What do our learners need to learn and why?
The aim of this workshop is to support you to select learning as you develop your LLC 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.
Curriculum for Wales as a purpose-led curriculum
Curriculum for Wales is led by the four purposes. This means that the emphasis is moving from what learners know to the people they will grow up to be. All learning in Curriculum for Wales should therefore enable learners to progress towards these four purposes.
The Curriculum for Wales framework provides practitioners with the autonomy to select learning for their learners and this workshop suggests how you could go about deciding what your learners need to learn.
The shift from content to learning
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
Let's consider what is meant by the shift from content to learning by taking the activity in the picture as an example. The learners here have been asked to take part in a school debate on a current topical question, which provides the content for this task. If we asked ourselves, however, what is really being learned here, we might conclude that the learners are learning to improve their communication skills, to collaborate, to undertake research, to reflect on and refine their arguments, to be accountable to others, to name just a few.
This is learning which can't take place in a one-off task or a single activity. It is learning which is broad in scope, which needs to be transferred and enhanced over a period of time in several contexts. This is the kind of learning required to realise the four purposes in Curriculum for Wales, and so our focus when planning for learning will need to shift from the content to the learning itself.
Response and reflection
This is a photograph from a news item where the local community in Narberth in Pembrokeshire welcomed a group of migrants to the town. It could be used as a stimulus for learning in LLC.
Consider the following questions:
What is the learning here?
Why is this learning important for our learners?
Does it enable them to progress towards the four purposes?
The aim of the three question above is to move our focus from content to learning. They are useful to determine the 'what' and the 'why' of learning. The answers should lead you to the vision of Curriculum for Wales and your own vision for learning.
How to use your vision to select learning
Now that we have a better understanding of the kind of learning required in Curriculum for Wales, the next question to ask is, How do we decide what our learners need to learn? In the last workshop, we suggested that you write, together, a statement of vision which captures what you want for your learners in LLC.
In order to do this, we suggested that you:
seek inspiration from the four purposes and their characteristics
gain a deeper understanding of the vision of LLC and understand what is new in the guidance
explore the linguistic landscape of your learners together with their needs and the needs of your communities
and consider societal developments which will have implications for learning in this Area.
If you have developed a shared vision for learning in this Area, it can be a starting point for selecting learning for your LLC curriculum. Consider what your learners need to learn in order to realise the aspirations you have set out for them and discuss why this learning is important.
Response and reflection
This is a created example. Use the questions below to guide you.
What is a confident user of languages?
Why do they need to be a confident user of languages?
What do they need to learn to become a confident user of languages?
Our vision for our learners is for each individual to become a confident user of languages who is excited by the richness of literature. We want our learners to be ambitious problem solvers who are not afraid to be creative when learning and using languages. Our desire is for our learners to be curious as they make connections between languages and seek opportunities to practise them. Our learners will embrace other languages and their cultures and enjoy the linguistic diversity of our community.
During these discussions, the learning for your curriculum will begin to emerge. You can use the same or similar questions to delve deeper into other ambitions you have outlined in your vision e.g. What does it mean to be curious about languages? Why is this important for your learners? Which opportunities do they need to become curious about languages?
How to select learning from the statements of what matters
Every statement of what matters includes a rationale 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.Together they contribute to supporting the learners to realise the four purposes of the curriculum.
'The statements of what matters set out the key understanding learners must develop.'
The Journey to curriculum roll-out 2021
Languages connect us.
Understanding languages is key to understanding the world around us.
Expressing ourselves through languages is key to communication.
Literature fires imagination and inspires creativity.
The four statements in this Area refer to Welsh, English and international languages .They should be considered holistically when designing your LLC curriculum. They are interdependent, with each one supporting the development of the other three. Each statement recognises that developing skills, knowledge, attitudes and values in one language can support learning in all subsequent languages.
The integrated nature of the learning in Curriculum for Wales should also mean that aspects of statements from other Areas may be addressed and this is where transference and deeper, connected learning will occur. When planning for learning we would encourage you to consider all 27 statements of what matters.
Response and reflection
Learning within Languages connect us permeates all learning in this Area, and is therefore a good place to start when selecting learning in Languages, Literacy and Communication. Reflect on the learning required within this statement, using the questions below to guide your thinking.
What do our learners need to know and understand?
Which skills and values do they need to develop?
Languages connect us.
Languages connect us with people, places and communities. This Area is designed to equip learners, as citizens of a bilingual Wales in a multilingual world, with the ability to use Welsh, English and other languages in a plurilingual context. Meaningful language learning experiences go hand in hand with learning about one’s own cultural identity as well as the cultural identities of others. Engagement with this Area can therefore foster in learners pride in their sense of identity and belonging to Wales as well as the world.
By raising an awareness of the diversity of languages from a young age, the aim is to enable learners to recognise similarities between languages and to embrace the differences between them. Learning and experience in this Area can support learners to develop an understanding of the origins, evolution and features of a range of languages. This provides them with opportunities to develop their creativity, as well as a set of skills such as mediation, adaptability and empathy.
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. It is important that you invest time together as teams to develop this step of selecting the learning in Languages, Literacy and Communication and agree on the knowledge, skills and experiences required to progress in this Area.
Your next steps as a team
We suggest the following:
Revisit your AoLE vision.
Select learning from your AoLE vision.
Select learning from each statement of what matters.
Discuss the best way to record and represent the learning that you have selected.
Share your learning with other AoLEs.
You are likely to find that there are commonalities in the learning not only across the statements of what matters in LLC, but across the other Areas. Curriculum for Wales offers opportunities to collaborate and build connections in order to create a holistic and meaningful learning experience for the learners, as you support them to realise the four purposes.