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Past event

Researching curriculum subjects: understanding how teachers plan, design and lead the curriculum

This event has now been postponed until 8 December 2020 – the event and recordings can be viewed here.

This seminar, hosted by BERA, the British Curriculum Forum and the Knowledge in
Education Research Group in the Sheffield Institute of Education, addresses the
knowledge base of the curriculum, and the issue of teachers’ pedagogic and
subject knowledge in curriculum making.

The seminar is in two parts: in the first part Richard Pountney (Sheffield Hallam University) sets out a theoretical approach to achieving coherence between subject concepts, subject content, and subject competencies; and Diane Swift (Director, Keele and North Staffordshire Teacher Education) presents a case study of curriculum enactment, where the coherence of the primary subject curriculum is addressed by making the curriculum design principles, and the different knowledge structures, explicit.

In part two of the day, differing approaches to the subject curriculum are discussed: Martin Said (School Designer, XP School Trust) outlines an evaluation of an interdisciplinary approach to combining secondary curriculum subjects that develops character and academic success; Kath Bransby (Education Officer, Steiner Waldorf Schools Fellowship ) will illustrate how attention to a threefold view of humanity – body, soul and spirit – can be built into a through-phase development model of learning; Andrew Truby (Strategic Lead, Learning Unlimited Teaching School Alliance) will focus on literacy and how a mastery approach to English can underpin the primary curriculum; and Emily Perry (Deputy Head, Centre for Development and Research in Education, Sheffield Hallam University) will draw on ongoing evaluations of teacher professional development programmes to explore how teachers’ professional learning interacts with curriculum development. Participants will be given the opportunity, in two workshops, to discuss the presentations and to address their own curriculum issues.

09.30 Registration, tea and coffee
10.00 Welcome, introductions, plans for the day
Richard Pountney, Sheffield Hallam University
  Part 1: Curriculum Design Coherence
10.15 Developing curriculum expertise: using theory to explain and justify curriculum decisions
Richard Pountney, Sheffield Hallam University
10.45 Exploring Subject Knowledge Structures in Curriculum Design
Diane Swift, Director, Keele and North Staffordshire Teacher Education
11.15 Workshop and plenary discussion
12.00 Lunch
  Part 2: Approaches to the curriculum and curriculum knowledge
12.45 Powerful knowledge: a 3-Dimensional approach to curriculum making focussing on beautiful work, development of character and academic success
Martin Said, School Designer, XP School Trust
13.05 Head, heart and hands – a biographical curriculum
Kath Bransby, Education Officer, Steiner Waldorf Schools Fellowship
13.25 Developing English in primary schools through a mastery approach
Andrew Truby, Strategic Lead, Learning Unlimited Teaching School Alliance
13.45 Interactions between curriculum development and teacher professional learning
Emily Perry, Deputy Head of the Centre for Development and Research in Education, Sheffield Hallam University
14.05 Workshop and plenary discussion
14.45 Completion of evaluation forms
14.50 Next steps
Richard Pountney, Sheffield Hallam University
15.00 Close of meeting

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