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RECLAIMING OUR CURRICULUM
Custom design your curriculum for your learners
Free CPD modules to download at
www.teachers.org.uk/campaigns/curriculum
What is the Year of the Curriculum?
The Year of the Curriculum is a professional development
project. It has been created to enable teachers to plan and
design a bespoke whole school curriculum.
This guide introduces you to a series of units, called the Year of
the Curriculum programme, which are designed to work for
individual teachers and to support whole school development.
If you work through the programme, you will start by setting the
aims for the curriculum in your school. You will explore how to
knit together all the various elements of the curriculum. You will
consider how to measure what is important and not just what is
easier to assess. You will also ensure that your school’s policies,
routines and engagement with its community support your
exciting curriculum.
Whenever you pick up this guide, whatever year, I am confident
that teachers in England and Wales will find it valuable.
I hope the units empower you. Teachers are time-poor and
teaching is target heavy, so this programme has been designed
to allow you to dip in flexibly, or to work through all eight units for
deeper professional development and reflection.
You can locate the units described in this guide at:
www.teachers.org.uk/curriculum
Christine Blower
General Secretary
2
The Curriculum Foundation
The Curriculum Foundation is a not-for-profit social enterprise
organisation, established to pursue our vision of a world class
curriculum for every teacher, everywhere. Our focus is curriculum
development and design and we work with educators at every
level from individual teachers and schools through to national
governments.
The NUT recognises that successful curriculum change depends
upon colleagues having access to appropriate professional
development. They have shouldered the responsibility for making
this freely available to teachers through the ‘Year of the
Curriculum’ programme.
As a profession, we must claim back our responsibility for the
curriculum. It is not sufficient to be the deliverers of someone
else’s programmes. It is not good for us as teachers and
certainly not good for learners.
The Foundation is proud to partner with the NUT in this
extraordinary collaboration. Together we have the potential to
have an impact on learning and the life experiences of so many
young people.
Dave Peck
The Curriculum Foundation
3
Designing the curriculum – make learning irresistible
The most effective curriculum for learners in your school is one
that is custom-designed for them. No-one is better placed to
design this curriculum than you!
We need to remember that it is memorable learning experiences
created by enthusiastic, talented teachers that brings learning to
life.
Most of us have at least one memory of irresistible learning from
our own time as students. Sometimes those experiences are
life-changing, perhaps leading to a career choice or a lifelong
love of literature, art, sport, languages or nature.
• What is your most memorable learning experience?
• What was it about the experience that made the learning
irresistible?
• How could we design experiences to include the elements that
make learning irresistible?
See the next page for your eight part guide to help you develop
curriculum design and development skills. These eight units take
you on a journey from creating clear design principles and
measuring what we value, through to designing a curriculum for
deep learning and, finally, to practical strategies for effective
implementation.
4
The Year of the Curriculum units
Modules
Units (posted on NUT website)
Unit
number
• Laying the foundations for a
curriculum that excites imaginations,
Unit 1
inspires all learners and ensures
high standards
Module 1
What are
we trying to
• Creating clear, world class design
achieve?
principles developed with
stakeholders
Module 2
How shall
we
organise
learning?
Unit 2
• Designing for deep learning that
balances curriculum elements and
makes learning irresistible
Unit 3
• Meeting national requirements in a
local setting that is personal to
teachers
Unit 4
• Measuring what we value:
knowledge, skills, understanding
and personal development
Unit 5
Module 3
How shall
we evaluate
• Evaluating the impact of curriculum
success?
change
• Building for success: a strategic
Module 4
approach to change and innovation
How do we
make it
• Involving the whole community in
happen?
curriculum design and
implementation
All eight units available free at
www.teachers.org.uk/campaigns/curriculum
5
Unit 6
Unit 7
Unit 8
What do we mean by ‘the curriculum’?
Teachers will give different answers if asked to define the
curriculum. Some of the possible answers that generally emerge
can be grouped into the categories below.
