Developing independent learning skills across the curriculum

scameron — Thu, 19 May 2011 16:49:39 +0100

School context

Ebac humanities: a saviour or a curse?

scameron — Thu, 19 May 2011 16:02:32 +0100

At a glance
The Ebac has arrived and includes its own selection of subjects under the heading of humanities. Suzanne O’Connell analyses:

Managing curriculum change: being prepared for the future

scameron — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 17:12:33 +0000

As curriculum managers gear up for the latest regeneration of the curriculum to be metamorphosed by the forthcoming White Paper (the date of which was still to be announced when CMU went to press), arguably your skills as managers of change are going to be in more demand than ever.

Making connections across the curriculum

scameron — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 16:16:45 +0000

Many of you will be intrigued as I am by children's questions. Questions are a sign of thinking - a very healthy sign, as they suggest that connections are being made between previously unconnected items of knowledge. Some of my very recent favourites from school and family sources are: Why do we have a skeleton? What causes global warming? When does your memory start? Why was Tutankhamun afraid of dying?

Making creativity central to all learning

scameron — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 17:12:14 +0100

School context

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Technological age: using ICT to transform T&L

scameron — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 10:49:11 +0100

It is sometimes surprising to think how far ICT use in schools has come in just the last decade. This month’s Case in Point takes a look at some of the key ICT development issues (here).
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Creativity and the primary curriculum

scameron — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 17:00:12 +0100

‘The touchstone of an excellent curriculum is that it instils in children a love of learning for its own sake. This means that primary children must not only learn what to study, they must also learn how to study.' (The Primary Curriculum Review Executive Summary, p8)
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The role of ICT in the curriculum

scameron — Mon, 24 May 2010 14:08:31 +0100

Are you taking a bold line in the great ICT debate ahead of pending government decisions on qualifications? Some schools, because of their vision, foundation or status, take their own strong view of how new technologies should contribute to the curriculum and be accredited.
The framework for ICT assessment and qualifications has yet to be announced: whether ICT will be more fully integrated, or have greater stand-alone status as a subject, awaits clarification.
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Using assessment data to improve your school

scameron — Fri, 21 May 2010 12:19:13 +0100

We can differentiate functions, occasions and agents of assessment. Doing this helps provide a more realistic, sympathetic and productive approach than the binary formative versus summative. Here then is a threefold construction of assessment, highlighting what assessment is for, when it happens, who does it, and who controls it.
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Assessing Pupil Progress (APP)

scameron — Mon, 10 May 2010 09:54:59 +0100

To assist APP, the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency (QCDA) is developing files of pupils’ work that exemplify standards across key stage 3 national curriculum subjects, using the new programmes of study. Files of individual pupils’ work at levels 3 to 8, containing a wide range of evidence and annotations, are being published on the web.
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Planning for effective learning

scameron — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 13:40:38 +0100

Effective learning in school doesn’t happen by accident. Good lessons have to be planned for. But you can over-egg a pudding, and too much precision in planning can make learning fall flat. There needs to be space for magic moments in learning when pupils’ own ideas can take the teaching and learning (T&L) to a different level.
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Rarely cover and one-to-one tutoring

scameron — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 15:28:05 +0000

Rarely cover
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Developing a curriculum for Assessment for Learning

scameron — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 16:54:30 +0000

The checklists presented here build on the outstanding insights provided by Paul Black’s team* at King’s College London University. You can use them to confirm strengths in your policies and practices, and then choose focuses for further development.
There are policy moves to make, for example:
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Reflecting on PLTS

scameron — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 12:07:34 +0000

Personal, learning and thinking skills (PLTS) are promoted by the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency (QCDA). Previous attempts to build life skills, such as initiative, imagination and integrity, into programmes of learning and assessment schemes include: the Certificate of Personal and Vocational Education (CPVE) and the Technical and Vocational Education Initiative (TVEI) in the 1980s; cross-curricular strands in the 1990 national curriculum; core skills and key skills through the last two decades.
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Developing the role of support staff to boost learning

scameron — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 15:13:28 +0000

When a new teaching and learning (T&L) initiative, or the latest directive from QCDA, or most recent change to the Ofsted requirements hits your desk, what’s your first thought (apart from, here we go again!)? Do you think, ‘How on earth am I going to accommodate this within our newly shaped, carefully designed curriculum?’; or ‘How much is this going to cost in staff time – not to mention morale?’; or ‘How am I going to squeeze this into an already crammed timetable?’ The list of responses could go on.
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Changes to GCSE and formal assessment in general

