The curriculum From implementation to development

Transcription

1 The curriculum From implementation to development

2 Contents The story so far 3 What opportunities does the curriculum reform provide? 4 What is the impact of the changes? 7 What are the next steps? 9 How to use this publication The Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency (QCDA) has been working closely with the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) and other implementation partners to provide a coherent package of face-to-face, online and hard copy support to all secondary schools. Last year, we produced key messages for phase 2 of the implementation of the new secondary curriculum. This publication supports us all in providing a modern, world-class curriculum that will inspire and challenge all learners and prepare them for the future; and to support that curriculum with methods of evaluation and assessment which promote learning and report achievement in learning at individual, institutional and national level. This publication can also be downloaded from the National Curriculum website at Reform timetable 11 What support is available in the next phase of implementation? 12 For the third and final year of implementation we have produced this new publication to support schools in the transition from implementation to development. This publication will help you to: gain an overview of the curriculum reforms understand the impacts of evidence so far find sources of guidance and support set your priorities for developing your curriculum. 2 The curriculum

3 The story so far The new secondary curriculum was introduced in September 2008 as part of major reforms of education and qualifications. With the implementation phase well underway, it s now time to ensure the changes are secure and that they make a difference for learners. We need to make certain that all young people are more deeply motivated and inspired to engage with learning. They should make good progress and achieve the standards they need to give them the best chance of success in adult life. This publication outlines evidence of the changes made and their impact so far. It sets out the next steps for the reforms as we secure their expected impact for schools, teachers and learners. It contains valuable support and links to the guidance that are available from the QCDA and other implementation partners. The impact of the reforms is being evaluated to inform future support for curriculum implementation and development. Key elements of this are set out in this publication so that schools can select and focus on their own priorities and access the support and guidance they need to take the next steps. The Children s Plan The Children s Plan sets out the government s ambitions for improving children and young people s lives over the next decade and how they intend to achieve them. An inspiring and engaging curriculum The school curriculum represents the classroom learning experience that each school provides for children. The aim of the curriculum is to develop the knowledge, understanding, skills and attitudes which are necessary for each pupil s selffulfilment and development as an active and responsible citizen at each stage of their education. It prepares young people for further study, employment and adult life. It makes expectations for learning and attainment explicit to pupils, parents, teachers, governors, (The Children s Plan, DCSF 2007, para 3.81) Copies of The Children s Plan can be downloaded from The curriculum 3

4 Section 1 What opportunities does the curriculum reform provide? The new secondary curriculum has a crucial role to play in schools improvement. three statutory curriculum aims of successful learners, confident individuals and responsible citizens, which can help to provide a focal point for planning a slimmed down and less prescriptive national curriculum giving schools greater flexibility for in-depth study and opportunities to support those young people who may have fallen behind in English and mathematics more opportunities for schools to adapt the national curriculum to make the most of their local environment, resources and circumstances to better meet all young people s needs, aptitudes and interests a set of key expectations for the reforms that focus strongly on raising standards for all and recognising learners wider achievements What does the reform of the curriculum provide for schools and young people? cross-curriculum dimensions that promote coherence between subjects to help learners make effective links in their learning 4 The curriculum

5 Building the curriculum around the three aims The aims for the curriculum are statutory and schools can use them as the basis for building a more coherent curriculum. They also provide a clear link with the primary curriculum and should enable more effective transition from key stage 2 and on through the curriculum. The curriculum aims 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, and responsible citizens who make a positive contribution to society. A detailed explanation of the aims can be downloaded from the National Curriculum website. Greater flexibility The national curriculum provides schools and colleges with more scope to adapt to their particular circumstances. This allows them to meet the needs and aspirations of their learners and communities in ways that: challenge all young people to achieve, which raises aspirations and sets appropriate challenges allow greater personalisation for individual interventions, including catch-up and one-to-one tuition make sense to their learners and are more meaningful so they can see the connections between different subjects, skills, cross-curricular dimensions, assessments and qualifications ensure the whole planned learning experience has a clear sense of purpose relating to and building on learners knowledge and experiences of the world in which they live foster good learning relationships between teachers and learners, and learners and their peers. Publications to support you in designing your curriculum that will better link subjects, dimensions, personal learning, and thinking skills (PLTS) are available for download on the National Curriculum website. The curriculum 5

