There are a couple of things that concern me about the response to the new curriculum, however the main one is the fear of the great amount of training and resources that will be needed to implement it fully. As someone who has experienced great schools and exceptional nurseries for me the best possible training resource can be found through sharing practice. By bringing experienced practitioners into schools I am convinced that we will begin to understand how true participation and collaborative learning can and should be implemented through the new curriculum.
Child Development Officers promote independence in their practise whether this is the layout of their establishments where learning experiences are set up that allow the children to investigate, devise their own theories and test these out or child-centred planning. The children are fully involved in creating the curriculum through meetings and thinking and learning books. Their ideas and questions about the world are matched up to experiences and outcomes rather than the other way about. Surely with more interpretive outcomes covering the first and second level we have the opportunity to capitalise on their natural curiosity the way that the nurseries currently do.
It’s this freedom that often disappears a year later in schools. Large open spaces to move around interact with their peers in a learning environment are replaced with a room dominated by desks and groupings that seem to make administration easier. Collaborative learning is important and something that is common practise in Scottish schools, however children are put in determined groups. The majority of time this might be determined by ability, or the class-seating plan. I also can’t help thinking that we then begin to patronise children by giving them roles to play, whether this is a leader, timekeeper, note taker etc. Do children need this input in their own role-play, whether this is in the nursery or outside? Children are able to create shared worlds take on complex situations and negotiate great social conflicts through role-play. Children in the playground learn a great deal about social relationships, because they are left to negotiate these themselves. Teachers do not go out into the playground to give and define roles, so why not extend this autonomy to the classroom.
I have observed amazing practise where children work with different classes for topic work. Children have the opportunity to interact with completely different children, which brings with it its own challenges. Why though do we restrict this to age and stage, why is work on social subjects as whole school groupings? I would take this further and remove the traditional topic subjects. Give children a chance to vote as a whole school to chose topics for the year, shortlist these and group children according to interest. Children can plan what they what to learn about these topics and teachers can accommodate and seize upon this collective interest. This is what happens in a good responsive nursery setting and can easily be transferred into the primary setting
It seems to me that an excellent resource for primary teachers CPD is being ignored. Lets take this opportunity to learn from all educational establishments. After all it is a curriculum for 3-18.
