Everywhere in Education we see curriculum change and renewal, change responding to external policy, responding to our desire to refresh our Education programmes and sometimes responding to internal institutional requirements but as academics working in Education departments we always seek to develop our curricula by being informed by what we know about effective learning Joe Hallgarten presentation from the HEA 'Curriculum Challenge: Being a Curriculum Thinker' event on 7 April 2014

1. 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

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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?

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. RSA Opening Minds

14. 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

16. 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?

17. 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

18. 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?

20. 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

22. 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