Curriculum for Wales needs clarity not ambiguity

Background to the "Curriculum for Wales"

The "Curriculum for Wales" focus is on ensuring children and young people develop as: ‘ambitious, capable learners, enterprising, creative contributors, ethical, informed citizens of Wales and the world; and healthy, confident individuals, ready to lead fulfilling lives as valued members of society’ (Curriculum for Wales. Donaldson 2015) To achieve these four purposes, the curriculum is structured around six broad Areas of Learning and Experiences (AoLEs) which draw together what currently exists as distinct academic subjects.

Humanities is one of the AOLE’s which includes subjects such as RE, History and Geography. The curriculum for Wales replaces subject specification for interdisciplinary areas of learning and and gives curriculum design guidance for teachers with with the development and construction of the Curriculum.

Key Stages 2, 3 and 4 no longer exist. Instead, we have Progression steps at ages 5, 8, 11, 14 and 16 relating to broad expectations of a child’s progress. Progression Step 1 – Nursery to Reception.  Progression Step 2 – Year 1 to Year 3. Progression Step 3 - Year 4 to Year 6. Progression Step 4 – Year 7 to Year 9. Progression Step 5 - Year 10 to Year 11

Progression steps are part of the descriptions of learning. They describe how learning should progress within each statement of what matters across the learning continuum. They broadly correspond to expectation at ages 5, 8, 11, 14 and 16.

“Curriculum for Wales” sets out 27 statements of what matters across the six areas of learning and experience (Areas) on which all maintained schools and funded non-maintained settings must base their curriculum. The 6 areas are expressive arts, health and well-being, humanities, languages, literacy and communication, mathematics and numeracy and science and technology

Descriptions of learning provide guidance on how learners should progress within each statement of what matters as they progress through the curriculum.

https://hwb.gov.wales/curriculum-for-wales

Education in Wales is in a state of crisis in 2024

Education in Wales is in a state of crisis in 2024. The “Impact Wales” education consultants noted this in their recent online article “Something is rotten in the state of Wales” They stated “There’s an ongoing funding crisis in local authorities, which has hit education budgets and left many schools struggling to balance the books. Schools are still suffering from the fallout of the pandemic, particularly when it comes to attendance and behavioural issues. The PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) results for Wales were dire, with the lowest scores ever recorded and the gap between the other UK nations widening. The latest reading and numeracy test results showed reading standards of 7-14-year-olds have fallen since the pandemic.

https://www.impact.wales/news/something-is-rotten-in-the-state-of-wales/

 

Lucy Crehan is an international expert in education policy. Her 2016 book "Cleverlands: The Secrets Behind the Success of the World’s Education Superpowers" is the story of her work in the educational systems of Finland, Canada, Japan, China and Singapore. She spoke at a recent “Policy Forum for Wales” conference where they discussed next steps for curriculum reform in Wales.

She stated clearly that “There is currently very little knowledge that all children in Wales are entitled………  a lack of specified knowledge and skills is felt at transitions. Even if every primary school had high standards and high expectations for their pupils, the lack of commonality across them leads to a lack of coherence in curriculum between primary and secondary, leading to the problems of repetition and boredom for some children, confusion caused by gaps in learning for others, and disengagement for all. The introduction in Wales, of 27 very high-level statements of what matter, will not overcome this problem”.

https://youtu.be/D8rGC0sK3jQ?si=CvA-U-Nc8hTtXq8M

 

Catholic secondary RE teachers in Wales teach a knowledge rich curriculum.

I teach RE in Wales. I teach in a Catholic secondary school. The changes to the Curriculum for Wales do not change the status of RE in a Catholic School. This means that the teaching of RE in Catholic schools must continue to be governed solely by the Religious Education Curriculum Directory (RECD) authorised by the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales.

