'All children and young people should be involved in planning and reflecting on their own learning, through formative assessment, self and peer evaluation and personal learning planning' The above quotes by the Education & Scotland website available at http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/supportinglearners/whatissupport/universalsupport/learnandplannextstep.asp
'The process of personal learning planning includes regular planned discussions that are used to identify and capture evidence of progress and achievements across settings and contexts, with a focus on the skills, knowledge and attributes underpinning the four capacities
Personal development,
Next steps - the learning journey
The Working Canvas, the interactive palette and my Working Wall.
Thursday, 10 April 2014
Literature review What is meant by creativity in the National Curriculum
Developing pupils’ creativity through the new National Curriculum 2014
- Developing pupils’ ability to think and
behave creatively brings vitality to learning, provides the motivation
to tackle bigger challenges and increases pupils’ confidence and
self-esteem.
- Where creativity has an important place in
the curriculum, pupils generally have very positive attitudes to learning
and enjoy coming to school
What do we mean by creativity?
- Questioning
and challenging: asking questions such as ‘Why does it happen this way?’
or ‘What if we tried it that way?’ and showing independent thinking.
- Making
connections, seeing relationships and applying knowledge and experience
in a new context.
- Envisaging
what might be: seeing new possibilities, looking at things in different
ways and asking ‘What if?’ or ‘What else?’
- Exploring
ideas, keeping options open: exploring, experimenting, trying fresh
approaches, anticipating and overcoming difficulties.
- Reflecting
critically on ideas, actions and outcomes
Can the National Curriculum be a context for creativity?
- Be
clear about the freedom you have to design a curriculum that is
distinctive to your school’s particular needs and circumstances.
- Define
the limits of the changes you envisage: blue sky or small scale? You
need to decide whether to tackle creativity for learning across the
whole curriculum or restrict change initially to a few subjects, aspects
or events.
- Begin
from a position of everyone knowing the strengths and weaknesses of the
curriculum as it is in the school now.
- Manage
timetables to allow sustained periods for learning for part of the time,
so that pupils can follow lines of enquiry and review, discuss and
refine their work.
- Go
for excellence through depth, by giving some aspects of the curriculum
more emphasis than others.
- Consider
the implications of your plans for medium- and short-term planning,
class timetables and the pattern of the school day.
- Ensure
that the vision of the curriculum that emerges is one to which you can
all aspire. [
(the above text is abstracted and quoted on www.curriculumsupport.co.uk) website.
Developing pupils’ creativity through the new National Curriculum 2014
Creativity and the National Curriculum are not opposing terms. In
2002, Ofsted published a report, The Curriculum in Successful Primary
Schools, whose findings confirmed two things about the value of
creativity in the curriculum:
- Developing pupils’ ability to think and
behave creatively brings vitality to learning, provides the motivation
to tackle bigger challenges and increases pupils’ confidence and
self-esteem.
- Where creativity has an important place in
the curriculum, pupils generally have very positive attitudes to learning
and enjoy coming to school
What do we mean by creativity?
It is helpful to think of creativity in terms of
what pupils are actually doing when they are learning in this way. A report
by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) in 2003 described the
characteristics of creativity as follows:
- Questioning
and challenging: asking questions such as ‘Why does it happen this way?’
or ‘What if we tried it that way?’ and showing independent thinking.
- Making
connections, seeing relationships and applying knowledge and experience
in a new context.
- Envisaging
what might be: seeing new possibilities, looking at things in different
ways and asking ‘What if?’ or ‘What else?’
- Exploring
ideas, keeping options open: exploring, experimenting, trying fresh
approaches, anticipating and overcoming difficulties.
- Reflecting
critically on ideas, actions and outcomes
Can the National Curriculum be a context for creativity?
A publication by the National College for School
Leadership (NCSL) in 2004, [1]Developing
Creativity for Learning in the Primary School: A Practical Guide for School
Leaders, NCSL 2004 in which the above characteristics are
quoted, went on to say that:
“Not only are these the signs of creativity,
they are also the hallmarks of effective learning, particularly in situations
where learners are involved in problem solving, investigation and enquiry.
