inside out curriculum

41

Upload: gal-education

Post on 10-Mar-2016

216 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

DESCRIPTION

Sample Pages

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Inside Out Curriculum
Page 2: Inside Out Curriculum
Page 3: Inside Out Curriculum

THE INSIDE-OUT

CURRICULUM

INTRODUCTION

Page 4: Inside Out Curriculum

© Liz Greensides Autumn 2010 Page 6

Page 5: Inside Out Curriculum

© Liz Greensides Autumn 2010 Page 7

Introduction

Why 'The Inside-Out Curriculum'?

Any truly effective curriculum must have a built in flexibility and be

able to fully meet the needs of all the children, through all subjects,

and at all times. It should be designed with this in mind, therefore, to

meet the needs of all children, individual and groups – from the inside

to the outside.

This publication has been fully updated since the inception of the new

Department for Education and the coalition government. It still keeps

the same concepts of flexibility, creativity, and an emphasis on the

development of children’s life skills. It takes schools on an exciting

journey in creating a curriculum personalised for its own pupils, leading

to high levels of enthusiasm, interest, fascination … and progress.

In the dim and distant past, all teaching was planned through thematic

“Topic Webs” which indicated lessons that might be taught over the

coming term. The term teaching is used here deliberately, as there

seemed to be little emphasis on the child’s learning, just on the

teacher’s actions to impart knowledge.

There were very few references – if any – to subjects, and apart from

English and maths, very few basic skills were required to be taught.

Coupled with little or no assessment, lack of differentiation, and regard

to the needs of every child, this led to significant lack of progress, and

underachievement for very many pupils. I have no doubt that the

majority of children enjoyed what they did, but also little doubt that

the ways in which they acquired new knowledge left very little room for

the acquisition and development of basic skills.

Page 6: Inside Out Curriculum

© Liz Greensides Autumn 2010 Page 8

The National Curriculum, national strategies and QCA planned units of

work took most schools down the route of teaching discrete subjects,

and many teachers would argue that this severely detracted from

children’s enjoyment and engagement in their learning. Yet standards

in core subjects have continued to rise … but with a corresponding loss

of standards in some subjects – notably geography or history – which

have lost their essential core elements.

This book is an attempt to combine the enjoyment of the thematic

curriculum with a stringent approach to raising standards – in key

skills, and in all subjects across the curriculum.

What do we mean by “the curriculum”?

Sample copy: Text Missing

Page 7: Inside Out Curriculum

© Liz Greensides Autumn 2010 Page 9

The Main Purpose of this Book:

The National Curriculum lays down the minimum expectations of the

ground to be covered for Primary Schools. The QCA subject documents

go further, to some extent indicating the methods which should be

used, and making statements about these aims. In other words,

The National Curriculum has become a written prescription …

It starts with the book and is then taught to the children – and that

sums up the main dangers behind it: schools have become tempted to

teach the curriculum and to varying extents ignore the needs of

the child.

This book aims to turn this ideology on its head: let’s start with the

child and the needs of that child, and then turn to the book for help,

support, and guidance. This publication is not meant to be a statement

of intention, but rather a guide for schools when designing and moving

through the curriculum. It presents not an existing state of affairs, but

rather a curriculum of change and opportunity.

Through the use of this book, schools will become familiar with

strategies for

teaching the child, not the curriculum!

Page 8: Inside Out Curriculum

© Liz Greensides Autumn 2010 Page 10

Page 9: Inside Out Curriculum

THE INSIDE–OUTCURRICULUM

CHAPTER ONE

Rationale for

Change

Page 10: Inside Out Curriculum

© Liz Greensides Autumn 2010 Page 14

Page 11: Inside Out Curriculum

© Liz Greensides Autumn 2010 Page 17

Ofsted and Curriculum Change

The Ofsted Inspection process has a renewed focus on the levels of

attainment which children reach – not only within core subjects, but

also across the curriculum. The following table1 shows how attainment

will be judged – with every indication that work in other subjects

should be taken into consideration – see especially the emboldened

criteria.

