Global conference

1. Back to the future - reinventing the
curriculum in a digital age
David Leat, Research Centre for
Learning and Teaching & SOLE
Central, Newcastle University
David.Leat@ncl.ac.uk 1
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2. The meaning of curriculum
• Definitions: ‘We see the curriculum as a desired
goal or set of values that can be activated
through a development process culminating in
experiences for students’ Wiles & Bondi, 2007,
p.5.
• Or ‘The curriculum of a school, or course, or a
classroom can be conceived of a series of
planned events that are intended to have
educational consequences for one or more
students.’ Eisner, 2002, p.31.
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3. Vic (A.V.) Kelly identifies 3 major
ideologies in curriculum planning:
• Curriculum as content, education as
transmission – students learn the stuff;
• Curriculum as product, education as an
instrument - students become workers;
• Curriculum as process, education as
development – students become
‘themselves’;
• (McKernan) Society and problem centred
– students & community (co-) create the
curriculum.
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4. Curriculum questions (Dillon
2009)
1. Nature of curriculum – what is it, what is it for? (for
citizenship, for moral development, for delivery of vocational
skills, for preparation for HE, for healthy lives, to pass
exams!)
2. Elements of the curriculum – what is it composed of?
• Who teaches it?
• What is taught?
• Where and when?
• Why?
• How?
• What are the outcomes? Who learns what?
• How is it assessed?
• 3. How you think when you teach and assess.
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5. Context in England since 1988:
introduction of the National Curriculum
• Increasing focus on measuring student and school/teacher
performance - output regulation.
• Much ‘teaching to the test’ (Berliner, 2011), ‘target setting’
and monitoring.
• Knowledge that is ‘decontextualised’ and which loses its
‘organic’ connection to real life (Dewey 1916, 1966).
• Serious consequences for student engagement with learning
(Lawson & Lawson, 2013).
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6. PISA reflects the tension – league
tables
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7. Misconceptionsaboutteaching
Theviewoftheinspectorate
p.15OfstedAnnualreportonSchools,2012/13
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8. The grammar of schooling –
change is hard
• One of the recurring themes of educational research and
evaluation is that innovation and reform do not work well;
• ‘An innovative school is one which tries one new thing after
another without making any of them work’.
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9. This sums it up
• ‘Enquiry-based learning runs up against the whole fixed and
immoveable school machinery’. (Pozuelos et al. 2010)
• This refers to an enquiry curriculum project Exploring Our
World (for ages 6-12).
• The teachers did not find the structure and culture of their
schools generally supportive for such significant educational
change.
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10. A Geography experience
• One NE geography teacher in a high
performing school developing EBL:
• ‘My line manager said it was only
permissible if it “did not impede the end of
unit test” (even at Year 7), as these tests
were used to determine target grades and
these grades determined ability sets for
teaching, and these sets determined GCSE
options.
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11. Is innovation always like this?
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12. And worse still
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13. Basil Bernstein
• Classification (p.88):
‘the degree of boundary maintenance between contents’
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Strong Classification Weak Classification
 Framing (p.89):
‘the degree of control teacher and pupil possess over
the selection, organization, pacing and timing of the
knowledge transmitted and received in the
pedagogical relationship’
Strong Framing Weak Framing

