What Can Go Wrong When Writing Your Own Curriculum?

I've seen first-hand what can go wrong in developing curricula, and the additional time and resources that are wasted as a result. Here are a few things to avoid:

Forgetting to start with vision and values

You have to start with something which is going to underpin all of your curriculum decision-making. Many schools these days have outlined their vision and values, but are not so far along the journey of actually embedding these into everything they do, which should include curriculum writing.

The trouble with this is that most curriculum writing is actually curriculum development or redevelopment - when you're not starting from scratch it can be easy to forget that the content should be based on underlying principles.

Everything that you teach should ultimately be pulling towards the constant instilling of your school's values.

Neglecting curriculum goal-setting

Whilst vision and values should underpin and drive a curriculum, setting curriculum goals and aims is important too. These will differ from subject to subject but it is important, along with know the vision and values you want to instill, that you know what you want each pupil to get out of the teaching and learning.

Often, school leaders start with an idea of the content they want to cover before really considering what the overall purpose of the curricula is. Sometimes, school leaders have a clear idea of the actions they want to take, or the pedagogical approach they'd like to take before thinking about what they want for children at the end of the programmes of study.

Curriculum content should be decided based on the desired end points.

Thinking overambitiously and unrealistically

OK, we are supposed to be ambitious - we are supposed to have lofty ideals with regards to what the pupils in our care can achieve. However, there is no use in over-egging the pudding. It gets no-one anywhere.

Bloated curricula have been a massive problem since Ofsted began their curriculum crusade. In many of the schools I've worked with, slimming content down has been the order of the day - this was something I found with my first curriculum-writing attempts a few years ago before I became a consultant. Been there, done that.

Curriculum work always is a case of painting the Forth Bridge, but there are things you can do right off the bat to make sure you're not pumping it full of too much content - so much that teachers can't get through it and children can't learn it all.

Confusing the different types of knowledge

I've covered this extensively in other blog posts but in summary:

Ofsted used a load of complicated pieces of terminology which many school leaders were unsure of. School leaders then attempted to interpret these into their own documentation, with varying results.

Confusion between disciplinary and procedural knowledge has been rife. People have been told that we shouldn't think about skills anymore and that knowledge should be the priority. Something called substantive knowledge has been bandied around. It's all just so confusing.

If this resonates with you, here are a few blog posts that might help you to further clarify:

Writing in unclear terms

Whilst curriculum thinking can often be sound (although this can be a problem too), written documentation can often fail to communicate this thinking. The communiucation of this thinking is crucial: teachers need to understand the thought that has gone into what they're teaching. External visitors also often need to get a sense of the whys and wherefores very quickly and this requires clear written messaging.

And this category is a broad one. There can be a lack of clarity in everything ranging from visio and values, aims and purposes, unit goals and individual curriculum content statements (or objectives). Take the last of that list for example: objectives that state pupils should learn about something without outlining exactly what they should know about that thing is quite common in curriculum writing.

Avoiding these curriculum-writing mistakes

Of course, many of these mistakes are made because school leaders are time-poor and need quick results. Despite school leaders being highly skilled in many aspects of school leadership, curriculum writing and development doesn't come easily to everyone.

If you are developing curricula, tapping into my expertise would mean that you and your school get it right from the start, allowing you to focus on what's really important: nurturing and developing the children you're providing a learning environment for.

Get in touch!