This is not geography specific, but there are plenty of references to some geography related research in it.
(Young and Lambert get a mention, Margaret Roberts on Enquiry, and even the GeoCapabilities project which I was part of the project team for).
A knowledge-rich curriculum explicitly outlines and puts a priority on the subject knowledge and related skills that students should be taught at each stage of schooling. It is written to induct students into the shared references, concepts, and forms of knowledge that enable meaningful participation in cultural, intellectual, and civic life. The curriculum must identify the content that provides students with the knowledge required for future study and employment, that enables them to participate in society as informed and critical citizens, and gives them access to the enduring ideas and stories that can sustain and inspire them across a lifetime.
Across the world, interest in and adoption of knowledge-rich curriculum have grown hugely in recent years. Countries such as England, Portugal and Northern Ireland, states in Australia and provinces in Canada have all pursued reforms to introduce or expand knowledge-rich curriculum. In the United States, leaders at different levels of diverse education systems are advocating for and pursuing similar reforms.
These changes are sparked by a growing understanding of the research foundations of knowledge-rich curriculum and its successful impact on learning and equity in schools and systems in different countries. In some systems, the failures of skills-based curriculum in many systems, and research showing the negative impact of a focus on generic skills on learning and reading comprehension, have also driven the growth of knowledge-rich curriculum reform.
Growing focus on knowledge-rich curriculum has been supported by some excellent research but gaps remain in the detail of knowledge-rich curriculum and the steps for curriculum writers and leaders of curriculum reform. This report seeks to address these gaps, focusing on the detail of curriculum writing and reform.
A knowledge-rich curriculum has five overarching features:
Executive Summary
The curriculum formalises what knowledge and skills are to be taught and learned in a nation or education system. It lies at the heart of the provision of high-quality education for all students.A knowledge-rich curriculum explicitly outlines and puts a priority on the subject knowledge and related skills that students should be taught at each stage of schooling. It is written to induct students into the shared references, concepts, and forms of knowledge that enable meaningful participation in cultural, intellectual, and civic life. The curriculum must identify the content that provides students with the knowledge required for future study and employment, that enables them to participate in society as informed and critical citizens, and gives them access to the enduring ideas and stories that can sustain and inspire them across a lifetime.
Across the world, interest in and adoption of knowledge-rich curriculum have grown hugely in recent years. Countries such as England, Portugal and Northern Ireland, states in Australia and provinces in Canada have all pursued reforms to introduce or expand knowledge-rich curriculum. In the United States, leaders at different levels of diverse education systems are advocating for and pursuing similar reforms.
These changes are sparked by a growing understanding of the research foundations of knowledge-rich curriculum and its successful impact on learning and equity in schools and systems in different countries. In some systems, the failures of skills-based curriculum in many systems, and research showing the negative impact of a focus on generic skills on learning and reading comprehension, have also driven the growth of knowledge-rich curriculum reform.
Growing focus on knowledge-rich curriculum has been supported by some excellent research but gaps remain in the detail of knowledge-rich curriculum and the steps for curriculum writers and leaders of curriculum reform. This report seeks to address these gaps, focusing on the detail of curriculum writing and reform.
A knowledge-rich curriculum has five overarching features:
- Explicit and ambitious knowledge entitlement
- Appropriate scope within disciplines and across the curriculum as a whole
- Progression in an evidence-based subject architecture
- Sequenced that build knowledge
- Reading, writing and language development.
Each criterion is explained in detail and followed by discussion of potential pitfalls, along with checks to support curriculum writers and illustrated with examples from different countries.
It's a very thorough document, and although I haven't read it all (it's over 200 pages long) it would make a useful companion to the GA's National Curriculum Framework. (PDF download)
Timely with the imminent (I hope) arrival of the new curriculum documents from the DfE.
Comments