Curriculum

Supported by:

Wednesday 26th May 2010, Grand Connaught Rooms - London, 09:00 - 16:00

Transforming the National Curriculum: Creating a Curriculum Fit for the 21st Century

Overview

With the formation of a new government, there is an excellent opportunity to discuss and debate what the best direction for our national curriculum should be. How will they meet the twin aims of giving schools greater freedom and giving pupils a more cross-curricular education? What is the best way to ensure that our children leave school with the necessary skills to succeed in employment? What changes can we expect?

What should a broad and balanced curriculum contain to ensure that children receive a well-rounded education? How should the curriculum change to meet children’s different but developing abilities as they progress through primary years?

The new government has set out its plans for the curriculum and education. Schools Secretary, Michael Gove has stated his determination to provide much greater freedom to schools over the curriculum that they teach, through creating new Swedish-style supply-side schools and freeing them from central bureaucratic control. He argues that this will both raise standards and tailor the curriculum to the individual needs of the pupil; stretching the brightest and supporting the weakest.

Agenda

This forum will explore the challenges and difficulties associated with creating a curriculum that will provide the highest quality education for pupils, whilst considering what the likely policy developments in 2010.

09:00	Registration and Coffee
09:45	Chair’s Welcome Address Roy Blatchford, former HM Inspector of Schools, Director, National Education Trust (NET) (CONFIRMED)
09:50	Reforming the National Curriculum for the 21st Century The Children, Schools and Families Bill The implementation of the Rose Review recommendations Injecting greater flexibility into the curriculum and removing ‘overload’ Creating six core areas of learning for children Creating new entitlements to minimum standards for a child’s education Putting PSHE on a statutory footing The Key Stage 1 Guarantee: Catch-up tuition for all 6 and 7 year olds Sir Bruce Liddington, Director General, EACT (CONFIRMED)
10:10	Enshrining ICT as an Integral Part of Learning Within the Curriculum Developing ICT as a method of making learning more efficient Raising the level of ICT literacy among pupils, as recommended by the Rose Review Home Access – 12,000 grants issued in 2009, national rollout from January 2010 Expanding online reporting for parents Saving schools and colleges money through improved purchasing deals; £55 million in 2009 Allowing FE providers to benefit from online self-improvement tool What is the direction for 2010? Andy Tyerman, Head of Personalised Learning, Becta (CONFIRMED)
10:30	Can you teach a qualification? What is a curriculum anyway? and what is an educated person? Eternal triangle - content, learning, assessment Suites, routes, pathways, equivalences, wrappers - the impact of qualification 'architecture' Skills, knowledge, subjects and the core Stages, ages and personalisation Who decides what gets taught? Where do qualifications come from? Paul Steer, Director Stakeholder Relations, OCR (CONFIRMED)
10:50	Questions and Answers Session
11:25	Coffee Break and Networking
11:45	Case Study: St. Mary’s Junior and Infants School, Birmingham Developing a personalised curriculum in a challenging area Meeting the individual needs of pupils Ensuring a balanced and broad primary curriculum for pupils Taking part in the Rose Review process Involving pupils through the Children’s Charter of the Review Ava Sturridge Packer, Headteacher, St. Mary’s Junior and Infants School (CONFIRMED)
12:05	Improving the Learning Environment The new Our school building matters teaching Toolkit: Designed to support the government’s capital expenditure on schools Involving teachers and students in the process of school rebuilding and refurbishment Covers key stages 1-4 The 5 stages: From start to finish Helping students invest in their education by engaging them in the design and development of their learning environment Assisting teachers to take advantage of the real-life learning opportunities presented through the resource Matthew Bell, Director, Education and External Affairs, CABE (CONFIRMED)
12:25	Questions and Answers Session
12:50	Lunch and Networking
13:50	Injecting Freedom and Rigour Into Our Schools and Curriculum Giving schools greater freedom to tailor the curriculum to the needs of their pupils Reducing bureaucratic control in schools Emphasising the importance of traditional subjects in the curriculum Changing the law to allow new Swedish-style ‘free schools’ to be set up in the state sector Creating 12 new Technical Colleges and 100,000 new apprenticeships to provide young people with the skills they need to find employment Rachel Wolf, Director, New Schools Network (CONFIRMED)
14:10	Independence and Interdependence: The International Primary Curriculum: Helping Children Develop Academically, Personally, Internationally Exciting, engaging and real ways to learn Clear progression in skills development Engage and inspire children of all abilities International-mindedness explicitly built into the curriculum Martin Skelton, Co-Founder, Fieldwork Education (CONFIRMED)
14:25	The Academy Model: Academy 360 Won BSF best Academy A model learning environment Offering a curriculum that is flexible, creative and challenging to students Working at the heart of the community to strengthen and build partnerships and futures Paul Prest, Chief Executive, Academy 360 (CONFIRMED)
14:45	Coffee and Networking
15:05	Developing the Secondary Curriculum for the 21st Century Maintaining core subjects, whilst injecting greater flexibility Creating a new focus on aims and skills to equip school leavers for post-education Greater personalisation through assessment and qualifications Emphasising the links between subjects, through concepts and themes David Peck, Curriculum Foundation (CONFIRMED)
15:25	Broadening the Curriculum Through a Skills Agenda Developing the new 14-19 Diplomas Maintaining investment in Apprenticeships Implementing a competency –based curriculum for secondary pupils Meeting the needs of employers in an increasingly competitive labour market Annie Hall, YPLA Senior Policy Manager, LSC (CONFIRMED)
15:45	Questions and Answers
16:00	Chair's Summary and Close

*programme subject to change

Sponsor

Fieldwork Education

Exhibitor

OCR

Dimensions Curriculum

Audience

The audience will comprise of local authorities, central government departments & bodies, schools, trade unions, private, legal & voluntary sectors including head teachers and principals, ICT providers, school governors, directors of education, children and youth services, leaning and skills councils, LEA officers, education welfare managers, extended school managers, full service school coordinators, parent teacher associations, elected members for education, school improvement advisors, Connexions, education consultants.