Subject knowledge
Subject plus
All planned experiences
All-inclusive
UNESCO’s International Bureau of Education considers these
three inter-related dimensions of the curriculum:
1. The intended or official curriculum as defined in guidelines,
frameworks and guides that specify what students are
expected to learn and should be able to do.
2. The implemented curriculum that is actually taught in the
classroom, including how it is delivered and who teaches it.
3. The attained curriculum that represents what students have
actually learned.
UNESCO points out that the challenge is ensuring coherence
and congruence between curriculum policy documents, the
actual pedagogical process and learning outcomes.
Throughout the Year of the Curriculum units, the word
‘curriculum’ is used in its broadest sense. The school curriculum
is everything that happens in school plus everything that takes
place through school. The national curriculum is a part of the
school curruculum. Does this definition feel right for your school?
6
What do we mean by curriculum design?
Units 1 and 2 enable you to consider the definition on page 6
and to develop the confidence to pull all the seemingly disparate
elements together to make one curriculum. Unit 2 explores the
distinction between curriculum planning and curriculum design.
Curriculum planning
Planning can often mean simply making a list of all the things that
pupils should learn and making sure they are all in the right
order.
Curriculum design
Design is about constructing the learning experiences that young
people will need in order to learn these 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 end that
we seek.
Design is much more interesting than planning!
A national curriculum is just one element of the education of
every child and schools are free to choose how they organise the
school day. Schools can use these modules to gain confidence
in how to design a flexible school curriculum. This curriculum will
cover statutory requirements but will also inspire and ensure that
skills and competencies continue to be developed alongside
knowledge and understanding.
7
Building blocks
Units 3, 4 and 5 introduce some of 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
These are the building blocks often considered but there are
others…
Values
Sets of core beliefs and understanding
on which actions are based
Attitudes
Behavioural tendencies
based on evaluations
Personal
Development
Individual, social and
emotional skills and well-being
Competencies, explored in Unit 6, are the combination of knowledge,
skills and attitudes that are acquired through the application of
knowledge in meaningful situations. They help deepen learning and
turn knowledge into understanding. Competencies require the
development of the right attitudes to apply the knowledge.
Knowledge
+
Skill
+
Attitude
=
Competence
If values, attitudes, skills and competencies are to be routinely
taught in the same way as subject knowledge, they must be
securely transmitted through long and medium-term plans into
learning objectives and outcomes at lesson level.
8
Implementation: it’s all down to the
learning experiences…
Teaching Strategies
Classroom management, pedagogy, teaching and
learning resources
Content
Aims and
objectives,
content, skills and
competencies,
values and
attitudes
Assessment
Formative and
summative
Students’
Learning
Experiences
Source: Ministry of Education, Singapore
9
Curriculum aims and values
What is the curriculum actually for?
Underpinning the Year of the Curriculum modules is the belief
that schools need aims and values for their school curriculum.
Unit 1 explores curriculum aims, and subsequent units build on
those aims.
If a school is to be more than a group of individuals coming
together under one roof, it needs:
• a unifying set of values which everyone shares and recognises
as important; and
• agreed aims so that everyone’s energy is channelled towards
achieving the same ends.
The curriculum should reflect these aims and values so that all
learning experiences contribute to a coherent, consistent
effective team pursuit of the best possible outcomes.
‘Equipped for Life’ – what are the curriculum aims in
your school?
A valuable approach to establishing clear, aspirational curriculum
aims and values is to explore what you would provide if you
could equip all learners with everything they need to succeed
in life.
With sufficient time and thought, the outcome of this process is
a description of the ideal ‘product’ of education, a confident
young person, fully ‘equipped for life’.
In Unit 1, you will find a ‘stick figure’ worksheet. Use this
with colleagues, parents or learners – ask what your learners
will need to be equipped for life. Draw the answers on the
stick figure.
10
Equipped for life?
makes connections
thirst for knowledge
questioning
takes risks independent
listens and reflects
willing to have a go
confident
makes a
difference
gets on well
with others
persevering
literate
critical
generates ideas
self- editing
shows initiative
communicates
well
respectful
flexible
curious
self-esteem
skilled
‘can do’ attitude
creative
compassionate
acts with integrity
learns from mistakes
thinks for themselves
There is no right answer but your description will undoubtedly
include some of the above.