14. Remaking curriculum in a
digital age?
• Search Engines and Wiki sites
• MOOCs and LOOCs
• Khan Academy
• Skype in the Classroom
• Skype Seniors
• United World Colleges Online
• Google Hangouts
• Webcams
• Bootlegger
• Edmodo
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15. ‘Beyond Current Horizons’
• (highlights) the complex nature of many jobs, which cut
across discipline and sectoral boundaries and the
importance of collaborative working … rather than an
emphasis on individual achievement and …
qualifications.
• The work of Brown (2008) and others suggest that the
current focus on formal qualifications and credentials is
misplaced.
• The idea that initial education can be provided at the
start of people‘s lives that will serve them until they
retire has become increasingly outmoded.
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16. Consortium for C21st Skills
• Sponsored by Cisco, Intel and Microsoft, ATC21S aims to help
educators around the world enable students with the skills to
succeed.
• ATC21S started with a group of more than 250 researchers
across 60 institutions worldwide who categorized 21st-century
skills internationally into four broad categories:
• Ways of thinking. Creativity, critical thinking, problem-solving,
decision-making and learning
• Ways of working. Communication and collaboration
• Tools for working. Information and communications
technology (ICT) and information literacy
• Skills for living in the world. Citizenship, life and career, and
personal and social responsibility
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17. ‘Making Education Work’ – Pearson
Publishing
• Less power to the Secretary of State;
• Stronger emphasis on vocational education and EU
competences – broader curriculum, including emotional
maturity;
• Greater role for the Extended Project Qualification in access to
Higher Education.
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18. EU Competences
• communication in mother tongue;
• communication in foreign languages;
• competence in maths, science and technology;
• digital competence;
• learning to learn (L2L);
• social and civic competence;
• sense of initiative and entrepreneurship; and
• cultural awareness and expression.
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19. AND….. PISA2015
DRAFTCOLLABORATIVEPROBLEMSOLVING
FRAMEWORK
• Collaborative Problem Solving (CPS) is a critical and necessary
skill across educational settings and in the workforce.
• There is a growing emphasis in state and national educational
systems on project-based and inquiry-oriented learning
(National Research Council, 2011). This includes shaping
curriculum and instruction around critical thinking, problem
solving, self-management and collaboration skills (Darling-
Hammond 2011; Halpern, 2003).
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20. Have you seen this man?
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21. Mitra describes the SOLE approach
as child driven learning which is:
• Self organised; Curious; Engaged; Social; Collaborative;
• (p.3 Guide) ‘The SOLE approach embraces a process where kids
learn how to ask questions that make them come alive to the world.’
• Children (8-12 years old) choose their own groups of four and their
own questions to explore;
• Children can look to see what other groups are doing and take that
information back to their own group;
• Kids can move around freely and change groups at any time;
• Children can (should) talk … and discuss with other groups.
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22. Are schools walled-in?
• Anderson-Butcher (p.161) argues, based on the Ohio
Collaborative School Improvement initiative that ‘This
walled-in improvement planning reflects traditional
thinking about schools as stand-alone institutions
focused exclusively on young people’s learning and
academic achievement, and also reinforces the idea that
educators are the school improvement experts’. They
argue that resources, opportunities and assets are
‘walled out’, creating an unnecessary gulf between in-
school learning and out-of-school learning.
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23. RSA Area Based Curriculum:
• about a place (Manchester and Peterborough): making use of
local context and resources to frame learning
• by a place: designed by schools in partnership with other local
stakeholders, and
• for a place: meeting the specific needs of children and local
communities
• Its objectives are to:
• Create learning experiences that are engaging for children
from all backgrounds;
• Increase children’s understanding of and attachment to the
place where they live;
• Embed schools more deeply within their communities and
localities.
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24. Upside
• Students enjoyed learning about where they live and learning
outside the classroom
• Students particularly enjoyed having other adults involved
• School and partner representatives reported a change to the
way organisations engage with schools
• Partners reported that more schools are now open to working
with outside agencies
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25. Some downside
• For some schools the Peterborough Curriculum represented a
choice between a standards driven agenda and a more holistic
approach that involved developing students as whole
individuals. It was therefore framed as very much part and
parcel of a strategic direction that was in opposition to a
standards agenda.
• The secondary school curriculum in particular remained not
only resistant to modification, but also to enhancement by the
locality. This is in part due to the structures of the schools,
where subject and classroom teachers were difficult for
partners to access.
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26. Infinite possibilities
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Village show Meal in a cup
Health education Wedding
What gets
learned?

27. REMAKING CURRICULUM
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SUBJECTS
ENQUIRY
COMMUNITY
Dialogue - where
different voices are
heard and listened to.
Meaning is not given
but contested and
explored.

28. Armathwaite School – Cumbria
• School used a grant to appoint a part time community
development officer;
• She found and developed ‘enquiry’ partners in the
community;
• The pupils researched, designed and made new sandwiches at
the village bakery, weekend packages at the local dog hotel,
and a wedding and reception at the local church;
• The curriculum is developed with the community.
CPA
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29. So why are we like this?
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30. The inhibitor
• You have got to make a balancing judgement as to how much
time you are going to put into something versus the benefit it
gets you back erm... Emily and Debbie are enjoying themselves
more …, I am glad they got a lot out of it and I am glad they
are experimenting... I mean it’s a bit out of control now with
those two but not in a bad way, but I am a bit aware that …
they could start learning things that are very interesting but
not what they need. They are doing their exam in ten weeks
time … so they need to be back on focus with particular things
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31. Conclusion
• If you have any ambition to be a creative curriculum maker
then take heart – you are not alone;
• Network whenever and wherever possible;
• Experiment whenever you can (EPQ etc.) and don’t feel too
bad if you end up with a ‘hybrid curriculum’;
• Curriculum thinking will change at some point so be prepared
to ‘seize the moment’;
• Do not just accept the ‘dominant discourse’ – as education can
be so much more than we are currently offering – be sceptical;
• Email me if you do want to be on our EPBL mailing list.
David.Leat@ncl.ac.uk
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