6 Raising standards and recognising wider achievement The white paper, Your child, your schools, our future: building a 21st century schools system, outlines wider challenges to the curriculum: The challenge to our education system is clear: that it should prepare not just most but all children to make successes of their lives, developing the broader skills, knowledge and understanding that they need for the future. If this is our ambition, then we must make sure that the best of what is on offer in our school system which matches the best anywhere in the world is made available to all children as we seek to break the link between disadvantage and low achievement. (DCSF 2009). The white paper can be downloaded from: The key expectations of the reforms are that schools will take the opportunity to: ensure all learners, whatever their ability, make the best progress possible and achieve the highest possible standards in subjects and qualifications narrow the gaps in achievement and enable those not achieving age-related expectations to catch up with their peers challenge gifted and talented young people so that they achieve their full potential and their progress is sustained and enhanced make certain all young people develop the skills and abilities needed for success in life and can apply them in a wide range of contexts. 6 The curriculum

7 Section 2 What is the impact of the changes? What have we found out about the changes being made, and some of the early impacts of those changes, in the first year of implementation? We have drawn evidence from: schools learners evaluation of the reform programme by Ofsted, QCDA and the DCSF implementation partners. The evidence shows that there is a lot to celebrate in the first year of implementation but also more to do. Schools say Many schools have taken advantage of the new flexibility provided to develop a curriculum that better meets the needs of their learners. In particular, some innovative approaches in the early part of key stage 3 include: development of personal, learning and thinking skills to ensure they re taught both discretely and through subjects dimensions that develop cross-curricular connections, help young people make sense of the world and reflect the major ideas and challenges that face individuals and society a different use of time that can help deepen learning and create new kinds of learning experiences teachers working together across the curriculum. Many of these approaches are at an early stage of development, and schools will need to evaluate their impact against clear success measures. Learners say QCDA surveyed learners in key stages 3 and 4 and gained valuable insight into what develops their commitment to learning. Many schools are undertaking similar work to find out what motivates and engages their learners. QCDA found that most young people feel positive about the curriculum they experience. When asked how the curriculum could be improved further, they said their priorities were: discovering how to become the person they want to be developing an identity, a sense of value and self belief understanding how to make and sustain relationships especially with family and close friends knowing what they need to get on in school, work and life qualifications and a range of skills functional skills; personal, learning and thinking skills; and other useful skills learning how to contribute and make a difference being a positive citizen in local, national and global communities experiencing a varied curriculum that allows for some personal choice 14 to 19-year-olds would like more opportunity to go more indepth within subjects. Find out more about this evidence at The curriculum 7

8 Ofsted says Research by Ofsted shows that the new secondary curriculum is having a positive impact on schools and learners. In the report Planning for change: The impact of the new key stage 3 curriculum (June 2009), Ofsted found the following: the most successful schools are involving all staff in developing a vision of and model for a coherent whole-school curriculum. They are introducing the curriculum in a way that promotes coherence across knowledge, skills and understanding in subjects, underpinning these with the cross-curricular skills and dimensions leaders in these schools focus on making the aims of the curriculum central to the learning of all involved with the school. They involve teachers, and young people and their families in setting out what they want to achieve, and engage them in collaborative approaches to building their curriculum so that everyone understands it and feels they have a say. Planning for change can be downloaded from Ofsted s website at Disciplined curriculum innovation identifies and explains a seven-stage process to help schools transform their curriculum and make a difference to learners lives, achievements and prospects. It can be downloaded from the National Curriculum website. What are you saying? Sustainable curriculum development should have evaluation of impact at its heart. Effective evaluation keeps a strong focus on the outcomes for learners. The three questions underpinning good curriculum design are a useful starting point for evaluating the impact of curriculum development: What are you trying to achieve? How have you organised learning? How do you know you are having an impact? Schools have been trying different approaches to curriculum reform, and each one has different implications for evaluation and future developments. If you encouraged individual departments to review their subject provision, how are you unlocking good practice in individual departments and spreading it across the school? If you developed cross-curricular days/weeks or particular events and challenges, how are you ensuring the learning from these approaches is taken forward in subject teaching? If you introduced a new curriculum in year 7, what are the implications for years 8 and 9? Disciplined curriculum innovation Making a difference to learners 8 The curriculum

