Millie Goodwin’s Post

We want to hear from principals, teachers, and caregivers about how the reading curriculum rollout is going at your school, what you make of the latest tweaks, and what questions you have. Let us know by filling out the form below.

Whatever the reality on the ground, this scenario is oft repeated during hectic times of curriculum reform. Whether it be insufficient funding, poor planning, weak or inexperienced bureaucratic heads or intransigent and ill-informed political masters, the price will be paid for not engaging the profession adequately and appropriately from the outset and in an ongoing way. One lesson I’ve learned over the years is that listening to and involving teachers (and others who have a direct stake) and consulting them at critical points, is of paramount importance to the ultimate success of any curriculum reform. Not doing it will result in failed implementation and more significantly in unnecessary distress for teachers, schools and the broader community.

If you could teach for a day in any school - what would be your chosen topic? As a parent of a GCSE student, some of the topics and volume of information they need to know is vast and mostly unchanged from my school days and some of it even less relevant in todays world. What if we taught them about critical thinking and problem solving? What if we valued EQ as much as IQ? What if we valued Humanities and the Arts above core subjects instead of English & Maths? Throw in some financial and practical skills? What if we made the environment and human rights new subjects? What if learning methods were focused on teamwork and collaboration rather than individual? The national curriculum review is underway.... looking forward to it.

Ohio is revolutionizing reading instruction by mandating the use of core curriculum aligned with the science of reading. With about a third of schools already implementing approved programs, the state aims to enhance literacy outcomes significantly. Professional development and stipends provided to educators underscore Ohio's commitment to ensuring effective reading instruction across all schools. #OhioEducation #ScienceOfReading #LiteracyInstruction

The EL curriculum strikes again. What sticks out in this article for me is 1. "Parents and teachers won’t know whether it is helping students for several years. That’s how long researchers believe it takes for standardized tests and their assessments to show the impact of a curriculum on student achievement" That is a long time before the efficacy can be measured accurately. Also: "And [teachers] must discover which of the suggested activities meet the needs of the actual learners in their class." This sounds like teachers have some autonomy over how the curriculum is implemented based on their teaching experience/expertise. This is a good thing!

The curriculum review can elevate the role of enriching subjects which put health and wellbeing at the heart of education, empowering schools to develop children who are happy, healthy and ready to learn. Key to this is protecting time for PE whilst also giving every child opportunities to take part in school sport, so everyone can access the benefits of being physically active in and around the school day. Professor Dominic Wyse is right to also identify the importance of youth voice within the curriculum, which we know can improve experiences and enjoyability for young people. https://lnkd.in/eXxhFFC2

Picking up on Jane Hunter’s excellent Conversation piece on the binary thinking taking place in education and also relating this to learning environments… “It is also important to note you can use “evidence” to justify multiple stances. For example, when it comes to the pros and cons of single sex versus co-ed schools, there is research to support both sides. The same is true when it comes to teaching methods.” The same is true when it comes to learning environments! #classrooms #innovativelearningenvironments #ILEs

A very interesting article indeed. We are consistentently holding and balancing polarities such "teaching as an art" and "teaching as a science". The question on my mind is how are we curious about holding the two together and what is required for both to exist. How are are we consciously aware when one is over indexed and what can we do to gain a balance where needed.