Developing The Curriculum As A KSCo

By Izzy Hilliard

When taking on the role of a curriculum coordinator, I was daunted by the idea of line managing my colleagues; planning open days and analysing key stage data. The idea of planning schemes of work for students was one that really excited me. I had always enjoyed planning my lessons and watching students make progress in those seventy five minutes. I also believed that the unit plans for Key Stage Three English were in pretty good shape, and therefore that part of my job was completed.

However, over the course of my first year, the English department was evolving and changing in relation to subject reports and research. The emphasis placed on skills was important but there was a new focus placed on knowledge and the explicit teaching of knowledge. On reflection, our unit plans for key stage three were looking outdated and needed to be changed. 

Therefore, I got started on planning a Year 9 unit for a novel called Ugly Dogs Don’t Cry by DD Armstrong. (If you have a spare moment, give it a read. It is set in Ladbroke Grove and is a modern retelling of Of Mice and Men based on two teenagers.)

Planning a seventy five minute lesson, and outlining the idea for twenty one lessons are different tasks, but not as different as we may first suspect. In coaching conversations with leaders of the school and other curriculum coordinators I was given the same advice. When faced with an empty excel spreadsheet for the scheme of work two decisions have to be made from the offset:

1. What essential understanding(s) do you want students to have by the end of the unit?

2. What do you want students to be able to do by the end of the term? What skill will you be assessing? 

3. What knowledge do you want them to gain over the term? 

4. How is what they are doing more challenging than what they were doing the year prior?

For me, talking to the team and leaders helped me figure out the answers to those questions. A unit plan is not something which is a completely solo project. The input from Department Leads and subject teachers are extremely valuable. Together we decided on how to assess their analysis skills and the knowledge and ideas we wanted to have. Furthermore, we discussed how to build towards having more sophisticated analysis, teaching them knowledge such as lexical fields; tonal shifts and focus changes instead of verbs; adjectives and adverbs and writing frames that came from a more detached, critical viewpoint. Deciding on what is the essential “golden nugget” or understanding of a unit is difficult as there always appears multiple goals. Yet, what I knew that the Year 9 cohort needed to understand was that their analysis should be detached and critical. I want to ensure that whilst the team promotes personal responses to analytical questions, simultaneously students are able to write authentic responses that retain a degree of criticality. 

The job of a curriculum lead therefore is to decide on the four questions posed, after collaborative conversations. Once the questions are answered the rest of the work falls together. You want to ensure each lesson builds to your overall goal and includes all of the knowledge you want to incorporate into the term. Also- have some fun! Each coordinator, teacher and leader has their own unique knowledge on their subject. Put that into the unit that you are planning. Once I began doing that, believing in the knowledge that I had, I was able to enjoy and feel excited about the unit I was planning.

Types Of Knowledge In The WA Curriculum

By Alice Hall & Ruhina Cockar

Ruth Ashbee defines curriculum as “knowledge structured over time”, so what do we mean by knowledge?

Different educational experts categorise knowledge in different ways. We may have heard knowledge referred to by different labels and at times the overlap between seemingly discrete ‘categories’ can be confusing. Subject to subject, we may also categorise knowledge slightly differently, so, at times, the labels may be slightly blurred. What is important as teachers, is that we understand the different types of knowledge, how they apply to our subjects, and how we incorporate them into our teaching. 

How are the types of knowledge defined? 

Types of knowledge can include:

• Declarative knowledge

• Substantive knowledge

• Procedural knowledge

• Disciplinary knowledge

• Tacit knowledge

  
  

“Substantive knowledge is the content that teachers teach as established fact – whether common convention, concept or warranted account of reality. You might want pupils to know of crotchets, percentages, the Treaty of Waitangi, Debussy or stem cells. In calling this ‘substantive’, we are treating the material presented as givens.

Disciplinary knowledge, by contrast, is a curricular term for what pupils learn about how that knowledge was established and how it continues to be revised by scholars, artists or professional practice. It is that part of the subject where pupils understand each discipline as a tradition of enquiry with its own distinctive pursuit of truth. It describes that part of the curriculum where pupils learn about the conditions under which valid claims can be made, and associated conventions such as what constitutes evidence or argument in that subject” (Counsell, 2020).

Procedural knowledge is a term that often accompanies declarative knowledge. Sometimes the definition of these two terms is given as ‘know how’ and ‘know what’. Procedural knowledge is the understanding of how something is done, the series of steps or actions taken to accomplish a goal, for example, following a recipe of set steps to create a meal. Some procedural knowledge is domain-specific (such as the understanding of using baking powder as a raising agent to bake a cake) and some is transferable across disciplines (such as plotting graphs, skills that may be taught in both Geography and Maths). 

Tacit knowledge can be much harder for students to describe. Sometimes called lived knowledge, tacit knowledge is often inferred and developed through lived experiences. Students may know, for example, that their friend is sad, but may struggle to articulate why (dropped facial expression, slouched posture, muted tone of voice, etc). Tacit knowledge can be very important in the learning process, however is often difficult for students to articulate in an explicit manner. 

How does Ofsted want us to use this understanding about types of knowledge? 

Ofsted refers to research from educational psychologist Sweller who states that, “Learning can be defined as an alteration in long-term memory. If nothing has altered in long-term memory, nothing has been learned”. However, transfer to long-term memory depends on rich processes. In order to develop understanding, pupils connect new knowledge with existing knowledge. Pupils also need to develop fluency and unconsciously apply their knowledge as skills. This must not be reduced to, or confused with, simply memorising facts.

