The importance of coherence in curriculum design
Educators and policymakers in England and beyond have recognised the importance of enabling coherent educational experiences for children and young people through curriculum specifications. I will explore how a group of subject leaders in the primary phase (5-11), supported by a teacher educator, developed their understanding of the significance of coherence in curriculum design.
'Coherence' is taken to mean the logical connection between different forms of knowledge which deepen understanding and enable progression. This piece shares the motivation for a professional learning project which focused on curriculum design for coherence, as well as the impact that the project had on both the teachers and the pupils involved. I will also consider the wider implications of a transformative rather than transactional form of professional development.
Focus on transformational learning
The project was motivated by a group of subject leaders questioning the meaning of the often-quoted phrase that the ‘curriculum is the progression model’.[1] I was subsequently approached by the Creative Learning Partnership Trust (CPLT) to support a research project which could enable the subject leaders to explore and interpret the relationship between curriculum documentation and pupil progress in a range of subjects.
The purpose of CPLT, a small trust of 11 schools (nine primary, one middle and one special) in North Staffordshire, is to ‘create transformational educative opportunities in a shared culture of collaboration, for both staff and pupils’.[2] The term 'transformational' is significant as it was intentionally selected to contrast with transactional approaches in education.
'Transactional' opportunities were understood to be those which offered training in relation to a technique, specified content or a protocol. A teacher’s practice could then be evaluated for the ways in which it aligned with predetermined outcomes.