The RE curriculum is titled “To Know You More Clearly”.  It sets out the purpose of RE from Early Years Foundation Stage to Year 9 and features a programme of study with a model curriculum, corresponding to the six half-terms of the school year. The RE curriculum is a spiral curriculum, an approach to teaching developed by Psychologist and Cognitive Scientist, Jerome Bruner. It refers to a course of study in which important ideas are repeatedly presented throughout the curriculum, but with deepening levels of difficulty and continually reinforcing previous learning. (https://www.structural-learning.com/post/the-spiral-curriculum-a-teachers-guide)

 In this spiral format, learners are expected to revisit previous theological concepts as they develop to further deepen them and potentially build new connections. Therefore, we avoid the off the shelf approach to teaching where topics might just be taught once.  For example, “We taught Moses in Year 7 and taught Jeremiah in Year 8. We covered it then. Let’s teach them Abraham in Year 9”. I am glad that I am teaching and assessing from this well constructed spiral curriculum.

Curriculum for Wales needs clarity not ambiguity.

I think the Curriculum for Wales documents lack clarity and are far too ambiguous and are open to interpretation. Here is an example of one of the “What Matters statement” from Humanities AOLE

Our natural world is diverse and dynamic, influenced by processes and human actions.

The following examples of “Descriptions of learning” at progression step 4 (Age 11-14) on the humanities AOLE  are to provide guidance on how learners should progress within each statement of what matters as they progress through the curriculum.

I can understand and explain how human actions affect the physical processes that shape places, spaces, environments and landforms over time.

I can understand and explain the range of factors that affect the interrelationships between humans and physical processes.

 

I can understand and explain how significant places, spaces, environments and landforms in the natural world are associated with economic, historical, political, and religious and non-religious beliefs and practices.

Daisy Christodoulou, author of the “The 7 myths of education” wrote on her “No more marking” website/blog in February  about the problems of such statements in “The tyranny of the progression statement”. “These are the collections of sentences like “I can infer characters’ emotions from explicit details in the text” which chart the progress of students through a curriculum. The problem with these statements is that they are too vague and imprecise to provide useful information for a teacher or student”. https://substack.nomoremarking.com/p/the-tyranny-of-the-progression-statement

Now, look in complete contrast at the “Expected end of age-phase outcomes” for the RE curriculum for Catholic schools in England and Wales “To Know You More Clearly”.

Describe Catholic beliefs about Jesus and the incarnation, explaining the Church teaching about why ‘the Word.became flesh’, making links with Articles 2-4 of the Nicene Creed.

Explain what is meant by describing Jesus as ‘true God and true man’ and why the Church rejected Arius’s account of the Son’s relationship to the Father.

 Explain why the Church describes Jesus as Christ, Lord and Only Begotten Son of God (see CCC 441-45, YC 74).

https://catholiceducation.org.uk/schools/religious-education/item/1000034-religious-education-curriculum-directory

It is specific. These statements are clear for the teacher and there is no room for misinterpretation. As E.D Hirsch says "The alternative to specificity is vagueness, which sounds virtuous , because it imposes nothing in particular". Due to the clarity and specific nature of the curriculum, I also have a textbook resource with online material support from a commercial provider that is in line with the Curriculum. (Source to Summit -Oxford university Press -Andy Lewis)
 

Dr Gareth Evans wrote about this lack of clarity and uniformity in his recent article for the "Times Educational supplement". In “Why Curriculum for Wales must empower teachers” (20th February 2024) Evans clearly states a need for a greater degree of specificity. “We introduce some sort of “common core” or list of non-negotiables that all schools, in all parts of Wales, are required by law to teach. A more descriptive statutory content, outside that which exists already, would ensure at least some degree of uniformity across the piece; how detailed that compulsory list would be subject to a “national conversation” on what we want our children to grow up knowing.

Do we have a cohesive national plan? Or do we have a vague curriculum where schools are doing their own thing?  We face a danger in Wales where some schools will learn about Shakespeare, The Chartists and the social upheavals of the 1984 miners strike in Wales, "Cofiwch Dryweryn", Dylan Thomas, "The radicalisation of Bradley Manning" by Tim Price, but some schools may do projects about "Tik Tok" videos, Zombies, elves and fairies, or whatever my favourite song from “The Greatest showman" happens to be. Some pupils will gain far different knowledge and skills from others.