9 Section 3 What are the next steps? Building strong foundations This is the last year of DCSF centrally-organised support for the implementation of the curriculum. Schools now need to: ensure the curriculum offer meets the needs of all learners embed assessment into curriculum planning evaluate the changes they made as part of the implementation process and ensure that developments are secure and make an impact on learner success The foundations have been laid, and now it s time to make the curriculum a central and integral part of schools strategies for improvement. Developing the curriculum to meet all learners needs When thinking about how you develop your curriculum to increase the extent of its impact, you might take into account how the choices you make about curriculum development priorities reflect learners needs. In particular: How effectively do you plan to meet the needs of particular groups at risk of underachievement or facing barriers to learning? How do you work with other partners and agencies involved in curriculum provision to help those at risk of dropping out? How do you ensure that individuals with particular learning needs benefit from targeted support and one-to-one tuition? How does your curriculum provide appropriate and challenging learning experiences to better meet the needs of all your learners? Is transition from primary and through the curriculum as effective as it could be to secure continuity of learning and progression? How well are all your learners settling into secondary school, and how much better is their progress through key stage 3? Developing more effective assessment Assessing pupils progress (APP) is a new national approach to assessment that puts the learner at the heart of the assessment process. Curriculum reform and renewal depends on quality evidence of learner progress and achievement built on a foundation of sound principles. Effective assessment: is integral to teaching and learning puts the learner at the heart of assessment provides a view of the whole learner involves reliable judgements about how learners are doing, related, where appropriate, to national standards. Effective assessment needs to be timely, focused and use appropriate techniques, so your assessment and information system is clear about: who is collecting evidence who is acting on it so additional support is provided when needed how learners are involved. The curriculum 9

10 This means developing the pattern of your assessment year to ensure that your assessments monitor learners progress through: effective day-to-day assessment in which: learning objectives are made more explicit and shared with learners peer and self-assessment is in use learners are engaged in their learning and given constructive feedback evidence is generated of achievement and progress lesson plans are adapted to take account of learners needs. effective periodic assessment in which: a broader view of progress is taken across the subject for teacher and learner national standards are used in the classroom when available reviews of learner progress lead to action improvements to medium-term curriculum planning are made. transitional assessment that: formally recognises learners achievement reports to parents or carers and future teacher(s) makes good use of appropriate external tests and tasks. Further information on the APP process, the thinking behind it and the benefits it can bring is available from the National Curriculum website. Identifying success measures for your curriculum development Measures such as exam and test results and participation rates may not be available for a while, but the new curriculum should have an impact on learner progress and achievement. Have you identified baselines of achievement against which progress can be measured? Some intended benefits of the reform programme, such as improved personal, learning and thinking skills, do not have hard outcome measures. Have you thought about how you might recognise improvements in these outcomes? Are there proxy indicators you could use to assess impact? The curriculum reforms are also intended to increase motivation and engagement and raise aspirations. What part do learner reports and teacher observations play in your approach to evaluation? QCDA will be publishing a suite of success measures for use at a national level to evaluate the impact of the curriculum reforms. You may want to select from these to focus your own evaluation strategy. The purpose of evaluation is to lead to further improvements. What approaches do you use to review and learn from best practice in other schools? How do you use the outcomes of national evaluations and reports from Ofsted and other resources to stimulate debate and dialogue? How do you take the outcomes of your internal evaluations and feed them into ongoing development? 10 The curriculum