HIGH

Large majority for

final key stage

SIG+ as indicated

in RAISE overall

judgements

ABOVE AVERAGE

Majority for final

key stage SIG+ as

indicated in RAISE

overall judgements

AVERAGE

Generally not SIG-

LOW

General pattern is

SIG- This includes

National Challenge

benchmarks

School data SIG+

Pupils‟ work

indicates high

attainment

School data above

average

Pupils‟ work

indicates above

average

attainment

School data

indicates average

attainment

Pupils‟ work

indicates average

attainment

School data

indicates low

attainment

Pupils‟ work

indicates low

attainment

SIG+ for core

subjects

SIG+ for sizeable

groups of pupils

Key subjects

generally not SIG-

Sizeable groups

generally not SIG-

Key subjects

generally SIG-

Sizeable groups

generally SIG-

SIG- rare for core

subjects

SIG- rare for

sizeable groups ofpupils

Sample copy: Text Missing

1 Tables taken from: Self Evaluation Matters, by the same author. Published by GAL Education 2009

Page 12: Inside Out Curriculum

© Liz Greensides Autumn 2010 Page 19

2 This and all other tasks are replicated on the disk supplied.

2

Take in children’s work in English and the humanities, from a random

selection of children and age groups:

How well are we using the foundation curriculum to develop

pupils’ life-long skills?

o Is there enough emphasis on independent thinking and learning, or

over emphasis on worksheets and mundane tasks?

How well are high attainers in writing upholding these

standards in other subjects?

o Do children drop their own expectations when writing in history, for

example?

Sample copy: Text Missing

Page 13: Inside Out Curriculum

© Liz Greensides Autumn 2010 Page 25

TASKHow good are the curricular opportunities offered by our school?

OUTSTANDING

The curriculum provides

memorable experiences

and rich opportunities

GOOD

The curriculum provides

well organised,

imaginative and

effective opportunities

SATISFACTORY

Some of the features of

the curriculum may be

good

INADEQUATE

The curriculum has

significant shortcomings

Broad range ofexperiences which

contribute to academic

and personal

development

Provides adequatepreparation for the next

stage of children’s lives,

whatever their starting

points

High quality learning inacademic and personal

development

May be at the forefront

of successful, innovative

design

Broad and balanced,

and pupils get their full

entitlement

Customised to meet thechanging needs of

individuals and groups

Adjusted effectively tomeet the needs of most

groups

Adequately matched topupils’ needs, interests

and aspirations

Does not adequatelymeet the needs of pupils

Sample copy: Text Missing

Page 14: Inside Out Curriculum

© Liz Greensides Autumn 2010 Page 30

Creativity and Innovation

Creativity in the curriculum is not a just a measure of how well children

are doing in the creative and aesthetic subjects such as art, music and

dance. It also focuses on a creative approach to learning – children

becoming interactive and involved, not being “taught at” or having to

listen for long periods of time.

Creativity prepares pupils for life:

Sample copy: Text Missing

Page 15: Inside Out Curriculum

THE INSIDE–OUTCURRICULUM

CHAPTER TWO

Key Principles

Page 16: Inside Out Curriculum

© Liz Greensides Autumn 2010 Page 34

Page 17: Inside Out Curriculum

© Liz Greensides Autumn 2010 Page 37

What are the rules?

The Programmes of Study in the National Curriculum remain a

minimum requirement. Remember that the National Curriculum

is an entitlement curriculum – in other words this is only a basic

minimum and schools should build on these basics when

designing the school’s own curriculum.

There is no allotted time for each subject, moving well away

from the days when each subject had around 32.5 hours per

year which had to be devoted to it! If it’s possible, and

appropriate, to minimise learning in a particular subject, then

this is totally acceptable. For example, if most children play an

instrument at home, then music might have a smaller time

allocation given to it. On the other hand, the school might decide

to use these strengths, and devote more time to this subject.