scameron — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 11:49:17 +0000

Controlled assessment at GCSE
Controlled assessment is replacing GCSE coursework. The system allows students to produce extended personal responses to areas of their learning. Courses incorporating controlled assessment started teaching for most subjects in September 2009. New arrangements for English, English literature, and information and communication technology wait another year, and science with controlled assessment starts teaching in 2011.
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The new Ofsted framework

scameron — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 15:16:34 +0000

The shortest possible notice is given for inspections. The minimum is no notice, but in special cases the maximum is up to 20 working days.
When the first Ofsted inspections were carried out, the inspectors alone passed judgement. Now it matters also how well you think your learners do. Ofsted inspectors used not to look back or ahead; they only named strengths and weaknesses as they found them. Now it matters that you have been improving, and that you are able to improve further.
The new framework has adjusted:
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Facilitating a culture of collaboration and creativity

scameron — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:02:31 +0000

This is the first fortnightly e-bulletin for Curriculum Management Update subscribers; present and prospective. I want it to cover topics of interest to you.
Before half-term I contacted some of you and asked ‘What is top of your in-tray?’ The answers were:
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Teaching primary schools MFL

scameron — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 16:53:57 +0100

Irrespective of whether they go on to take languages at A-level or beyond, children can get an awful lot out of learning languages at primary school. An understanding of other cultures and countries, for a start. Not to mention a better chance of getting MFL GCSEs and other accreditation. And should they venture abroad one day, they might actually be able to understand some of the signage or even talk to people.
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Developing an enquiry-based curriculum

scameron — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 12:04:09 +0100

In issue 16 of Learning and Teaching Update, Anna Reid wrote about her early experiences as a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) associate, working on a research project in Bedlingtonshire Community High School in Northumberland. The project was designed to create an assessment framework for enquiry skills for Key Stage 3 pupils. In this article, we outline how the process affected us and our practice and how it benefited our students.
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Making global learning central to your curriculum

scameron — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 14:37:48 +0100

We live in a global society and I believe it is important that young people, wherever they are in the world, have an understanding of how their actions and choices impact on the lives of others – not only in different countries but on different continents. From the food we buy to the way we get to work, our everyday decisions have consequences for the world around us and we need to understand those consequences if we are to build a fairer, more sustainable society.
Gordon Brown, ‘Introduction’ to Global matters, DEA, 2008a
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How to develop independent student learning

scameron — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 14:07:41 +0100

William Parker School is an 11 to 16 comprehensive school in Daventry, Northamptonshire. In its first year as a specialist humanities college, priorities were established to develop opportunities for both students and staff that would impact on learning across the whole school. The specialism would support a sustainable improvement in achievement for all students. As Daventry, and its local area, is changing rapidly we were particularly aware of the need to develop our students’ personal learning and thinking skills.
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Secondary curriculum: guide for governors

scameron — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 16:41:28 +0100

‘There are so many changes taking place all at once. In September 2008 all A levels are reducing to four modules. This means that all schemes of work will need to be changed, the new key stage 3 curriculum starts with major changes, competencies and so on. Staff are getting concerned about overload. The extra teacher development day has been useful for preparation for the new curriculum but information on some foundation subjects – art, music and technology will not be available until June!’
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Lesson planning: a case study

scameron — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 13:34:06 +0000

Claire Pass, Advanced Skills Teacher, Saint Benedict School and Performing Arts College, Derby

School context
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The secret to successful lessons: planning

scameron — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 10:39:58 +0000

To ensure successful learning and teaching, teachers must use a number of skills from their considerable learning armoury. These include: planning, recording, challenging, demonstrating, securing, managing, adapting, explaining, discussing, interrogating, reviewing, evaluating, modifying, establishing and questioning. Now ask yourself if you could do all of that without planning for it.
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2012 Olympics: promoting primary PE

scameron — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 17:09:16 +0000

September saw the final handover of the Olympic Games to Britain. On 17 September the Paralympics flag was handed to the mayor of London. Overall, the Olympics have been a success story for Britain, with athletes gaining 47 medals (19 of them gold) in the summer games, and even greater success in September’s Paralympics with 102 medals (42 of them gold). With the handover complete, it is already being asked how Britain can consolidate and maintain this standard.
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Curriculum organisation: grouping subjects