In conclusion, maybe we need to look at what other European countries have done. Nuno Crato was the former Minister of Education and Science in Portugal 2011–2015. He helped transform Portuguese education. During his tenure, Portuguese students achieved the best results ever on PISA. Curriculum was key to their success. In his essay “Everything starts with the Curriculum” he outlines the importance of a well constructed curriculum

 “In parallel, we set up new standards, and by that we meant detailed lists of learning outcomes. Those lists needed to be precise, well structured, and conducive to sequential learning. Moreover, the listed contents should be precise enough to convey unambiguously to students, teachers, parents, textbook authors, and examiners what the desired outcomes were. This definition stands in sharp contrast to the previously adopted ‘competences’ approach”

 Clarity not ambiguity.

https://researched.org.uk/2019/02/27/everything-starts-with-the-curriculum/

 

Suggestions

1. AOLE’s need to be more subject specific with content knowledge.

2. Welsh assembly Government education advisers need to stop singing the chorus of Bob Marley’s “Three little birds”

3. Talk to the academics and teachers who “designed” the Catholic schools Religious Education directory to look at their processes in the production of a spiral curriculum  

4. "The alternative to specificity is vagueness, which sounds virtuous , because it imposes nothing in particular" (E.D HIRSCH)

 

 

 

References

https://hwb.gov.wales/curriculum-for-wales

 

https://www.impact.wales/news/something-is-rotten-in-the-state-of-wales/

 

https://www.tes.com/magazine/analysis/general/why-curriculum-wales-must-empower-teachers-succeed-schools

 

 

 

https://www.structural-learning.com/post/the-spiral-curriculum-a-teachers-guide

 

https://substack.nomoremarking.com/p/the-tyranny-of-the-progression-statement

 

https://catholiceducation.org.uk/schools/religious-education/item/1000034-religious-education-curriculum-directory

 

https://www.tes.com/magazine/analysis/general/why-curriculum-wales-must-empower-teachers-succeed-schools

Cleverlands: The Secrets Behind the Success of the World’s Education Superpowers  Dec. 2016 by Lucy Crehan    

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cleverlands-Secrets-Success-Education-Superpowers/dp/1783522739

 

https://researched.org.uk/2019/02/27/everything-starts-with-the-curriculum/

 

https://dianeravitch.net/2013/09/03/e-d-hirsch-jr-what-am-i-trying-to-sell/

Primary students learn to read. Secondary school students read to learn.

Religious Education is a core curriculum subject for Catholic schools and is 10% of curriculum time. It is taught rigorously, with all the same expectations as other core subjects. Our current Year 7 pupils are following the new Religious Education programme for schools in England and Wales published by the CES (Catholic Education Service), “To Know You More Clearly”. Most of our pupils come from Catholic feeder schools and a local Church of Wales primary. A minority of pupils come from local non-Catholic feeder primary schools.

As an experienced Head of Department, I have always believed that in primary school students learn to read, and in secondary school,  students read to learn. So how does a current Year 7 student read in our subject?

Here is an example from one of our Year 7 textbooks:

What do Catholics mean by the word revelation?

To Catholics, belief in God is a trinity is a mystery. They believe God reveals traces of this mystery through the created world and the Old Testament. However, the fullness of the mystery of the trinity was revealed in Jesus, the Son of God and through the Holy Spirit.

Revelation means being shown information which helps humans to learn about and know something. For Catholics, revelation means the ways in which God is made known to people, such as through showing God’s qualities. This is most perfectly done through Jesus, who Catholics believe God was in human form.  (Key Stage 3 Religious Education Directory: Source to Summit Year 7 Student Book – Oxford university press)

 

Vocabulary from this short text can be usefully divided into 3 tiers:

    Tier 1 – high frequency in spoken language (learn, world)

    Tier 2 – high frequency in written texts (mystery, fullness, revealed)

    Tier 3 – subject specific, academic language (trinity, revelation, Holy Spirit))

 

We would expect that when reading the text, Year 7 pupils would have some background knowledge about religious beliefs (tier 3 vocabulary –subject-specific) and be familiar with high frequency language.

