What do our learners need to learn and why?
In Curriculum for Wales, the focus on learning replaces the current focus on content and coverage. Therefore, when designing a curriculum, schools need to ask themselves, What do our learners need to learn? and Why is this learning important?
These two questions will lead to a better understanding of what really matters in learning in order to design a curriculum which enables learners to realise the four purposes.
All curriculum development should have a clear purpose in mind. A clear understanding of the purpose of learning and why specific knowledge, skills and experiences are important helps focus the planning of progress and learning and teaching.
The Journey to curriculum roll-out 2021
The aim of this workshop is to support you to select learning as you develop your Health and Well-being curriculum in your school. It is created to follow our previous workshop on creating a shared vision for learning in this Area.
It will consider:
Curriculum for Wales as a purpose-led curriculum
the shift from content to learning
how to use your vision to select learning
how to select learning from the statements of what matters
your next steps as a team
The shift from content to learning
The most important thing to understand about Curriculum for Wales is that it is purpose driven and this means that the emphasis moves from what learners know to the people that they will grow up to be. A school's curriculum should promote learning that will equip all learners for ongoing learning, work and life. With the shift in Curriculum for Wales moving from content to learning it is really important that we have a good understanding of what that actually means.
Response and reflection
What's the learning? - Here is a photograph that could be used as a stimulus for learning in Health and Well-being.
Previously, it may have been used simply to inform learners about social inequality that they may see in their local area. Curriculum for Wales, however, asks us to move our focus from content to learning.
Considering this, what could really be learned here?
Some examples of learning may include: developing empathy, equality, class system, poverty, culture, mutual respect, social action, understanding others, the meaning of community, embracing diversity, inclusion, all in Local, National, International context.
You may also be able to identify more. What should be clear is the shift in focus from the task itself to the meaningful learning. The following questions may help you to define and identify the learning when designing your curriculum.
What is the learning here?
Why is this learning important for our learners?
Does it enable them to progress towards the four purposes?
Consider the learning, rather than the content or topic.
How do we go about selecting learning for our curriculum and how do we decide what our learners need to learn?
Part of the key work within the Engagement phase of Welsh Government's expectations Curriculum for Wales: the journey to curriculum roll-out document, is that schools should develop or update their vision for learning. If you have agreed on a first draft of your vision for learning, you will be moving from the engagement phase to the designing, planning and trialling phase.
In order to create your vision, we suggested that you:
seek inspiration from the four purposes and their characteristics,
gain a deeper understanding of the vision of Health and Well-being and understand what is new in the guidance,
discuss the health and wellbeing needs of your learners within your school and community
consider societal developments which will have implications for learning in this Area, e.g. develop an understanding of mental health.
Your vision for learning in Health and Well-being could be your starting point for selecting the learning.
What do our learners need to learn in Health and Well-being?
Your vision for Health and Well-being
How can your co-constructed vision for learning inform your selection of learning and identify what your learners need to learn?
Consider how your vision can provide a starting point from which you can begin to identify what your learners need to learn.
Your vision for learning represents the aspirations for your learners and therefore you need to refer to it throughout the design process. Analysis of the vision will identify key aspects of learning that you may choose to permeate through your curriculum for Health and Well-being. An example vision, created for the purpose of this task, is used in the response and reflection exercise below.
Response and reflection
Looking at this created example, which expresses the aspirations for all learners in Health and Well-being, we can pick out elements of the vision and formulate questions that provide the basis for developing an element of learning.
What knowledge, skills and experiences do your learners need to understand thoughts, feelings and emotions?
What kind of experiences will help them to become fit and healthy?
How can you develop opportunities for your learners to become empathic?
How does the identified learning support learners to progress towards the four purposes?
The vision for our learners is to be part of a school community where they are freely able to understand and express their thoughts, feelings and emotions in an ever changing world. They feel secure in the knowledge that a supportive ethos surrounds them from staff and friends. As confident, healthy individuals they recognise the importance of fitness and a healthy lifestyle. As empathic learners they recognise the need to respect the feelings, beliefs and rights of others whilst appreciating the diverse nature of the school, local community, Wales and the wider world.
The statements of what matters set out the key understanding learners must develop and the mandatory cross-curricular skills.
The Journey to curriculum roll-out 2021
Statements of what matters in Health and Well-being
Developing physical health and well-being has lifelong benefits.
How we process and respond to our experiences affects our mental health and emotional well-being.
Our decision-making impacts on the quality of our lives and the lives of others.
How we engage with social influences shapes who we are and affects our health and well-being.
Healthy relationships are fundamental to our well-being.
All practitioners need to be aware of the fact that every statement of what matters includes detail that lies beneath its headline 'title' and it is here that the learning for that statement is expressed. These statements of what matters are statutory in Curriculum for Wales.
In Health and Well-being the learning has been expressed in five statements which support and complement one another, and should not be viewed in isolation. They act as a ‘lens’ through which topics and issues can be explored, giving practitioners the flexibility to identify those which are relevant to the needs of their learners, their school or setting and their community. Together they contribute to supporting the learners to realise the four purposes of the curriculum.
Response and reflection
Below you will see one of the statements of what matters in this Area. Learning has been identified by underlining key phrases within each sentence. Carefully consider whether the phrases are identifying learning or the outcomes of the learning.
This activity will support you to identify what your learners need to learn within this statement. We suggest you share and compare your ideas with your colleagues and put ideas together for the learning in your curriculum.
Repeat the process with the other statements of what matters, and you are sure to see commonalities between them, which is a reflection of how interconnected they are. You will also start to see common language develop across the AoLEs.
Key questions to consider during this activity
What do our learners need to know and understand?
What knowledge, skills and experiences do your learners need to develop the learning you have selected?
Why is this learning important and how does it enable your learners to work towards the four purposes?
How we process and respond to our experiences affects our mental health and emotional well-being
This Area can help learners explore the connections between their experiences, mental health and emotional well-being. By being provided with opportunities to explore the complexities of these connections, learners can be enabled to recognise that feelings and emotions are neither fixed nor consistent.
Having an awareness of our own feelings and emotions is the foundation upon which empathy can be developed. This can enable us to act in a way which supports the mental health and emotional well-being of others. Supporting learners to develop strategies which help them to regulate their emotions can contribute towards good mental health and emotional well-being, enabling learners to recognise when and where to seek help and support; to develop awareness of mental health issues and are able to advocate on behalf of others.
By learning how to communicate their feelings, learners will be better placed to create a culture where talking about mental health and emotional well-being is normalised.
One approach to this stage of curriculum design could be to create a table similar to the example provided. In this example you can clearly identify the selected learning from the statement of what matters and how this has been interpreted to consider the essence of that learning. Space has been provided for the practitioners to consider the knowledge, skills and experiences that their learners need to develop. Examples have been provided on how this learning could develop some of the characteristics of the four purposes.
It is essential to remember that as you develop your curriculum that statements of what matters should not be developed in isolation.
Click on the image to download a copy of the document.
Next steps
As your next steps we suggest the following:
Revisit your AoLE vision
Select learning from your AoLE vision
Select learning from each statement of what matters
You will want to discuss the best way to record and represent the learning that you have selected.
Finally it will be important that you share your learning with other AoLEs.
You will probably find that there are commonalities in the learning with other AoLEs. This learning offers opportunities for collaboration and to build connections across the curriculum in order to create a holistic and meaningful learning experience for the learner.
It is important that you invest time together as teams to develop this step of selecting the learning in Health and Well-being and consider the knowledge, skills and experiences that will support your learners to progress towards the four purposes of Curriculum for Wales.
For additional information and support in the Health and Well-being AoLE, please contact: