Questions for the Higher Education Academy

•  Should Initial Teacher Education prepare teachers to be curriculum designers? If so, how?

•  How could school curricula be designed with, by and for Higher Education Institutions?

•  Might curriculum co-design be a path to more meaningful, productive and equal partnerships between schools and HEIs?

The school curriculum is everything that happens in school plus everything that takes place through school Curriculum Foundation

joe.hallgarten@rsa.org.uk

1856: the first organisation to launch national exams

1870: launched an enquiry into the state of education

1872: helped establish Girls’ Day School Trust

1978: initiated Education for Capability movement

1999: developed Opening Minds framework

2008: opened RSA Academy, Tipton

2012: Initiated Grand Curriculum Designs Programme

2

Features of Clumsy Leadership Relationships not Structures

Reflection not Reaction

Positive Deviance not Negative Acquiescence

Negative Capability not false certainty

Constructive Dissent not Destructive Consent

Collective Intelligence not Individual Genius

Community of Fate not Fatalist Community

Empathy not Egotism

The case for school-based curriculum design has been won. Politicians and headteachers appear to agree that the nationally prescribed body of knowledge contained in the National Curriculum should provide a minimum entitlement, but should not define everything that is taught in schools.” RSA, 2012

I predict that in the months and years to come, the best curricula will be developed and refined in schools across the country by teachers, for teachers. Michael Gove, 2013

I want to make an argument for a view of school leadership and a new way of thinking about leadership. It places the curriculum – the principles on which we decide what a school should teach- as shaping all the other responsibilities that face a Head teacher. It arises partly from my understanding of the new policy context that schools face and partly from my view of the curriculum. Michael Young, Institute of Education

Grand Curriculum Designs

Core learning

Applying learning

Collaborative learning

Deepening learning

Day 1

Principles and processes of curriculum design Building a curriculum vision Developing a focus for change

Day 2

Factors influencing curriculum design Designing a curriculum with, by and for your locality

Consolidating a focus for change

Day 3

Leadership of curriculum innovation and change

Planning for impact

National Event

Extending the national community of practice in curriculum design

Sharing learning from curriculum innovation project

Action Research Improvement and Impact Project

RSA Certificate in Curriculum Design

Online Resources and Discussions Learning Triads

IOE Accreditation World Class Curriculum Mark

National Community of Practice

1.  How has your current curriculum been determined? How do you know it is working?

2.  What is it that you might like to shift in terms of your school’s curriculum? What evidence tells you this is a significant area to focus on?

3.  What areas of learning should you spend more time on, and what might be able to give?

4.  What is the appetite for change and the barriers to change?

Activity One – rationale, enablers and blockers

Activity Two: What would success look like?

Think about

• evidence and values

•  cognitive, interpersonal and intrapersonal competencies

•  head, heart and hand

What does your school want your pupils to learn that isn’t in the national curriculum?

Four key principles of GCD

•  Young people need to learn both knowledge and competencies to enable them to thrive

•  A locally-generated curriculum should integrate with and have equal status to the national curriculum

•  Teachers should work in partnership with others to create a curriculum designed by, with and for a locality

•  An innovative curriculum design process is in itself a valuable school improvement tool

Four key principles of GCD

•  Young people need to learn both knowledge and competencies to enable them to thrive

•  A locally-generated curriculum should integrate with and have equal status to the national curriculum

•  Teachers should work in partnership with others to create a curriculum designed by, with and for a locality

•  An innovative curriculum design process is in itself a valuable school improvement tool

Cognitive competencies •  Cognitive processes and

strategies •  Knowledge •  Creativity

Intra-personal competencies •  Intellectual openness •  Work ethic /

conscientiousness •  Positive core self-

evaluation

Inter-personal competencies •  Team-work •  Leadership

RSA Opening Minds

Four key principles of GCD

•  Young people need to learn both knowledge and competencies to enable them to thrive

•  A locally-generated curriculum should integrate with and have equal status to the national curriculum

•  Teachers should work in partnership with others to create a curriculum designed by, with and for a locality

•  An innovative curriculum design process is in itself a valuable school improvement tool

Where is your school on this spectrum? Where do you want to get to? How will you get there?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Nationally determined curriculum

Locally determined curriculum

National curriculum takes no account of locality

Separate timetable or ‘subject’ for local curriculum

Local area examples drawn upon throughout subject teaching

Equal status between local and national curriculum

School curriculum takes no account of national curriculum

Activity Three: National or local?

Four key principles of GCD

•  Young people need to learn both knowledge and competencies to enable them to thrive

•  A locally-generated curriculum should integrate with and have equal status to the national curriculum

•  Teachers should work in partnership with others to create a curriculum designed by, with and for a locality

•  An innovative curriculum design process is in itself a valuable school improvement tool

Activity Four: Whose curriculum is it anyway?

•  Use stakeholder map to identify:

•  who your stakeholders are

•  Whether you know what they think about your curriculum

•  How much influence they do have and should have

•  What you could do to bridge gaps

Can you map the current and desired influence of your stakeholders on your curriculum?

Four key principles of GCD

•  Young people need to learn both knowledge and competencies to enable them to thrive

•  A locally-generated curriculum should integrate with and have equal status to the national curriculum

•  Teachers should work in partnership with others to create a curriculum designed by, with and for a locality

•  An innovative curriculum design process is in itself a valuable school improvement tool

Questions for the Higher Education Academy

•  Should Initial Teacher Education prepare teachers to be curriculum designers? If so, how?

•  How could school curricula be designed with, by and for Higher Education Institutions?

•  Might curriculum co-design be a path to more meaningful, productive and equal partnerships between schools and HEIs?

The school curriculum is everything that happens in school plus everything that takes place through school Curriculum Foundation

joe.hallgarten@rsa.org.uk