Transforming Your Curriculum - The Essence of Learning

The Essence of Learning

What do we mean by the essence of learning?

The essence of learning encapsulates the deep and lasting learning which equips our learners with the skills, knowledge and values they need for ongoing learning, work and life. It concerns the process and application of learning, as learners reflect and progress towards the four purposes.

Why is it important to have a shared understanding of the essence of learning?

Curriculum for Wales is a purpose-driven curriculum, where all learning leads to the four purposes. Understanding the essence of learning is important in order to enable all of our learners to develop the characteristics of the four purposes.

The essence of learning in each Area of Learning and Experience is articulated in the Descriptions of Learning for each progression step. When designing their curriculum, schools must ask themselves what is the essential learning they wish to develop when selecting content, contexts and pedagogy for their learners.

The essence of learning …

is broad in scope and not bound to specific contexts
articulates the core concepts, ideas and inquiries within a discipline or area
provokes deep thinking, discussion, enquiry, new understanding and new questions
allows for recurrence and transference to other contexts
is learning that that takes time to develop
requires reflective assessment techniques.

The essence of learning …

is not confined to narrow, individual topics
is not achieved in one-off tasks and activities
does not lend itself to tick-box exercises
is not surface deep nor superficial
is not learning which can be or is assessed in one way only.

Questions for discussion on the essence of learning

Discussions on the essence of learning will be necessary at all school levels to gain an in-depth understanding of the principles of the Curriculum for Wales and to prepare the ground for a school curriculum driven by the four purposes.

Do we have a shared understanding of what we mean by the essence of learning?
What do we think is the essential learning for the learners in our school?
What do we want our learners to know and understand?
Which skills and values do we want our learners to develop?
Which learning will enable them to progress towards the four purposes?
Which learning will help them to contribute better to their communities?
How do we plan for this learning across our school?
How will we know that our learners have shown progress in this skill?
How can we ensure that we all know what lies at the heart of the learning?
How can we communicate the why behind our choice of contexts and pedagogy?

How do we get to the essence of learning?

Starting with a context

Selected context: Christmas around the world

This theme provides opportunities for developing linguistic, cultural and social knowledge.

It also has local, national and international contexts and provides opportunities for cross-curricular collaboration.

But what is the essence of the learning here?
What is the value of this theme?
Is it something deeper than the fact that different countries celebrate Christmas in different ways?

There are many possible answers, for instance the essential learning could be understanding that we are all part of a global community or that we are all the same but different. These messages lead directly to the four purposes. They can be learned in and transferred to many different contexts across all of the AoLEs. They could even underpin the whole-school curriculum. This is what we mean by the essence of learning. The selected theme of Christmas around the world would therefore be a suitable context for this learning.

Starting with the essence of learning

Selected learning: Empathy

Empathy is a skill which enables us to understand and share the feelings of others. Many of us would agree that developing this skill embodies some of the essential learning required to progress towards the four purposes. Empathy is articulated in the Descriptions of Learning which lie beneath the What Matters Statements, and progression in this skill is therefore statutory.

Providing opportunities to develop empathetic skills can happen at all levels in schools, from a whole-school approach to individual lessons. Useful questions to ask when planning are:

How can we provide opportunities to develop empathy in our learners?
How can we plan for progression in this skill?
Who needs to collaborate to ensure recurrence and transference within and across a range of contexts and learning experiences?

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