They are important skills in their own right, but they cannot exist in a
vacuum: they need to be developed in the context of the knowledge and skills
of the National Curriculum.”[
Advice for school leaders: embracing creativity in your curriculum
The NCSL guide was based on the work of 22
primary schools in England, all of which combined a rich and challenging
curriculum with high standards in the core subjects. The guide offers sound
advice for school leaders on promoting creativity for learning through
curriculum development, all of which applies equally today in the context of
the new National Curriculum:
- Be
clear about the freedom you have to design a curriculum that is
distinctive to your school’s particular needs and circumstances.
- Define
the limits of the changes you envisage: blue sky or small scale? You
need to decide whether to tackle creativity for learning across the
whole curriculum or restrict change initially to a few subjects, aspects
or events.
- Begin
from a position of everyone knowing the strengths and weaknesses of the
curriculum as it is in the school now.
- Manage
timetables to allow sustained periods for learning for part of the time,
so that pupils can follow lines of enquiry and review, discuss and
refine their work.
- Go
for excellence through depth, by giving some aspects of the curriculum
more emphasis than others.
- Consider
the implications of your plans for medium- and short-term planning,
class timetables and the pattern of the school day.
- Ensure
that the vision of the curriculum that emerges is one to which you can
all aspire. [
http://www.curriculumsupport.co.uk/research/developing-pupils-creativity-through-the-new-national-curriculum-2014/
Reviewing
Creativity through the structure of the curriculum, provides the motivation, increases pupil's confidence and self-esteem, develops a positive attitude to learning
Creativity = questioning and challenging, showing independent thinking, making connections, applying knowledge and experience, engaging, exploring ideas, fresh ideas, overcoming difficulties, reflecting etc...
- Problem solving
- Effective learning
- to be clear of the freedom within the curriculum
- define the limits(structure) creativity for learning across the whole school or within few subjects initially
- add excellence of depth by giving some subjects more emphasis
- class timetables and the pattern of the school day
Leaders should define the limits and creativity for learning across the whole school.’ It also makes you aware that problems that occur as a result of the New National Curriculum in Primary schools would come down to the creative thinking of the leaders in individual schools, but with said this also depends on budgets of schools which can often come from a higher management
Structures
Grid Structures
Timetable structures
Writing Structures
Maths structures
game structures
Man made structures
Natural Structures
Timetable structures
Writing Structures
Maths structures
game structures
Man made structures
Natural Structures
Module one notes and reflection, learning styles etc.....
 |
| Kolb's learning cycle
Tools = reflection
Key people
John Dewey
Howard Gardner - multiple intelligences + VAK
Donald Schon
Key concepts
Tacit Knowledge
Muscle memory, interplay of conscious and unconscious
http://bernadettehowlett.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/task-2c-reflective-therory.html
Professional network
http://bernadettehowlett.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/3b-theories-relating-to-networking.html
|
IPC examples and Extracts literature review updating
IPC (International Primary Curriculum) is a project based curriculum
that brings together many of the foundation subjects, it provides
cross-curricular learning and applies core subjects. Many schools teach it,
including my current school.
Introduction
This is a unit of the International Primary Curriculum
The IPC has been developed to
provide support to
teachers so that four main aims can be
achieved. They are:
• To help children learn the
subject knowledge, skills
and understandings they need
to become aware of the
world around them
• To help children develop the
personal skills they need to
take
an active part in the world throughout their
lives
• To help children develop an international mindset
alongside their
awareness of their own nationality
• To do each of these in ways which
take
into account up-to-date research into how children learn and how they can be encouraged to
be life-long learners
The IPC has a simple but comprehensive structure
Everything is based on clearly defined learning goals
which lay out the subject, personal and international knowledge,
skills and understandings children need
at different stages
of their primary school life:
✓Learning Goal
A specific statement of what
children should ‘know’, ‘be able to
do’ or develop an
‘understanding’ of at different
mileposts. The IPC contains learning goals
for each
subject of the curriculum, for personal development
and for ‘international mindedness’.