QCA guidance – not just the QCA documentation – is not

statutory, and neither is the Primary Strategy for the delivery of

literacy and maths; the use of the Primary Strategy, however, is

strongly recommended. Units of work can be from earlier or

later stages, depending on the standards of attainment of the

children. The school might, for example, choose to teach Year 2

children within the KS2 curriculum for word processing (ICT) but

within the KS1 curriculum for data handling.

Page 18: Inside Out Curriculum

© Liz Greensides Autumn 2010 Page 40

TASK

TIMETABLING: What is the most effective way to

arrange learning in the light of the specific school

characteristics?

What are the immoveable aspects ofour timetable?

Can this be adapted in any way?

Are there any other barriers to

flexibility?

Can this be adapted in any way?

Are there any ways in which we can

be creative about time?

EG: Maths. Setting in maths each day has been effective. This isnot the time to change this.

EG: Maths usually lasts for just over an hour. This could be cut

to 45 minutes with consolidation later in the day or week.

EG: The hall is timetabled for PE, as is the ICT suite.

EG: Staff could “book” the ICT in advance for best use.

Consider:

An open timetable. This is fleshed out as the week

develops, or even in retrospect, to ensure a balance

across the weeks. (See Page 33)

One whole day each week given to the theme, in

addition to other sessions

Flexible playtimes – the class teacher takes the children

outside when they are ready.

Many primary schools are able to vary their approaches to time, to

take full advantage of each day. The main approach is to block periods

of time to teach cross curricular studies, including whole days outside

the classroom. An “open” timetable can contribute to this – see the

next page for an example.

Page 19: Inside Out Curriculum

THE INSIDE–OUTCURRICULUM

CHAPTER THREE

Big Decisions

Page 20: Inside Out Curriculum

© Liz Greensides Autumn 2010 Page 44

Page 21: Inside Out Curriculum

© Liz Greensides Autumn 2010 Page 49

Big Decisions …. Content

The National Curriculum offers choices as to some of the programmes

of study which will be covered. The following tables cover these

choices for history and geography. Which choices will be the most

appropriate for our children, after considering the discussions in the

previous chapters? Remember It is sometimes useful to make choices

which come from the experience, faith, culture, and expertise of

particular teachers in the school.

Key Stage One

Subject

History

Geography

Breadth of Study

Generic:

Children should study:

Changes in their own lives and the way

of life of their family or others around

them

The way of life of people in the more

distant past who lived in the local area

or elsewhere in Britain

The lives of significant men, women,

and children drawn from the history of

Britain and the wider world

Past events from the history of Britain

and the wider world

The locality of the school

A locality that has contrasting physical

and / or human features

Key Question

Specific:

Adapted for our school:

Examples:

Recent inward

mobility from

Eastern Europe

Local famous

person from history

Famous person

from history

relating to our

culture

What is our choice

of locality?

Why have we made

that choice?

Page 22: Inside Out Curriculum

© Liz Greensides Autumn 2010 Page 50

Page 23: Inside Out Curriculum

THE INSIDE–OUTCURRICULUM

CHAPTER FOUR

Long Term

Planning

Page 24: Inside Out Curriculum

© Liz Greensides Autumn 2010 Page 64

Page 25: Inside Out Curriculum

© Liz Greensides Autumn 2010 Page 65

Chapter Four

Long Term Planning

Personalised Content

Once the tailored aspects of the curriculum have been decided, the

content of the thematic curriculum will be taken from the National

Curriculum Programmes of study, in Long Term and Medium Term

planning. The whole of the science programmes of study should be

covered in their entirety. However it is still possible – and advisable –

to personalise the content by making specific choices which reflect the

identity of the school. This can involve choices on:

Sample copy: Text Missing

Page 26: Inside Out Curriculum

Y3 Charlotte’sWeb

Science

The IronGiant

Humanities

FabulousFood

Science

Humanities

Fire!Science

SuperSchool

Humanities

5,4,3,2,1!Science

RE:

Festivals

RE:

Families

Long

ThemeWeatherand the

Seasons

Sub Theme: Sub Theme: Sub Theme:

The following table represents how one Year Three class have arranged

their themes.

