Curriculum gets creative
The Guardian Online - July 22, 2005
By Cato Hoeben
New teaching methods based around socially relevant themes have helped to rescue failing British schools, their advocates say.
New methods of teaching the national curriculum that target pupils' creativity are gaining ground in the UK. One such approach is the International Primary Curriculum (IPC), whose director, Andrew Wigford, says "makes the education relevant to society today" by exploring the relevance of an issue to other curriculum subjects. "For example, there was a unit on chocolate in which children would study the history and geography of chocolate," he says.
The new methods, which have only been introduced in schools over the past year, allow teachers to focus on how children learn rather than on preparing basic exercises. IPC includes "learning goals" for every subject in the curriculum to enhance personal development and what it calls "international-mindedness". "The international-mindedness focuses on differences and similarities between countries. We don't just do a stereotypical view of, say, Austria, saying that they all wear Lederhosen. We look at how [countries] are similar and different," Mr Wigford says.
IPC has three distinct stages, known as "mileposts", which cover learning goals for seven-, nine- and 12-year-olds. Topical themes introduce content, an approach that Mr Wigford believes helps to motivate pupils to learn. "We would say that skills are more important for young children as knowledge is gained and lost."
Mr Wigford says this creative, thematic approach to teaching has helped to lift a struggling primary school in north Sheffield out of crisis.
Three years ago, Hinde House primary school closed while on special measures due to poor performance. It then merged with its successful neighbouring secondary school, to become Hinde House 3-16 school - teaching pupils between those ages. Last year it introduced the IPC for its primary pupils. Pupils' results at the school have improved enough for Ofsted to rate it as "good, effective and improving". But its success is not down to the new curriculum alone, says Sarah Draper, the principal.
"IPC has been part of the transformation, but really it's a strong combination of factors [and] we've only been using the IPC for this school year," she says. "It's about leadership when turning around any school, having a clear vision and being clear about the issues you're trying to address. "What has transformed the school is being part of a three-to-16 vision."
While Ms Draper does not believe IPC was the sole saviour of Hinde House, she is convinced the teaching method is a good thing. "It's made the curriculum much more exciting and dynamic. It opens the doors to release the creativity of teachers to adapt and develop it away from a more 'straight-jacketed' curriculum through thematic approaches", she says.
Allowing teachers to be creative is the basis of the IPC approach, Mr Wigford says. "It draws on lots of research about how we learn from the past 15 years, such as Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences," he says. IPC is different from conventional curricula because it does not consist solely in learning objective facts, he says. "Each activity is practical, skills-based and enjoyable, which is needed to stimulate pupils."
IPC is now used in more than 90 schools in 38 countries. The UK has yet to embrace it fully but interest in it is gaining: there have been around 100 inquiries about it from schools over the past three months. However, IPC is not the only teaching method that seeks to be more pupil-oriented.
The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts (RSA) uses the Opening Minds Curriculum (OMC). The RSA, which last week published a report on its experience of using the OMC, believes an information-driven curriculum, such as the national one, is unlikely to equip young people for the future. OMC is focused on what the society calls the "competences". These aim to educate pupils on how to learn, to manage information and situations and to relate to people. However, the main use of the OMC so far has been to ease pupils' transition between primary and secondary school.
One of the criticisms levelled at a skills-led national curriculum is that it is short on content. Lesley James, head of education at the RSA, disagrees. "You cannot have a content-free curriculum, it's impossible", she says. "What we're doing is using the national curriculum content but teaching it in a different way. "It actually encourages schools to review the whole structure of how their school is organised and whether a departmental structure is necessary. Of course, that can be seen as an advantage or disadvantage." One definite disadvantage is that such organisational changes take time, planning and money - luxuries struggling schools might not be able to afford.
Ms Draper says: "I would expect to see changes [from IPC] in about four to five years. But if you want sustainable improvement it takes a great deal longer, particularly when addressing pupils' attitudes".