11 Section 4 Reform timetable From September 2009 new programmes of study for key stage 4 will be introduced in citizenship and physical education new curriculum for Year 7, 8 and 10 new GCSE qualifications will be introduced in all subjects except English, mathematics, and information and communication technology (ICT) phase 2 of Diplomas will be introduced From September 2010 new programmes of study in English, mathematics and ICT will be introduced along with their GCSEs and functional skills qualifications new curriculum for Year 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 phase 3 of Diplomas will be introduced From September 2011 personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education programmes of study becomes statutory, subject to the results of consultation and legislation phase 4 of the Diplomas will start (except advanced level science); this will make 17 lines of learning in total with a national entitlement to deliver all lines of learning by 2013 From 2013 the Raising the Participation Age programme starts; all young people will continue to participate in education or training to the age of 17 the Diplomas will be supported by the Curriculum entitlement 2013 guidance published by DCSF in summer 2009, and the guidance will be sent to all centres explaining the importance of preparing for the Diploma national entitlement cooking will become a compulsory strand of key stage 3 design and technology the new primary curriculum becomes statutory, subject to the results of consultation and legislation assessing pupils progress (APP) becomes available across the core subjects The curriculum 11

12 Section 5 What support is available in the next phase of implementation? A comprehensive programme of training, practical support and guidance has been put in place to help schools implement and develop their new curriculum. This programme is led by the DCSF. QCDA QCDA provides information, guidance and support through the National Curriculum website including: the new programmes of study and attainment targets tools for curriculum development and design publications offering practical guidance and support examples of the curriculum in action in schools across the country. 12 The curriculum The National Strategies To support the teaching of secondary core subjects across 2009/10, The National Strategies regional teams will work with local authorities to: continue to support core subject leaders through termly development meetings and local networks continue to focus on attainment and progression of learners at key stages 3 and 4 through the use of frameworks and assessment for learning with APP support strategic school approaches to intervention, especially the use of Literacy Plus in key stage 3 and Study Plus in key stage 4 support the roll-out of functional skills pedagogy in English, mathematics and ICT to reflect the emphasis on applied learning in the new curriculum and at GCSE. The National Strategies continues to make all of its key resources and guidance accessible, and in particular will: develop the use of The National Strategies area of the DCSF Standards Site and regional and local networks to share good practice from the most effective and successful schools and departments develop an online toolkit / resource finder that helps mainstream and develop school action to narrow gaps in attainment between young people from disadvantaged backgrounds and other young people. See Aspect The Association of Professionals in Education and Children s Trusts (Aspect) is working with CfBT to develop effective communications with local authorities that enable them to support schools and colleges in the development of the curriculum. The priority is the delivery of the outcomes of the Children s Plan, which aims to enable young people to be healthy, stay safe, enjoy and achieve, make a positive contribution and achieve economic wellbeing.

13 CfBT Education Trust and partners CfBT Education Trust, in partnership with Aspect and 10 subject associations, supports subject leaders and local authorities in the implementation of the new secondary curriculum, with a focus on the non-core subjects. In phase 3, CfBT Education Trust and its partners will be: maintaining the current new secondary curriculum website ( making additions to the website, including resources for PSHE education and an interactive news and events section introducing a series of regional events in the autumn and spring terms, including: 18 events (two per government region) about subjects working together to deliver the new secondary curriculum nine regional conferences (one per government region) aimed at subject leaders developing a coherent PSHE education curriculum producing a DVD toolkit of video case studies and guidance for distribution to 2000 schools in spring 2010 offering local support to subject leaders in foundation subjects, in addition to that already offered by local authorities, which will continue continuing to publish the monthly newsletter aimed at local authorities, providing information on new secondary curriculum from all the partners. Specialist Schools and Academies Trust The Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT) continues to support curriculum leaders with the process of whole-school curriculum design and implementation. The programme on offer in phase 3 includes: free regional events in the autumn and spring terms, including specific events for special school colleagues tailored support for those schools that have not yet taken up the offer through one-to-one contact, local clusters and local authorities Curriculum Design in Action, a publication that provides guidance and examples on a wide range of curriculum development issues, including specialism and the Diploma a website packed full of school examples, audit tools and video resources. For more information on any area of our programme visit Workforce Support The Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS) commissioned SSAT to deliver a programme to support the professional development of the workforce to enable the delivery of the new and reformed qualifications for year olds (Diplomas, Foundation Learning and the new general qualifications). The curriculum 13