scameron — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 17:25:46 +0000

My starting point for this article is the assumption that the process of involving staff and producing an overall outcomes plan for the Key Stage 3 curriculum has already been completed along the lines suggested in my previous article. Getting this agreed is one thing but putting it into practice is another.
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A new curriculum for girls' PE

scameron — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 15:38:59 +0000

In the majority of secondary schools the teaching of PE looks very similar, with something of ‘an implicit agreement as to what should be included in the curriculum and how it should be taught, with the focus being largely on the sporting model’ (Capel, 2007: 493). Such a model appears to focus mainly on skill acquisition within a traditional curriculum, which places an unbalanced emphasis upon team games and is taught using a limited range of largely didactic pedagogic approaches (Green, 1998; Penney and Evans, 1999; Metzler, 2000; Ofsted, 2002; Kirk and Kinchin, 2003).
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A qualification for life skills development

scameron — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 14:19:00 +0000

Marius Frank, Headteacher, Bedminster Down School, Bristol

School context

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Using ASDAN to reward PSHE

scameron — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 13:47:36 +0000

As the new curriculum gives back more control to schools on how to design the teaching and learning they provide their students, a framework that first came into being more than one-quarter of a century ago is back in ascendancy. More and more schools are incorporating ASDAN courses into their curriculum because they offer the chance to validate learning that other qualifications might not reach.
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Curriculum planning: a new start

scameron — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 13:33:59 +0000

It must have been a strange feeling for those who were set free after the fall of the Bastille. They were suddenly liberated, in unexpected circumstances and probably without an idea of what to do next. ‘We are free! What do we do now?’
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Inspiring interest in literature with Manga

scameron — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 17:46:02 +0000

Since the Second World War, children have become increasingly dependent on visual images as a way of learning. Television, cinema, computers and computer graphics dominate their way of life. This is not surprising, given the fact that many children find it easier to visualise images rather than read words. Looking at picture books is, after all, the first introduction a child has to the world of books and stories. Current trends – particularly the growth of computer graphics and graphic stories – are emphasising this skill.
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Renewed support for headteachers

scameron — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 17:02:02 +0000

The renewed Secondary Frameworks developed by the National Strategies build on the existing frameworks for teaching English, mathematics, science and ICT but reflect the emphasis in the new programmes of study on key concepts, processes and skills. They are modelled on effective pedagogy and good use of assessment for learning.
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How can schools achieve a creative curriculum?

scameron — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 16:53:20 +0000

The growth of the Foundation Stage over recent years and the movement of its ideas into KS1, have highlighted the continuous development of creativity within current educational thinking. The constraints of the QCA guidelines have in many cases led to a prescribed manner of long-term planning that in best case scenarios uses the local environment, local history and communities to highlight the learning intentions of the schemes and at worst is teaching by numbers.
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The importance of subject-based teaching

scameron — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 16:07:45 +0000

There is plethora of teaching and curriculum experimentation at present. Much gets reported in our pages, under such titles as thinking skills, building learning power, learning to learn. There is much talk of a skills-based curriculum and this is accelerating under the engine of personal, learning and thinking skills (PLTS).
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Engineering diploma: a case study

scameron — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 14:05:11 +0000

School context
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Delivering new diplomas: key curriculum issues

scameron — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 12:02:19 +0000

Under the current qualifications system, learners are offered a set of single options or vocational double options that do not link with the core and do not require the learner to connect and relate their learning. But the arrival of the diplomas from September mark a much-needed change by providing a composite approach that will help schools to engage, re-engage and motivate all learners across a wide range of abilities and using a variety of learning styles.
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Encouraging citizenship values through sport

scameron — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 11:57:30 +0000

Like any other international sport, cricket is full of the sort of controversies and drama that can bring a subject like citizenship to life.
Whether examining social and moral responsibilities, facilitating community involvement or developing political literacy, cricket can add contemporary relevance and link abstract concepts to high profile events and real life situations.
The following activity ideas will help children access one particular area of the Key Stage 2 citizenship curriculum – rules and fairness.
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Sport spotlight: Cheerleading in schools

scameron — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 10:49:14 +0000

Cheerleading is a vibrant, high energy, athletic discipline that is exploding in popularity. Probably the fastest growing sport across Britain – and certainly the fastest growing spectator sport – major indoor arenas are frequently sold out. Part of its evident appeal is performing in front of large appreciative audiences and being a competitive sport in its own right that is also exciting to watch.
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Vocational activities for SEN

