Curriculum for Wales

The vision for the Humanities area of learning and experience

"The Humanities area of learning and experience seeks to awaken a sense of wonder, to fire the imagination and inspire learners to grow in knowledge, understanding and wisdom. This Area encourages learners to engage with the most important issues facing humanity, such as sustainability and social change, and help to develop the skills necessary to interpret and articulate the past and the present."

"The Area encompasses geography; history; religion, values and ethics; business studies and social studies. These disciplines share many common themes, concepts and transferable skills, whilst having their own discrete body of knowledge and skills. Learners may also be introduced to other complementary disciplines, such as classics, economics, law, philosophy, politics, psychology and sociology, as appropriate."

Curriculum for Wales

Humanities - discovering who we are and what we can be

The humanities help us to understand other people and societies through their languages, histories and cultures and they reveal how people have tried to make moral, spiritual and intellectual sense of the world. Learning through the humanities supports learners to deal critically and logically with new information and recognise bias. In addition to all of this, the humanities encourage learners to think creatively. Ultimately, they help learners to reason about being human, to ask questions about our world and through doing this, develop as ethical and informed citizens, able to reason, analyse and problem-solve in the future.

The Humanities Area of Learning and Experience provides an opportunity to give learners an authentic, rich and relevant learning experience. The AoLE is designed to support schools to develop a more connected approach to learning that will support learners to develop an increasingly sophisticated understanding of concepts within the humanities. This learning should enable all learners to take action towards the challenges and opportunities facing humanity.

In order to enable learners to understand the complex and diverse nature of past and present societies, they need to be regularly exposed to the stories of their locality, as well as the story of Wales and the wider world.

“My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together."

Desmond Tutu

Response and Reflection

To what extent do you think Humanities provides opportunities to develop the characteristics of the four purposes?

The document to the right may help you see the links between the key characteristics of the four purposes and the experiences you are planning.

Consideration of the characteristics which lie beneath the headings of the four purposes will lead to an in-depth understanding of the vision of Curriculum for Wales. This conversation must take place within each Area.

Response and Reflection

Curriculum for Wales by its nature is integral and interconnected. Organise the statements in the playlist on the right, taken from the Humanities guidance, under each of the four purposes to begin to see how to develop the Area as learners make progress towards the four purposes. This provides an opportunity to collaborate within and across Areas as you design your holistic curriculum.

Click the image on the right to be taken to the playlist. You will need to be logged into Hwb.

Learning experiences in all Areas should provide opportunities for learners to progress towards the four purposes.

How can the Humanities area of learning support health and well being?

The Covid-19 pandemic is changing society with social distancing becoming a new ‘normal’, ‘furlough’ a new term and technology our new platform for social interaction. Life, in many ways, is changing beyond all recognition and becoming very different to anything most of us have experienced. The Humanities AoLE provides an opportunity to develop the learner’s knowledge and understanding of identity, communities, societies, social influences, relationships, social norms and values. The humanities support understanding of citizenship, rights, respect and equality and contribute to the individual and collective decisions the learners make. These decisions ultimately have an impact on the challenges and opportunities faced by humanity today in Wales and the wider world.

New concepts

All learners in Wales will be expected to study business and social studies as an important part of understanding humanities.
Religion, values and ethics will be mandatory from 3-16 and has been developed in collaboration with the SACREs.
Learners should be encouraged to develop their sense of identity and broaden their horizons by looking at their local, national and international perspective.

Cynefin (1).mp4

Cynefin

Cynefin - the place where we feel we belong, where the people and landscape around us are familiar, and the sights and sounds are reassuringly recognisable.

Another exciting new concept within the Humanities area of learning and experience encourages us to cultivate in our learners a sense of place and sense of belonging, as embodied in the Welsh word cynefin.

Developing a sense of place and cynefin not only promotes the learners understanding of Wales, its communities, culture and history, but through investigating this through different perspectives can support understanding of cultural and ethical diversity in Wales. Ultimately equipping learners with the skills and knowledge to foster a sense of belonging that allows them to contribute positively to their communities and at the same time appreciate their wider international community.

Story of Wales

The story of Wales should be at the heart of any Humanities course at every level in Wales. These stories promote an understanding of how the people of Wales, its communities, history, culture, landscape, resources and industries interrelate with the rest of the world. Learners should be encouraged to understand the ethnic and cultural diversity in Wales. Such experiences will help learners appreciate how Wales is a part of a wider international community, fostering a sense of belonging that will encourage them to contribute positively towards their communities.