11
Setting your curriculum aims and values
What do we mean by ‘equipped for life’?
It does not matter how you ask, or who you ask, everyone wants
the same for their children. Educators and parents the world over
tend to generate the same aspirations when using the exercise
described on pages 10 and 11.
Unit 1 explains the ways in which the stick figure exercise can
allow your school to set or develop its curricular values and aims.
To what extent does your current curriculum deliver?
Consider what you and your colleagues/parents/governors have
written on your stick figure/list. Does your curriculum:
• Instil the values on your list?
• Develop the attitudes on your list?
• Teach the skills on your list?
• Prepare young people for the 21st century?
If we express curriculum aims simply in terms of knowledge,
do you think we can prepare our learners properly for life in the
modern world?
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Curriculum design – a job for teachers
Who should design the curriculum? Do teachers solely
implement or deliver the curriculum, or should they design it as
well?
This guide is for teachers, for it is teachers who are best placed
to fit and adapt national requirements to a local setting and
incorporate a national curriculum into a school curriculum that is
right for students.
In Unit 5, different philosophical approaches to the curriculum
are analysed. Debates about teacher professionalism are not
new. See this analysis by Jean Rudduck of the centrality of
teachers in Lawrence Stenhouse’s approach, written in 1975:
“He saw a curriculum development project not as a
convenient means of regimenting teachers in a different
set of routines, but as a way of extending their individual
and communal powers.
A curriculum project was not a solution worked out by
others and offered to teachers, who had merely to apply
it; it was a diagnostic and experimental tool, designed to
help teachers examine some of the fundamental problems
of schooling. In its framework and materials, a curriculum
project gave support for trying out and evaluating new
approaches in a spirit of inquiry.
Teachers, not curriculum packages, are the agents of
change, and the function of curriculum projects is to
service the professional learning of teachers by offering
specifications teachers can evaluate by testing them in
their own classrooms.”
13
Curriculum aims are changing around the world
When developing curriculum aims, many schools around the
world have national aims set by governments to take into
account.
The pre-2014 English National Curriculum aims were a source of
inspiration for other jurisdictions around the world. There is
nothing to prevent you from utilising, adapting or applying the
pre-2014 aims which were designed to enable all young people
to become:
• successful learners who enjoy learning, make progress and
achieve;
• confident individuals who are able to live safe, healthy and
fulfilling lives;
• responsible citizens who make a positive contribution to
society.
Engaging stakeholders in developing shared aims is valuable in
building understanding of and commitment to the curriculum.
“Finland, Japan, Shanghai and Singapore … realise that
high wages in the current global economy require not just
superior knowledge of the subjects studied in school, but
also a set of social skills, personal habits and dispositions
and values that are essential to success.”
Mark S Tucker (2011) Standing on the Shoulders of Giants
14
International perspectives
This table sets out the national curriculum aims of five different
areas.
Where?
Curriculum aims
Australia has
committed to…
…supporting all young Australians to
become successful learners, confident and
creative individuals, and active and informed
citizens
Alberta,
Canada
…students develop an interrelated set of
attitudes, skills and knowledge that can be
drawn upon and applied for successful
learning, work and living
New Zealand
Confident, connected, actively involved
lifelong learners
Hong Kong
…essential lifelong learning experiences for
whole-person development in the domains
of ethics, intellect, physical development,
social skills and aesthetics… all students
can become active, responsible and
contributing members of society, the nation
and the world
Singapore
…holistically nurturing students to become
well-rounded persons – morally,
intellectually, physically, socially and
aesthetically
15
Pedagogy, curriculum and assessment
You will be aware of how forms of assessment, the pressures
resulting from accountability measures or teaching methods can
distort the curriculum. Aspirations for the curriculum that you
wish to pursue can be undermined by demands for particular
teaching methods or by assessment forms, as much as by the
national curriculum documents.
