What Makes a Curriculum Effective?
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An effective curriculum is one that provides the most appropriate support for teachers and others to develop student's learning.
A curriculum begins with a set of standards or learning outcomes that clearly define what students should be capable of at certain important periods of their development. These standards should be explicitly described in terms of the knowledge students should acquire, the skills they should be able to accomplish and the understandings they should deepen. Not all of these standards or learning outcomes are measurable. Some will require judgment. There is nothing wrong in this.
A curriculum should provide explicit guidance to teachers and to the school about the sort of activities that will help students achieve their learning outcomes and the structures within which learning take place. Doing this provides guidance to individual teachers but also consistency throughout the school.
A curriculum must provide opportunities for teachers to assess or judge the quality of students' learning through a range of assessment or evaluative opportunities.
A curriculum must address the development of knowledge, skills and understanding in three key areas -subjects, personal development and international understanding. The last of these must be a component of any curriculum designed for international middle years schools.
A curriculum is respectful of teachers inasmuch as it provides them with most of what they will need to encourage effective learning but it allows opportunity for teachers to bring these tools to life in the classroom and to make amendments and changes that make the curriculum appropriate for their own location.
An effective curriculum is one that provides the most appropriate support for teachers and others to develop student's learning.
A curriculum begins with a set of standards or learning outcomes that clearly define what students should be capable of at certain important periods of their development. These standards should be explicitly described in terms of the knowledge students should acquire, the skills they should be able to accomplish and the understandings they should deepen. Not all of these standards or learning outcomes are measurable. Some will require judgment. There is nothing wrong in this.
A curriculum should provide explicit guidance to teachers and to the school about the sort of activities that will help students achieve their learning outcomes and the structures within which learning take place. Doing this provides guidance to individual teachers but also consistency throughout the school.
A curriculum must provide opportunities for teachers to assess or judge the quality of students' learning through a range of assessment or evaluative opportunities.
A curriculum must address the development of knowledge, skills and understanding in three key areas -subjects, personal development and international understanding. The last of these must be a component of any curriculum designed for international middle years schools.
A curriculum is respectful of teachers inasmuch as it provides them with most of what they will need to encourage effective learning but it allows opportunity for teachers to bring these tools to life in the classroom and to make amendments and changes that make the curriculum appropriate for their own location.