“Wales is the home of its learners, and a map of their past should be as familiar to them as the way home from school."

Dr. Elin Jones, The Cwricwlwm Cymreig, history and the story of Wales (2013)

Local, national and international

Cynefin and the story of Wales provides learners with a sense of self, an idea of where they come from and of the values of their nation. Providing this firm foundation and feeling of belonging will help learners to confidently look outwards at the wider international community as informed creative, ambitious and valued members of society.

"There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children. One of these is roots, the other, wings."

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Response and Reflection

What makes your cynefin and how this may be different for your learners?
How could you start to promote learning about cynefin within your school?
How will you know what this means to your learners?

What matters?

The essential learning required to realise the four purposes in each AoLE is encapsulated in the statements of what matters.

They provide the key concepts for learning from age 3 to 16.

The five statements of what matters in Humanities are highly interconnected, and should be addressed in a holistic manner.

What_Matters_Humanities (1).mp4

The statements of what matters in Humanities are:

equitable and non-linear
holistic and interconnected
not to be addressed in isolation
aiming to integrate all aspects of learning
designed to be addressed by and through all Humanities subjects.

The statements of what matters in Humanities are unique to the Curriculum for Wales framework in that the first two statements relate to developing skills that support learners in their study of humanities, the next two are broadly focussed on imparting knowledge, with the final statement acting as a call to action.

The five statements of what matters collectively encourage learners to be curious about our complex natural world and our diverse societies. To reflect on how they perceive and interpret human experiences, both past and present and ultimately how to take considered and ethical action as responsible citizens of Wales.

Response and Reflection

Choose one or more of the statements of what matters from the dropdown menu below and create a visual and/or textual representation to consolidate your individual or collective interpretation of the statement and the ideas it encompasses. How are these ideas reflected in your vision for Humanities?

You may wish to use the A3 proforma to the right or create your own after reading through the statements of what matters below.

Enquiry, exploration and investigation inspire curiosity about the world, its past, present and future.

The learners’ journey through this Area will encourage enquiry and discovery, as they are challenged to be curious and to question, to think critically and to reflect upon evidence. An enquiring mind stimulates new and creative thinking, through which learners can gain a deeper understanding of the concepts underpinning humanities, and their application in local, national and global contexts. Such thinking can help learners to understand human experiences and the natural world better.

Appropriate disciplinary approaches, including digital humanities will help learners gather, justify, present, analyse, and evaluate a range of evidence. Interpreting and synthesising information will help learners build upon what they have already learned and further inform their understanding of the world. By thinking critically about their discoveries, learners can then draw informed conclusions, but also understand that some conclusions can only be partial or inconclusive and open to different interpretations. They will need to reflect carefully in order to improve their methodology and extend or deepen their enquiry.

Enquiry is more than an academic exercise; it enables reflection, which can help learners understand the human condition. This, in turn, can add meaning to learners’ own lives and contribute to their sense of place and worldview.

This aspect of the Area will encourage the exploration of concepts, including questioning, evidence, evaluation, ethics and judgements.

Events and human experiences are complex, and are perceived, interpreted and represented in different ways.

We encounter and make sense of the world though a variety of events and experiences. Humanities encourages learners to critically review the ways these events and experiences are perceived, interpreted and represented. As they form their own informed viewpoints and recognise those of others, learners can also develop self-awareness.

Learning how various worldviews and factors can influence their own and others’ perceptions and interpretations will encourage learners to develop an appreciation of how contexts influence the constructions of narratives and representations. By exploring how and why interpretations may differ and by critical understanding of a range of interpretations and representations derived from a variety of evidence, they will be better placed to evaluate their validity.

This aspect of the Area will encourage the exploration of concepts, including seeking meaning, making judgements, ultimate and philosophical questions, representations, perspectives, interpretations, significance and validity.

Our natural world is diverse and dynamic, influenced by processes and human actions.

Experiencing the wonder of the natural world can contribute to learners’ spiritual development and well-being, and can help to cultivate in them a sense of place and sense of belonging, as embodied in the Welsh word cynefin.

Nurturing curiosity can help learners understand and appreciate how and why places, landscapes and environments in their locality and elsewhere in Wales, as well as in the wider world, are changing. This in turn will enable learners to identify what makes places and spaces distinct, and to develop an awareness of the interconnections between humans and their environment in both contemporary and historical contexts. Consequently, learners will be in a better position to make connections between the past and present, and to consider possible futures.

