Curriculum Rationale

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What Should a Strong Curriculum Achieve?

A strong curriculum should aim to do the following:

Convey subject importance

Curriculum should convey our subject as concrete and meaningful in the context of the wider world.

Think outside the building

A strong curriculum reaches beyond immediate context, beyond exam specifications and beyond the remit of a national curriculum framework.

Relate to students

A strong curriculum should enable students to form a personal connection with the subject knowledge.
Students can then translate this knowledge to the world around them.

Draw deep connections

The patterns and connections across components need to go deep and be insightful.
This is to help students create meaning and build a stronger schematic framework for the subject.

Acknowledge history

The curriculum should pay respect to its origins and traditions as part of its ongoing evolution.
It should also include the changes or developments of the subject over time, to expose students to the subjective and the changeable in our discipline.

Balances knowledge with practice

The relationship between skills and knowledge as coexistent, interdependent and symbiotic.
- Skills such as analysis and evaluation are a manifestation of knowledge in practice.
The curriculum must balance knowledge with opportunities to practise what has been learned.

1Introduction

1.1Introduction

1.1.1Shaping the Curriculum

2Curriculum Rationale

2.1Curriculum Rationale

2.1.1The Role of Subject Leaders

2.1.2Curriculum Rationale

3Curriculum Knowledge

3.1Curriculum Knowledge

3.1.1Core Knowledge

3.1.2Hinterland Knowledge

3.1.3Substantive Knowledge

3.1.4Disciplinary Knowledge

3.1.5Declarative & Procedural Knowledge

4Curriculum Sequencing

4.1Curriculum Sequencing

4.1.1Cognitive Load Theory

4.1.2Threshold Concepts

5Assessment

5.1Assessment

5.1.1Meaningful Assessment

6Instruments of the Curriculum

6.1Instruments of the Curriculum

6.1.1Instruments of the Curriculum

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