Six main themes have been identified and

balanced across the year. (It is only

coincidence that there are six half terms inthe year.) Each theme is planned for 4 – 5weeks, leaving some weeks “free”.

THEMES

Two RE themes areplanned each year,to be delivered in

the days beforeEaster andChristmas. The

school has ensuredthat the localsyllabus can be

covered this year,within otherthemes.

© Liz Greensides Autumn 2010

Each class choosesone “Long Theme”which can regularly be

dipped into atdifferent times acrossthe year.

Keeping the main themesdown to 6 – 8, with shorttime spans, leaves room

for the teacher to makefree choices (Sub-Themes) about other

elements of thecurriculum. (See the nextpage for details).

Page 70

Page 27: Inside Out Curriculum

THE INSIDE–OUTCURRICULUM

CHAPTER FIVE

Planning The

Learning Journey

Page 28: Inside Out Curriculum

© Liz Greensides Autumn 2010 Page 76

Page 29: Inside Out Curriculum

© Liz Greensides Autumn 2010 Page 77

Chapter Five

Planning the Learning Journey

The themes are set, and the planning is outlined for each year group.

The next stage is to flesh out each theme into the actual teaching and

learning which will happen. There are several stages in this process.

STEP ONE:

A Mind Map to show the breadth of possible coverage. (For some

teachers, this will appear very similar to the Spidergrams of the 70s

and early 80s.) It is important to do this exercise quite quickly, and

not deliberate too much about it. Contents at this stage are a “sweet

shop” of ideas, and may not all be used.

The teacher plots in all ideas, to see which subjects naturally come to

mind. It is not important at this stage to cross check with the NC

document for other subjects than the main driver – this will be done at

a later stage. Avoid dragging in subjects where links are tenuous; it

doesn’t matter if a subject is not taught within a theme.

Sample copy: Text Missing

Page 30: Inside Out Curriculum

© Liz Greensides Autumn 2010 Page 83

STEP SIX:

Planning sessions of learning

The first thing to bear in mind here is that the word session has been

deliberately used in place of the more usual word lesson. This is

because each session may last over a number of traditional lesson

spaces on the timetable – perhaps a whole day, perhaps two or three

afternoons.

Each session is a mini guided purpose or guided question to take

the children’s learning forward.

Each session has key teaching points

Each session has a learning task through which children can

demonstrate their learning

Learning outcomes are differentiated for the children to give both

support and challenge

Sample copy: Text Missing

Page 31: Inside Out Curriculum

© Liz Greensides Autumn 2010 Page 85

Challenge for the teacher:

It is a challenge to provide the correct amount of guidance without

providing too much direction. Direction is needed to help learners

identify areas of difficulty but too much direction detracts from their

sense of ownership of the learning project.

The discovery approach in practice:

Kolbs learning cycle

Step One:

• Children are made aware of what they know and what they don’t

know about any theme. They then consider what they are going

to learn. Learners are stimulated to think, and make small steps

to self direction.

Step Two:

• Children consider how they are going to find out about things

they don’t know. They make the first steps in discarding sources

and making appropriate selection. They have to think about

issues related to types of data, ease of sourcing, etc.

