
• plantation
conflict
with
Spain
•
the Renaissance in England, including the lives and works of individuals
such as Shakespeare and Marlowe
the Stuart period, including:
• the Union of the Crowns
versus Parliament
• King
Cromwell's
commonwealth, the Levellers and the Diggers
•
• the restoration of the monarchy
Great Plague and the Great Fire of London
• the
Samuel
Pepys and the establishment of the Royal Navy
•
the Glorious Revolution, constitutional monarchy and the Union of the
Parliaments.
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It does not take long to work out which category
of knowledge, skills or understanding
these
fall
Intelligence
involves
into.
the achievement
over a period of time
thinking
skillswho
Nor do we need to wonder foroflong
about
rather than
the be
influenced this thinking. (Although
we might
mastery of factual
wondering whether this is justified!)
information.
It wasn’t this next person!
Jean Piaget
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When we looked at the History example from the first draft of
the English National Curriculum, we noticed that it was
entirely knowledge. After public furore, this was changed.
Here is the final version of Science for Year 6. Which of these
are knowledge, skills or understanding? Can you spot the key
verbs? Can you spot the change in emphasis?
Now look at other Programmes of Study from the new National
Curriculum. Secondary teachers might like to look at their own
subject and one other. Primary teachers might prefer to look at
their year group and one other.
Examine the expectations. What is being asked for here? What
sort of learning experiences will your pupils need in order to
achieve this learning?
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Go back to the things you wrote in Unit 1 around the
‘stick person’. Which of these are knowledge, which
skills and which understanding? Check them off.
Do these three categories encompass all the things
you wrote? Were some of your aspirations beyond
these three categories?
What about the values, the attitudes and the
elements of personal development?
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So there must be more ‘building blocks’ of the
curriculum:
Values
Sets of core beliefs and understandings on which
actions are based
Attitudes
Behavioural tendencies based on evaluations
Personal
development
Individual, social and emotional skills and
wellbeing
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Even more ‘building blocks’ of the curriculum:
Ideas
Curiosity
Imagination
Excitement
Aesthetic
appreciation
Wonder
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‘Employers are complaining that academic
programmes from schools to universities
simply don’t teach what people need to
know and be able to do. They want people
who can think intuitively, who are
Yetand
another
man
to
imaginative
innovative,
who can
communicate well,
work in teams, and are
recognise.
flexible, adaptable and self-confident.
The traditional curriculum is simply not
Yes, it’s Sir Ken Robinson
designed to produce such people.’
All Our Futures 1999
Sir Ken Robinson
Hear more from Sir Ken at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY
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“To thrive and survive in the
21st century, people need to be
more creative. Employers
require people who can adapt,
(Why have all the slides so far
see connections, innovate,
featured men? Could we please
communicate and work with
hear from a woman?!!)
others”
Prof Anna Craft
Exeter University
Hear more from Prof Craft at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CICzqQrsVPU
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