Many primary school headteachers feel under significant pressure to “sort out” the curriculum. Ofsted’s renewed interest over the last few years has left many wondering how to respond.
The issue is complex with the need for attention to all subject disciplines and the fear of an inspector diving into a very shallow subject.
Where to insist on conformity or allow autonomy becomes a nagging question, especially as some subject leaders are passionate and expert exponents in their subjects while others feel they have “drawn the short straw” and are trying to help out.
No wonder some feel worried about finding an inspector with a snorkel asking questions about their work.
To a growing extent headteachers feel the need to define the curriculum expectations in terms of a progression pathway, some going as far as producing the lesson plans for class teachers to deliver, including objectives and resources such as PowerPoint slides and proformas for children to complete.
A fool’s errand
There is something satisfying about each teacher having all 760 teaching sessions for each year charted and the pathway in place for each individual child. More than 4,560 lessons, but it could be an obvious fool’s errand.
Who would guarantee that we will be on the same national curriculum or inspection framework in six years’ time?
Schools and trusts ought not to be planning their curriculum for inspection, but for the children they serve. Ofsted agrees and acknowledges schools where children are being exposed to rich experiences which build and consolidate knowledge, extend skills, and confront big ideas.
In our book, A Curious Curriculum, we tell the story of the development of a primary school curriculum across an academy trust where we have tried to balance levels of standardisation, alignment, and autonomy. We have though seen significant development in outcomes in foundation subjects.
This shows itself in the enthusiasm and competence of children, the quality of children’s products and the obvious progress that most children are making. There are other indicators too: the growing confidence of teachers, as they the widen the pedagogic repertoire to make their teaching bring learning to fruit. So, what have we learnt?
Good curriculum practice takes time
We liken the process to a game of snakes and ladders where a rush of progress can be succeeded by a slide down a waiting snake.
The curriculum doesn’t stand on its own
It holds hands with pedagogy, assessment, leadership, special needs, and pupil disposition. A curriculum on paper (or screen) is relatively simple to put together but getting it to work relies upon teachers to secure the learning with children.
Subject leaders need support
Subject leaders are key to so much of what is achieved. In the book, we discuss the 10 roles that they need to play and show how the responsibility has morphed from subject co-ordination into subject leadership with subtle additions to the job. The 10 roles are:
- Vision and principles
- Policies
- Design and plan
- Resource and organise
- Model and influence practice
- CPD
- Observe and check
- Improve
- Data and evidence
- Quality-assure, evaluate, and prove
We talk about the importance of helping them to work together and of each being sure how much authority has been delegated to them. This is vital since they will be at so many different points of expertise and experience and some will have several subjects to lead. Getting them to work together as a team is vital.
Teachers need frameworks to help them
However, we have to guard against those frameworks becoming cages that constrain. One of the latest additions to the schooling vocabulary is the word “fidelity”. It is one of those words that seems to drip into nearly every sentence at present. The line between fidelity and conformity is not very wide and professional energy tends to seep away the more teachers’ work is driven from elsewhere.
Of course, what is included in the curriculum has to be agreed and we have tried to establish a clear set of expectations, building on shared principles, while offering different schools and different teachers the opportunity to bring their own perspective to their work.
So we have some defined content, and we have key learning intentions for each year group which support teachers in exploiting learning opportunities. Our teachers are expected to be able to tell the story of their plan for the term to enable children to grow as learners as well as cover the ground.
We want our children to be emerging geographers, budding historians, fledgling artists as well as activists, scholars, and environmentalists. We want them to engage with learning, let it surround them and influence it themselves.
Planning is a collaborative venture. At first, some thought that meant sharing out the jobs and swapping lesson planning. Gradually people have realised that workload reduces when they have a confidence in what they are teaching built on their own knowledge and understanding rather than trying to gain confidence by download, PowerPoint, or photocopy.
We want our teachers to relax into their teaching, spending time thinking about how they will teach as well as what they teach, rather than wear themselves out on the hamster wheel of racing to the next lesson performance while doing the marking from the previous one. It is a matter of perspective.
Subject knowledge
Top of the list though in any successful curriculum is teachers knowing what they are teaching about – and there is no way around that except expecting teachers to develop the habit of reading about what they are going to teach.
The more they read and become fascinated by the things they want children to learn, the more they devise productive ways into their teaching, the more they will push learning deeply below the surface and the more they will enjoy helping children to experience the joy as well as the purpose of a good curriculum, well taught.
- Claire Banks is director of education for The Olympus Academy Trust, a cross-phase multi-academy trust in north Bristol. Before this she was a headteacher for nine years in an inner-city primary school. A former headteacher, Professor Mick Waters works closely with teachers and leaders in schools, MATs, and local authorities to support the development of teaching approaches and curriculum to ensure the best learning outcomes for children. For some years he was director of curriculum for England, based at the Qualification and Curriculum Authority (QCA). They are the authors of A Curious Curriculum (Crown House Publishing). Visit www.crownhouse.co.uk/a-curious-curriculum and use code CURRICULUM20 for 20% off + free UK shipping.