Sample copy: Text Missing

Page 32: Inside Out Curriculum

© Liz Greensides Autumn 2010 Page 86

Page 33: Inside Out Curriculum

THE INSIDE-OUTCURRICULUM

CHAPTER SIX

Recording and

Assessment

Page 34: Inside Out Curriculum

© Liz Greensides Autumn 2010 Page 90

Page 35: Inside Out Curriculum

© Liz Greensides Autumn 2010 Page 91

Chapter Six

Recording and Assessment

As you have plotted where the National Curriculum Programmes of

Study will be taught in detail, you already know that you have full

coverage of the content. This will be reinforced in the medium term

(learning journey) planning. At the end of each theme of work,

highlight or tick what you have actually covered using a colour code

for each year group. It is best to do this on a photocopy of the National

Curriculum. This record then travels with the children throughout

school.

Sample copy: Text Missing

Page 36: Inside Out Curriculum

© Liz Greensides Autumn 2010 Page 93

Use Default Assessment

Avery simple way to record assessment in foundation subjects, is to

make use of the default assessment strategy. In the examples below,

planning was differentiated to different NC levels – children work by

default at these levels. So, we can see that Sarah works at a higher

level in science than she does in ICT.

SCIENCE L1

Una Verona

William Xanthes

Yolande Zarin

Oliver Peyton

SCIENCE L2

Arron Blaydon

Carol Dennis

Eric Flynn

Quentin Rhodes

SCIENCE L3

Graeme Harris

Imogen Jones

Kerry Lamb

Mary Norton

Sarah Teasdale

Sample copy: Text Missing

Page 37: Inside Out Curriculum

THE INSIDE–OUT

CURRICULUM

CHAPTER SEVEN

Skills Ladders

and Sample

Plans

Page 38: Inside Out Curriculum

© Liz Greensides Autumn 2010 Page 98

Page 39: Inside Out Curriculum

© Liz Greensides Autumn 2010 Page 99

Chapter Seven

Skills Ladders and Sample Plans

NB: Example only. The full skills ladders can be found on the

attached disc. Sample plans are also reproduced on the disc,

rather than within this publication. [GAL Education have

produced a working electronic copy of the skills ladders

including the APP AFs. Visit the website for details]

The skills ladders on the following pages take subject specific

skills from the back of the National Curriculum document,

and break them down into smaller components, as an aid to

planning.

As an example, a teacher planning some history to support

learning might decide to focus specifically on chronology,

rather than planning or presenting evidence. By looking at

the skills table, this teacher will be able to quickly identify

appropriate learning and teaching points and activities.

Assessment of children’s learning will, therefore, be against

these skills, and not against any specific scientific

knowledge.

NB: Assessment in all subjects other than English, maths

and science should be from broad attainment targets, and

not from separate components, which are included here as

an aid to planning, differentiation, and challenge.

Page 40: Inside Out Curriculum

© Liz Greensides Autumn 2010 Page 100

HISTORY

Chronological understanding

LEVEL 1

Can place a

few events

and objects in

order

Use everyday

terms about

the passing of

time

LEVEL 2

Use terms

concerned with

the passing of

time

Use this to place

events and

objects in order

LEVEL 3

Realise that the

past can be

divided into

different periods

of time

Recognise some

similarities and

differences

LEVEL 4

Describe

characteristic

features of past

societies and

periods

Identify changes

within and across

different periods

LEVEL 5

Describe

features of

past societies

and periods

and make links

between them

Sample copy: Text Missing

Page 41: Inside Out Curriculum

© Liz Greensides Autumn 2010 Page 103

Bibliography

Stenhouse, L (1975)

An Introduction to Curriculum Research and Development

Published by Heinemann Educational Books Ltd

Raths, James D (1971)

Teaching without specific objectives.

Educational Leadership April 714 – 720

Excellence and Enjoyment

DfES Publications

Ref: DfES/0377/2003

The National Curriculum

Greensides, Liz (2009)

3D Evaluation

GAL Education

Greensides, Liz (2009)

Self Evaluation Matters

GAL Education

Greensides, Liz (2010)

Make Monitoring Matter: A diagnostic approach to school improvement

GAL Education

For information about other publications, products and services

provided by Liz Greensides and GAL Education, please visit our website

www.gal-education.com