NAIGS 2010Anne Goldsworthywww.annegoldsworthy.co.uk

Primary Curriculum Changes

Education is a political football.

Teachers are feeling

somewhat kicked about.

Cambridge Review Domains

Arts and creativity

Language, oracy and literacy

Mathematics

Science and technology

Place and time Citizenship and ethics

Physical and emotional health

Faith and belief

Rose Report Areas of learning

• Understanding the arts.

• Understanding English, communication and languages

• Mathematical understanding

• Scientific and technologicalunderstanding

• Historical, geographical and social understanding

• Understanding physical development, health and wellbeing

• RE (statutory subject, with non-statutory programme of learning)

Rose - What had changedSame stuff – organised differently

But alsoMore freedom to innovate and take risksGreater emphasis on skillsChance to make meaningful links between science

and other subjects including DT

Making Links to DTDesign and make a magnetic pathwayWho are you making it for?What will interest them? (A train on a train track, a

bee buzzing round a garden, a car on a racetrack, a snake going through the jungle, footballers playing a game, a rocket visiting planets, a deep sea diver trawling the sea bed.)

How will you fix your features? What about the magnets? How will you lift the board up so hands can go underneath?

Is it fit for purpose?What forces are at work?

£145

Magnetic maze toyCommercially available.

Cross curricular links

Use of ICT

Discrete science

Links with design and technology

Rose Report – What are you doing already?

Which will you stop doing now?

Links with literacy and maths

‘Teachers will have more freedom to use their professional judgement and creativity to make links between subjects that make sense to their pupils: from linking history to the arts, or science to PE. ‘

Schools Minister - Vernon Coaker (Labour) 20th November 2009

Cross – curricular Links• Think about a theme where you have linked/are

planning to link science with one or more curriculum areas

• Other than Literacy, Maths and IT which curriculum area(s) were linked with science?

• Art RE DT• History Music PSHE• Geography PE Citizenship

Post- election comment“My view is that there is a fair degree of flexibility in the

existing system. I visited a number of primary schools that have been remarkably creative when it comes to the existing curriculum. We can re-visit the primary curriculum with some of the best work from Robin Alexander, some of the best practice in primary schools and some of the best practice internationally. In the meantime it would seem better to pull back and return with an improved curriculum in due course.”

Michael Gove - 28th May 2010 - TES

Advice to schoolsKeep calm and carry onDon’t lose the creativity or the emphasis on skillsTalk about making good links between separate

subjects rather than doing themes (but do exactly the same thing)

Do some separate subject teaching where necessary (as all schools already were)

Allow the politicians to tinker round the edges of the curriculum – it makes them feel important and has very little impact

Focus on what really makes a difference to learning

AssessmentWhich assessment activities have most impact on

children’s learning?

Which do teachers worry about most?

On being judgedPupils in England were the most tested in any

country (Cambridge Primary Review)

Being judged/marked makes learners fearfulChildren do not learn well when fearfulTeachers do not teach well when fearful20% of primary teachers leave the profession after

three years (HOC 2010, Training of Teachers, 4th Report)

If politicians want more testing in England, we should fight this all the way

Simple Assessment ModelCollections of work from 3 most able in every classUsed with staff to look at progression through the

school, to compare against national standards and to agree what year groups should aim for

Used to show children what could be achievedStaff with more freedom and time to develop inspiring

and effective lessons

‘An obsession with data doesn’t raise standards. It’s to keep Ofsted, SIPs, the government and the LA off our backs.’

Mike Kent, Head Comber Grove Primary School

TES 25.06.10

Head teachersThe best teacher – knowledgeable in all areas of the

curriculum and social development - able to support teachers to get the most out of their children

A manager – accountable to a variety of audiences (Ofsted, LA, Government, Governors, Parents, Other Agencies)

So what really matters?“If there is a single point where the research

converges , it is the character and quality of interaction that takes place in schools and classrooms.”

Cambridge Primary Review

Science Enquiry Games

What’s in the box? – 2 versions

What does quality interaction look like?• Collective - Teachers and children address learning tasks

together• Reciprocal – teachers and children listen to each other,

share ideas and consider alternative viewpoints• Supportive – children articulate their ideas freely, without

fear of embarrassment over wrong answers and help each other reach common understandings

• Cumulative – teachers and children build on each other’s ideas

• Purposeful – teachers plan and steer classroom talk with specific educational goals in view

An example – crisps and breadSlices of different bread on digital weighing scales –

weight recoded over several days

Any thoughts - what do you

expect to happen?

The bread’s going to be drying out

It’ll get lighter then Why should it get lighter?

Water weighs something so when it

goes off into the air the bread will be lighter

Taking measurementsDrawing line graphsPredicting patterns

Great idea – what do you

think will happen to them?

Can we try it with some crisps?

Probably do the same as the bread It’ll get lighter then

Not as much as the bread though

Having ideasPredictingLinking to knowledge

They’re getting heavier! You sure? So they

are!

Getting heavier? That surprises me too . What

could be making it do that?

Crisps are salty.

I’ve seen salt go soggy.

Yeah – the salt attracts all the

water out of the air

Offer explanations

So how could we test it?

What else could we try?

We think we should put some salt on the bread and see if it gets

heavier

Oh no – it got lighter

Reflecting on outcomes

Maybe it’s because the crisps

are dry and crunchy

Let’s toast the bread then and

see what happens.

Let’s try other dry things like bread

sticks and biscuits

What about spraying the crisps

to make them soggy.

Suggesting other ideas

Let’s buzz off and focus on what really matters