VIEWS & OPINION
Take a fresh approach to curriculum design
Comment by GRAHAM COOPER, Chief Marketing Officer at Juniper Education
Along with filling educational gaps and enabling children to make progress in their new year group, school leaders must also think about how to prepare children for a world full of unknowns and jobs which don’t yet exist. There is a lot to consider when
designing a primary school curriculum for the post-pandemic world. But how can schools make sure they are delivering a broad and balanced curriculum and enabling every child to develop a future-proof skill set for the classroom and beyond?
• Involve your stakeholders A good starting point is to look at your current provision with fresh eyes. It can be really useful to canvas your team, parents and children to find out which elements of your curriculum they think are important. This input will help you understand your school’s priorities so you can make sure the curriculum meets the needs of your setting. Having open conversations are a good way to engage everyone in your curriculum planning.
• Ask the ‘why’ question It is important to reflect on the intent of your curriculum and how it links with your school’s vision. It can be a valuable exercise to check that your staff agree on what the school’s educational philosophy is and which subject areas your pupils need to master. Finding answers to these questions will inform decisions about what to teach, when and why. It will also make it easier for teachers to choose lesson resources and content which supports the school’s vision for learning.
• Ensure a logical order The sequence in which subject matter is taught is fundamentally important, so factor this into your curriculum planning with the caveat that some content may have been missed during the pandemic. With well-considered sequencing of skills, knowledge and understanding, children can make connections between subject areas and commit the learning to their long-term memory.
• Support your teachers Some teachers who are at the early stages in their career may have had limited opportunity to conduct face-to-face teaching and could have missed certain elements of curriculum training. There’s a great opportunity when designing your curriculum to look at areas for professional development. This will help to bridge some of the gaps caused by the pandemic and ensure everyone is up to speed with government policy changes.
• Remember what is important The pandemic has made us all reflect on the learning experience and question whether it could be better for children now and in the future. When you are reviewing your curriculum, ask yourself if it simply requires the learning of facts and information, or whether it is creating a new generation of historians, geographers and artists.
• Prepare for the deep dive Curriculum is under the Ofsted microscope like never before, and while this focus is welcome, it can have huge implications for all members of a school community. Use the information you recorded during the initial consultation with staff as part of an inspection to demonstrate the school’s curriculum strategy. This will make it easier to communicate the objectives of your curriculum, the way you are implementing it and how you’re assessing its impact. All these steps will provide clarity on what it is you need pupils to learn, and whether your curriculum is rich, logical and ambitious enough to equip children for a rapidly changing world.
22
www.education-today.co.uk
Mobile phones – is banning the answer?
Comment by LARA PECHARD, Head at St Margaret’s School in Hertfordshire
Children’s relationships with mobile phones have changed during the pandemic and, many would argue, not for the better. As a result, many schools have started to ban their use altogether, but is banning really the answer? As we begin a new academic year, how do we redress the balance and nurture the right behaviours early on, especially as children are becoming owners of mobile phones from a much younger age?
My school has a ‘no mobiles’ phone policy. It is gloriously unusual to see a pupil using their mobile phone during the school day. In fairness, this was an initiative that was put in place before I arrived as Head. The absence of mobile phones in school has been well received by parents and staff, but it is also well respected by our children. When I began to meet parents during my first term as Head, interestingly I was asked more about my intentions to retain the ‘no phone policy’ than anything else. More than a year on and I still wouldn’t change the policy; there might be a ‘walk out’ if I did. One cannot ignore the impact that mobile devices have on children’s lives today. I also have concerns about how we model good behaviour around usage and as schools we have a duty to tackle this with our children early on.
During lockdowns, mobile phones will have provided a source of entertainment for many younger children, via apps videos and games, and likely, some moments of respite for busy parents. But it does mean that many of the usual practices and behaviours around mobile phone usage will have gone out of the window, with many young children enjoying greater, unfettered access at home.
In school, given our policy and the impact of lockdown on the use of phones, we have started to tackle this issue with staff and parents through training and pastoral webinars. We must consider carefully how we encourage screen-free time and balance. After all, it isn’t just children that have used their phones more in the pandemic; adults too, have found distraction, comfort and social interaction 24/7 via their mobile phones.
But how do we move on from this unquestionable overuse? In my experience, parents prefer schools to be clear and firm. Parents benefit when schools make them aware of what they often deny, or simply don’t know is happening. Very young children are less likely to have access to social media or feel the same level of peer pressure compared with a teenager, but we have to set the ground rules from a young age and encourage the right behaviours early on. Parents need encouragement to replicate clearer and timed parameters at home for their children and schools can help to support this.
We need more open conversations at school and home about the behaviour that we might not like. The sooner we have these conversations with younger pupils the better. We need to do this in a way that attempts to understand and support them, outlining concerns and consequences rather than offering sanction or judgement. Real life cases, anonymized, are always very powerful, for instance, we are also starting to get concerns from parents about deterioration of eyesight and poor physical health including posture – outlining some of these issues can be beneficial.
In essence, tackling the overuse and the need the mobile phone fulfils, must be the first aim. All of which will involve time and engagement and a gentler approach for younger pupils.
September 2021
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