To comprehend a text, you need to understand around 95% of the words. An average text contains 300 words a page so that means approximately 15 words may be unknown even if the gist of the text is understood. For a Year 7 student who cannot read well, the textbook excerpt will be challenging and incomprehensible.

Children who cannot read well find it difficult to keep up in RE lessons, but not only in RE but all their other subjects too. Reading is an essential part of almost every subject. How can children learn science or geography if they can’t access textbooks or worksheets? These children start and continue secondary school with a reading deficit that prevents them from accessing the Year 7 to Year 9 curriculum and impacts later upon their GCSE exam curriculum.

 

 

We know from secondary schools in Wales that there are many children starting in Year 7 unable to access the curriculum due to extremely low reading abilities. Estyn reported back in 2012 that, “Around 40% of learners enter secondary schools in Year 7 with reading ages significantly (at least six months) below their chronological age. Around 20% of these learners are not functionally literate, with reading ages of below nine and a half years.”

 

Anecdotal evidence from Year 7 teachers in our school  notice the variation in reading fluency and comprehension between cohorts of students from different primary feeder schools. This variation results in some students being better prepared to access the secondary school curriculum. This will no doubt be the case across schools in Wales due to the lack of curriculum specificity in reading instruction and guidance for teaching reading at a national level.

 

Research tells us that “Learning to read is a highly complex undertaking that is underpinned by two fundamental processes: word reading through the recognition and decoding of words, and comprehension of texts through a range of knowledge and skills.”  (EEF blog: Phonics – mastering the basics of reading, Caroline Bilton) These two processes must be included in a primary school’s curriculum to ensure that all students learn to read proficiently before they enter secondary school.

The best bet for achieving this aim is to use a Systematic Synthetic Phonics (SSP) programme through which children learn to recognise letters (graphemes) and their associated sounds (phonemes), and develop the skills of breaking the word down into the smallest units of sound (segmenting) and blending them together quickly to read. The Education Endowment Foundation Teaching and Learning Toolkit finds that phonics approaches to teaching reading have, on average, a positive impact on pupil outcomes.

In 2021, in “A letter to Jeremy Miles, the new Minister for Education” Rob Randel, primary school teacher and Wales Advisor to the International Foundation for Effective Reading Instruction, and Terry Mackie, former Head of School Improvement and Inclusion for Newport Council criticise the new Curriculum for Wales for its lack of emphasis on mandatory Systematic Synthetic Phonics and that teachers should only be “aware of” phonics:

Wales, past, present and future, prefers alchemy to the science of reading. The Systematic Synthetic Phonics (SSP) route taken by other countries for the teaching of reading has been, in stark contrast, evidence-based, supported by extensive professional training and crystal clear that in the Year 1 programme of study children will be taught to apply phonic knowledge and skills as the route to decode words in the first instance. Nothing is being left to chance. No ‘pick and mix’.

 

If we are to prevent our children from having deficits in reading that stop them from accessing the secondary curriculum then we urgently need to address the variation in reading instruction throughout Welsh primary schools and to ensure that all children receive what they are entitled to: the ability to read well. The Welsh Government must mandate the teaching of Systematic Synthetic Phonics and ensure all statements in the curriculum for Wales documentation align with this approach.

 

 

Sources

https://nation.cymru/opinion/a-letter-to-jeremy-miles-the-new-minister-for-education/

 

https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-evidence/teaching-learning-toolkit/phonics

 

https://global.oup.com/education/product/key-stage-3-religious-education-directory-source-to-summit-year-7-student-book-9781382036320/?region=uk

 

https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/news/phonics-mastering-the-basics-of-reading

 

https://www.catholiceducation.org.uk/schools/religious-education/item/download/80750_410287a8b2519cd3bd8c737c3e7e5fbd

https://learningspy.co.uk/literacy/closing-language-gap-building-vocabulary/