14 Outcomes, including a range of on-line tools and resources offering support on a range of different topics, along with opportunities to make contact with fellow practitioners in on-line communities, can be found at The National College for Leadership of Schools and Children s Services The National College for Leadership of Schools and Children s Services (formerly National College for School Leadership) has been working together with other national partners to support schools and school leaders as they respond to the opportunities offered through the new secondary curriculum. Through the use of SSAT s network of practitioners, the National College and SSAT will disseminate a shared message on the curriculum and curriculum leadership with an extended role for the SSAT regional leads and for one lead practitioner in each region. To continue to provide strategic guidance for the activity, the National College has recruited a national adviser and three regional advisers (North, Central and South). This model will ensure the National College and SSAT will provide a shared and seamless message to schools, increasing engagement, deepening the impact of our support programme, and sharing good practice in areas such as change management and overcoming barriers to reform. A final think tank event will take place in March 2010, followed by an online publication released as part of the legacy of the programme. The Training and Development Agency for Schools The Training and Development Agency for Schools will support and enable initial teacher training providers to access curriculum materials, and will identify and disseminate continuing professional development materials for tutors and mentors via: subject specific Subject Resource Networks the Teacher Training Resource Bank the CPD database The Youth Sport Trust The Youth Sport Trust s mission is to build a brighter future for young people by enhancing the quality of their physical education (PE) and sporting opportunities. We support Specialist Sports Colleges and the infrastructure of the School Sport Partnerships in the implementation of the secondary curriculum. Every school is in a School Sport Partnership and therefore we have a network and link covering every maintained school in England. For further information go to 14 The curriculum

15 National Curriculum website Guidance and support is available to download from including: the new programmes of study and attainment targets tools for curriculum development and design examples of the curriculum in action in schools and colleges across the country During the year, we will be adding new tools and case studies to support you in implementing the new curriculum. Other publications to support the new secondary curriculum Bringing greater coherence A guide to help you take a fresh look at your curriculum and how to make it even better for your learners. Cross-curriculum dimensions: a planning guide for schools A guide to help schools develop the seven dimensions in their curriculum. It includes an interactive curriculum aims table, showing schools how to link dimensions across the curriculum. Key stage 4 engagement programmes The lessons learnt from the Key Stage 4 Engagement Programme, which has run since September 2006, involving 6,000 young people in 21 local area partnerships. Delivering the Foundation Diploma An introduction to the Foundation Diploma with examples of innovative curriculum design and delivery. Generic skills in Diploma learning Guidance covering personal, learning and thinking skills, functional skills and the skills involved in the project element of the Diploma. Career, work-related learning and enterprise This guidance will help teachers plan and coordinate curriculum provision in career, work-related learning and enterprise education. To order copies go to or phone our orderline on Disciplined curriculum innovation: making a difference to learners A seven-step process to help schools transform their curriculum so that it makes a positive impact on students lives, achievements and prospects. The curriculum 15

16 The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) is currently operating certain of its non-regulatory functions under the name Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency (QCDA). The legal entity remains QCA, established under the Education Act QCA is an exempted charity under the Charities Act We want our website and publications to be widely accessible, so please contact us if we re not meeting your needs. Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency 83 Piccadilly, London W1J 8QA Tel Enquiry line Textphone Fax Department for Children, Schools and Families Association of Professionals in Education and Children s Trusts CfBT Education Trust The National College for Leadership of Schools and Children s Services The National Strategies Specialist Schools and Academies Trust QCDA/09/4397 ISBN: Working in partnership to support delivery of the new National Curriculum Part of the education and skills programme