See Section 6 of the
teaching and implementation file for a full list of all the learning goals.
✓Learning Target
An IPC learning
target is a refined learning
goal specifically related, where appropriate, to the content of each
unit of work.
✓A Process of Learning
The units of work provide
practical activities which teachers can use in the
classroom plus a wealth of other supportive information. Each unit is structured to
make sure that children’s learning
experiences are as
stimulating as possible.
All the units follow the same process of learning as described below
✓Entry Point
The entry point is an activity for children that begins each
unit of work and provides
an exciting introduction to the work that is to follow. Entry points can last from one
hour to a week,
depending on the age of the
children and the appropriateness of the activity.
✓Knowledge Harvest
The knowledge harvest takes place in the early stages of each unit
and provides an opportunity for children to
reveal what they already know about
the themes they are studying. This bank of knowledge can then be added to, developed and even challenged
by the teacher,
throughout the course of the unit.
✓Explain The Theme
This activity involves the teacher helping
the children to
see the ‘big idea’ of the unit
of work before embarking on the subject learning.
✓Big Picture
The big picture provides teachers with subject-based background
information to
the issues contained within
the unit.
✓Research Activity
Each IPC unit has a research activity and a recording activity. Research
activities always
precede the recording
activities. During research activities, children use a
variety of methods and work in
different group sizes to find out a range of information.
✓Recording Activity
During the recording
activities, children interpret the learning they have researched and have the
opportunity to explain it in ways which feature their
multiple intelligences.
✓Exit Point
The exit point has two main purposes. First, to
help children pull together their learning
from the unit and second, to celebrate the
learning
that has taken place
All timings are
flexible depending on your circumstances.
Links to other IPC subject
ICT and Music learning goals are included in the different subjects
Language Arts and Mathematics links
Suggestions of possible links to
Language Arts and Mathematics are
provided where
appropriate.
|
Below are extracts of a project topic 'Young
Entrepreneurs' (Money and Trade) aimed at ages 7 to 9, (lower KS2.) The
topic was taught last term in year 4 at my current school.
Timings
This unit of work is intended to
last about 6-7 weeks.
The following suggested timings
are approximate guides and are dependent on each school’s individual context.
|
Another project extract for ages 7 to 9 Paintings, Pictures and
photographs
Timings
This unit of work is intended to
last about 8 weeks.
The following suggested timings
are approximate guides and are dependent on each school’s individual context
|
Another project extract
for ages 9 to 11 What price progress (invention and development)
Timings
This unit of work is intended to
last about 8-9 weeks.
The following suggested timings
are approximate guides and are dependent on each school’s individual context.
|
International Primary Curriculum, further information is available
at tp://www.greatlearning.com/ipc/ However extracts above have been taken from the
projects, which can only accessed if your school is a member. However there
maybe other examples, plus there is video footage from a Head Teacher, if you
want to find out more.
IPC often has a depth knowledge base in terms of the history, at times this can be dragged out to long and can become repetitive at times. In addition it doesn’t always develop the practical learning as I have seen when Design & Technology or Art & Design has been taught as an individual subject in previous schools. This could come down to individual teaching and planning though.
The structure of IPC does give a teacher a guide to which to plan from. It also focuses on lifelong learning, cross-curricular learning and applying literacy and maths. I think the new curriculum will develop the teaching of IPC further, allowing for flexibility and creativity within the program of study
IPC often has a depth knowledge base in terms of the history, at times this can be dragged out to long and can become repetitive at times. In addition it doesn’t always develop the practical learning as I have seen when Design & Technology or Art & Design has been taught as an individual subject in previous schools. This could come down to individual teaching and planning though.
The structure of IPC does give a teacher a guide to which to plan from. It also focuses on lifelong learning, cross-curricular learning and applying literacy and maths. I think the new curriculum will develop the teaching of IPC further, allowing for flexibility and creativity within the program of study
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