In terms of how schools are expected to demonstrate this, Professor Daniel Muijis, Ofsted’s Deputy Director of Research and Evaluation said “It’s what you do, not how you label it that matters.” Schools will not be judged on whether they organise their knowledge under the labels ‘disciplinary’ and ‘substantive’ or any other organisational principles. They will, however, be asked about ‘what they do’ and as long as an approach or approaches can be explained clearly and is shown to be helpful in the school’s curriculum design work, then curriculum design can be judged to be effective.

How does this fit with the WA vision for the curriculum?

The WA curriculum, including the personal development curriculum, will support student success by ensuring that they know, do, and understand more. Effective road-mapping will help students link and relate topics to prior and future learning, building the metacognitive skills to become successful enquirers. Student-centred learning will be promoted through successful independent practice and the practical application of knowledge. This will be supported by appropriate instruction, modelling, scaffolding and guided practice. Our curriculum will be both a mirror and a window, reflecting all members of our community whilst challenging preconceptions and equipping students with the skills and experience to think critically.

Subject leaders and teachers should be able to distinguish and understand what the different types of knowledge are for their subjects. This should be guiding their curriculum design and therefore clearly expressed in unit plans and lesson planning. Students should be able to express their understanding through what they know, how they know it and how they might be able to attempt a problem (metacognitive understanding). Keep in mind that types of knowledge may look different from subject to subject, and it is important to consider how this may impact the teaching and learning in your subject area. 

Questions to consider: 

• What are the facts and methods that should make up the curriculum? What are the links between them?

• What is the necessary prior knowledge needed in order to access a particular topic?

• What are the features of excellent writing in a particular topic? How should these be mapped and explicitly taught across the curriculum?

• How can I continually review and develop our curriculum? 

  
  

References

Birgit Muskat and Marg Deery, 2017.  “Knowledge  transfer  and  organizational  memory:  An  events perspective”. Event Management 21(4), pp. 431–447. 

Christine Counsell, 2020. https://my.chartered.college/impact_article/taking-curriculum- seriously/  

Christine Counsell and Daniel Mujis, 2022 https://trivium21c.com/2020/01/26/ofsted-and- knowledge/ 

Ofsted Music Subject Review, 2021. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/research- review-series-music 

Ofsted Art aide memoire (in Third Space Learning), 2022. https://thirdspacelearning.com/ blog/ofsted-crib-sheets/ 

Primary Science Education Consultants, 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= eduvDOHH3UQ

Putting It Into Practice: Roadmapping

By Holly Youlden

This term we've been talking about the power of roadmapping, and using backwards planning to ensure your lessons have impact. In this blog post, we are going to explore some of the ways you can put pedagogy into practice by looking at staff reflections, reading, and top tips! 

Staff reflections:

Charlotte Nicholas in the History team has been focusing on the concept of roadmapping over the past year so was a natural fit to lead our CPD session on the topic in September. She summarised some of the key research in this area in this slide below and shared a specific example from her Year 9 medium-term planning. Note how clearly Charlotte has identified the substantive and disciplinary knowledge required in the units, as well as thinking about where specific transferable skills may feature:

(From C. Nicholas' "Roadmapping" CPD, 1st September 2022) 

We spoke to some of the colleagues who attended Charlotte's CPD to reflect on what they had learnt:

What were your key take-home message about roadmapping?

Roadmapping is an excellent way to signpost curriculum content to students and sequence learning in a way that reinforces student knowledge, helps them to prepare for what is coming up next and what they need to remember (potentially for GCSEs, assessments, etc). I haven't specifically made any new resources, however have integrated this into my thinking when planning, especially the Do Now- more retrieval based, linking to past learning and the Plenary, recapping today's lesson as well as looking ahead to the next lesson. 

(Alice Hall, Expressive Arts)

The end product is what gives the roadmapping process its shape, direction and structure. It also supports the idea of very high expectations in which the teacher holds the learners and encourages students to have the same expectations upon themselves. I particularly liked the idea that students know where their learning is heading and how this may encourage them in their journey despite the challenges they may face along the way. 

Roadmapping may require complete or at least partial re-planning of schemes of learning. One of the main challenges is obviously finding the time to achieve this. So backwards teaching will perhaps have to begin where there are clear gaps of planning based on students' starting points (from pre-assessment for example) and also consider whether the teacher can get sufficient challenge opportunities to get accurate feedback throughout a sequence of lessons. In other words, find areas of schemes of learning that require both more challenge and more effective ways to differentiate learning through the principles of roadmapping instead of replanning a whole scheme of learning. 

(Diogo Pereira, Science) 

How can I learn more?

Watch...

• Kitchen pedagogy 2.4- Instruction by Tom Sherrington here

• Instruction collection by Cult of Pedagogy here

Read...

• Blog post from Michelle Chen about curriculum development and planned skills progression

  
  

• CPD slides from Charlotte Nicholas about roadmapping

• Backwards planning takes thinking ahead by Rebecca Abler here 

• Backward design: the basics by Jennifer Gozales here

Speak to...

• Charlotte Nicholas- History

• Lucy Taylor- Geography

• Dipesh Patel- Science

Please share any great examples of roadmapping with me at h.youlden@westminsteracademy.org.uk!