Saturday 14 July 2007

The Radical Traditional Curriculum

by Tim Stahmer

The original BBC news is here and Tim's summary:

The essential point about the new curriculum is that it gives teachers much more flexibility about how to organise learning.

They do not have to be trammelled by subject labels. They do not have to plod methodically through programmes of study.

Instead, they can pursue learning through cross-curricular themes. They can adapt the pace and content of learning to the needs of individual pupils.

In short, the new curriculum is designed to permit something the government has espoused - without really defining - “personalised learning”.

As one curriculum expert put it, this whole vast exercise of revising the curriculum has really been about one thing - giving teachers permission to use their own professional judgement.


When standardised tests are still being used, there is no hope of any changes. Teachers will just do the things they always do - prepare the students to sit for the standardised tests!

I have not fully work out my version of the future curriculum, yet but the idea of "cross-curricular themes" as authentic learning tasks is in them.

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