scameron — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 10:13:26 +0000

My first contact with the pupils of The Clare School in Norwich was at a Scout camp, when sixth-form pupils were involved in The Duke of Edinburgh Award activities (see Special Children 180). I was impressed by how much the pupils were enjoying themselves, and how enthusiastic parents were about the work that goes on in the school. Headteacher Nigel Smith described the camp as ‘the tip of the iceberg’, and for 45 minutes he outlined some of the school’s many vocational and extra-curricular activities, and why he thinks they are important.
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Personalised learning: the core curriculum

scameron — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 12:54:31 +0000

In most schools nearly 50% of Key Stage 4 curriculum time is given to the core subjects of English, mathematics and science. In terms of the variety of qualifications offered, this large chunk of teaching has generally been the most static. Middle leaders may have trialled all kinds of creative styles of delivery – from single-sex grouping to intervention groups – and may have changed examinations boards, considering both linear and modular syllabi, all with the aim of raising pupil attainment.
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Working with an International Primary Curriculum

scameron — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 13:04:18 +0100

What have chocolate fridge cakes and mixing vinegar and sodium bicarbonate got to do with volcanoes? They are just two of six weeks of activities, learning in a cross-curricular way, that were part of our volcanoes and earthquakes unit; one of the themed units of our International Primary Curriculum.
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How can we make science more exciting?

scameron — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 12:16:10 +0100

Government ministers are currently demanding that science must be made more engaging and exciting for primary school pupils. As if teachers have been deliberately trying to bore children in science lessons for the last 20 years! In announcing funding of £140 million over three years to further develop both mathematics and science, schools minister Jim Knight says that he wants to see lessons that are lively with more ‘flash bang’ excitement to bring subjects to life whilst maintaining academic rigour. ‘I want more science in action in the classroom,’ he says.
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Sport spotlight: Schools football

scameron — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 13:25:10 +0100

The English Schools Football Association (ESFA) is the governing body that organises schools football throughout the country, which it does in partnership with the FA. The ESFA aims to provide enjoyable soccer experiences for both primary and secondary school children by offering competitions ranging from mini-soccer for under-11 footballers through to the 11-a-side game for older pupils from Year 7 upwards. Throughout the country, county and district associations affiliated to the ESFA also offer a full programme of competitions and festivals for their schools.
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The Children's Plan: the primary curriculum

scameron — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 14:06:34 +0100

The new Children’s Plan sets in motion a complete review of the primary level curriculum, with the aim of easing the transition from early years learning into school. The aim is to create an even sharper focus on maths and English yet give teachers more flexibility within the school day. More time for reading, writing and mathematics is to be allotted along with greater flexibility for other subjects. The ‘Every Child a Writer’ programme will provide intensive one-to-one coaching in areas of writing children find hard to master.
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Behind the buzzwords: Creativity

scameron — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:21:01 +0100

Creativity has gained mainstream currency now that personal, learning and thinking skills (PLTS) have been embedded across the new 11-19 curriculum. One of the PLTS outcomes is that pupils become creative thinkers. This dimension is considered critical in its own right, but is also seen as a means to raise overall achievement (‘Pupils’ creativity to be assessed, 15 February 2008).
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Observing, recording and planning young children's learning

scameron — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:21:01 +0100

The Early Years Foundation Stage requires all settings to carry out formative assessment from when a child first starts to attend a setting outside of the home, until the end of the Early Years Foundation Stage. Those responsible for curriculum leadership will need to focus their priorities towards developing sound assessment processes in order to assess and plan for each child. A clear vision is required on the part of the curriculum leader as to what will comprise the setting’s approach.
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EYFS: where to start

scameron — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:21:00 +0100

In September 2008 the new Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework will become statutory for all early years care and education providers in Ofsted registered settings attended by children from birth to five years of age. In theory, what a sensible move to create a framework that replaces the three previous early years documents – Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage, Birth to Three Matters and National Standards for Under 8s Daycare and Childminding.
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Raising achievement by transforming learning

scameron — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:21:00 +0100

At too many schools there are too many students spending too much time experiencing underachievement, when the duty of all schools is to help every pupil achieve their potential and know success. But there are also a considerable number of schools that have found ways to overcome this dearth of achievement — and many of these have been involved in the Raising Achievement Transforming Learning (RATL) project run by the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT). This articles finds out what this project is all about.
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Tackling underachievement: a case study

scameron — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:21:00 +0100

School context
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