Developing an understanding of how human actions in the past and present can affect interrelationships between the natural world and people will heighten learners’ awareness of how the future sustainability of our world is influenced by the impact of those actions. It will also encourage learners to understand, as producers and consumers, their own impact on the natural world. In addition, an exploration of a range of beliefs, philosophies and worldviews about the natural world can help learners realise how these influence people’s interactions with the world.

This aspect of the Area encourages learners to explore concepts, including the interrelationships between humans and the natural world, cause and effect, change and continuity, significance, place, space and physical processes.

Human societies are complex and diverse, and shaped by human actions and beliefs.

An appreciation of identity, heritage and cynefin can influence learners emotionally and spiritually, and help build their sense of self and of belonging. Through an understanding of themselves, learners develop their own identity and an awareness of how they, as individuals, can shape the communities in which they live. Consequently, learners will come to realise that the choices we all make, individually and collectively, can have major impacts on society.

Through consistent exposure to the story of their locality and the story of Wales, as well as to the story of the wider world, learners can develop an understanding of the complex, pluralistic and diverse nature of societies, past and present.

Over time, places, communities and societies evolve, experiencing continuity and change that has affected, and continues to affect, their own and other people’s lives. As they explore this, learners can come to appreciate how this evolution is driven by the interplay between a range of factors, including environmental, economic, social, political and cultural processes, human actions and religious and non-religious beliefs and worldviews. It will also help them build an understanding of the causes, consequences and significance of the changes and interrelationships that have shaped societies at different levels of development.

Experiences in this Area can encourage a critical understanding of how societies are and have been organised, structured and led, in the learners’ own locality and in Wales, as well as in the wider world. Societies are characterised by a range of cultural, linguistic, economic, legal and political norms and values. They are also dynamic, both driving and reacting to changes on a local, national and global scale. Learners can explore the connections and interdependence between such societies in the past and present, in the context of a globalised world. Further engagement will also encourage them to explore – and develop a tolerant and empathetic understanding of – the varied beliefs, values, traditions and ethics that underpin and shape human society.

This aspect of the Area encourages learners to explore concepts, including chronology, change and continuity, diversity, cause and effect, interconnectedness, community, identity and belonging, authority and governance.

Informed, self-aware citizens engage with the challenges and opportunities that face humanity, and are able to take considered and ethical action.

Experiences in this Area can help learners develop an understanding of their responsibilities as citizens of Wales and the wider interconnected world, and of the importance of creating a just and sustainable future for themselves and their local, national and global communities. Exploration of the humanities encourages learners to be active, informed, and responsible citizens and consumers, who can identify with and contribute to their communities, and who can engage with the past, contemporary and anticipated challenges and opportunities facing them, their communities and Wales, as well as the wider world.

This Area will encourage learners to understand the interconnected nature of economic, environmental and social sustainability; justice and authority; and the need to live in and contribute to a fair and inclusive society. Experiences in this Area will also help learners develop an awareness of their own rights, needs, concerns and feelings, and those of others, and of the role such an awareness plays in the creation of a sustainable and interconnected world.

Questioning and evaluating existing responses to challenges and opportunities can encourage learners to develop as self-aware, informed, ethical global citizens, who critically reflect on their own and others’ beliefs, values and attitudes. Experiences in this Area will also help learners to consider the impact of their actions when making choices and exercising their democratic rights and responsibilities. These experiences will also underline the need for learners to be able to justify their decisions when acting socially, politically, economically and entrepreneurially. This can enable learners to take committed social action as caring, participative citizens of their local, national and global communities, showing an understanding of and commitment to justice, diversity and the protection of the environment. By responding to challenges, and taking opportunities for social and sustainable action, they can create meaning and purpose in their own lives.

This aspect of the Area encourages learners to explore concepts, including citizenship, authority and governance, interconnectedness, justice and equality, enterprise, rights, and social action and responsibility.

Creating a vision for Humanities

This vision workshop for the Humanities AoLE has previously been offered as online training, a recording of which is available opposite.

Closing thoughts...

What do you want your learners to remember about the Humanities in their future lives?
How will the planned learning experiences in Humanities in your school prepare learners for their future?
What contribution does each discipline make to this AoLE?
Look for collaborative ideas to draw upon when you create the vision for your AoLE.

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