This is why setting curriculum aims and values is so vital – to
agree aims for your school which enable teachers to collaborate
together to shape a curriculum vision and stay on track.
Curriculum design checklist
1. At the end of this learning experience, what will the students
have learned?
2. Is it really necessary to learn this at all? Is it something we
need to do?
3. If the students learn this, what level will they attain in terms
of the subject?
4. What skills and competencies will students be developing?
5. Will the planned learning experiences actually bring about
this intended learning?
6. Where should it take place – classroom, school grounds,
wider locality?
7.
Who should be involved – teachers, parents, others?
8. Could we make it even more interesting?
16
Examining current practice in your school
ng
de
rs
nd
fle
i
un
ta
ct
Examining Current
Practice
re
ing
Improving Learning
and Teaching
through Inquiry
Researching
Our Classrooms
Making
Decisions
e
in
an
em
ni
pl
ng
im
nt
pl
g
Creating Optimal
Learning Environments
17
Measuring what we value
Unit 5 explains the importance of being confident in the value of
teacher assessment over tests. We must remember how
effective teacher use of formative assessment can be. It is also
important to consider all those aspects of development that we
really value.
Unit 6 explores assessment and evaluation. Some of the issues
explored in the unit include:
• What is the difference between assessment and evaluation?
• What is the difference between assessment and testing?
• Do we always measure something when we assess it?
• What is the difference between ‘validity’ and ‘reliability’?
• How many different types of assessment are there?
Whatever approach taken by a school, it is important to assess
what we value and not what is easy to assess.
Assessment
Finding out what or how much a person has learned.
Evaluation
Finding out how effective a system is at delivering its goals.
18
Learning from each other
The units contain links to case studies from Professor Mick
Waters, who introduces a number of schools and situations and
gives an insightful commentary on each.
In each case, there is an example of what can be achieved
through teachers taking control of the curriculum and having the
confidence to design learning experiences that fit their pupils.
This is the ‘personalisation’ of learning. Find them at
www.teachersmedia.co.uk/videos/inspire-learning-video-clips
The focus of the Year of the Curriculum programme is, of course,
curriculum development and design rather than pedagogy.
However, curriculum implementation cannot be separated from
the learning experiences that will make it happen.
Unit 6 provides pointers to some thought-provoking sources
relating to irresistible learning, including:
• High Tech High Schools (San Diego) on a project-based
approach to learning;
• John Hattie’s illuminating meta-analysis regarding what really
works in the classroom; and
• Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence: approaches to learning
section and its useful links.
We invite you to send examples of how you have used the
Year of the Curriculum Programme to [email protected]
We hope that you find this guide and professional development
insightful and that you are empowered to reclaim your
curriculum.
19
CURRICULUM LEARNING TREE
Theatre
Cinema world
Typing Skills
Monitors
Targets
ICT
Roald Dahl
History of chocolate
Successful
Learner
Materials
Glass
Forces
Metal
Plastic
Clay
Textiles
Research
Skills
Functional
Skills
Resilient
Confident
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Curious
Physical Education
Eco Committee
Librarians
Reading Buddies
School Councillors
Learning Partners
Responsible
Citizen
Confident
Individual
Thinking
Skills
Social
Skills
Learning
Skills
Compassionate
Enterprising
Principled
21
Join Us
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0845 300 1669 or 020 7380 6369
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If you know a colleague who is not already in a union ask them to
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If there is currently no rep in your school or college, please get
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details can be found on your membership credential or at
www.teachers.org.uk/contactus
To get involved in the NUT go to
www.teachers.org.uk/getinvolved
22
Acknowledgements
The Year of the Curriculum units are written by the Curriculum
Foundation and the NUT is grateful for kind permission to
reproduce some of the content in this guide.
With thanks to Dave Peck, Peter Hall-Jones, Brian Male, Alison
Willmott and Gareth Mills from the Curriculum Foundation.
www.teachers.org.uk
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Designed and published by The Strategy and Communications Department of The National Union of Teachers – www.teachers.org.uk
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