In search of a new curriculum model Part 1

Part 1 – from knowledge to competency

There’s no point in me bleating on about how the curriculum is no longer fit for purpose unless I start to put some thoughts together about what might replace it. Equally importantly, how we might replace it.

Let me start with the ‘how’ because whatever a new curriculum might look like it cannot change in one seismic shift. There will need to be incremental changes so that society gets used to what is happening and, crucially, so that teachers can be re-trained. My view is that change needs to start with a shift away from a knowledge-based curriculum to one based on competencies. That is not an extreme view, I am a fan of knowledge – it is the base from which thinking stems. But you can go too far and I can’t help feeling that our fixation on factual knowledge is founded on the expediency of its ease of examination.

One way to wean ourselves off a knowledge-based curriculum is to define what knowledge actually is. I remember the very first lines of writing of the first module of my three year MEd course began, “The nature of knowledge is contested.” Oh my, and how contested did I discover it to be! But many years later I thought it could be very useful to come up with a top-level, simple and easily digested definition in order to help the pupils in my school get to grips with the daily task of learning. I came up with Learning 123.

Learning 123

Knowledge is three things:

1. Facts – simple, straight-forward pieces of knowledge for example: The capital of France is Paris.

2. Processes – Facts joined to together for example: How do plans grow? Plants need three elements: sunlight, water and nutrients. Each element is a piece of factual knowledge and together they make a piece of process knowledge.

3. Skills - This is ‘how to…’ knowledge for example: I know how to kick a ball in the air and not along the ground, or I know how to play Frere Jacques on the clarinet.

Together these three definitions make up a strong understanding of what knowledge actually is. We can then look at learning.

Learning is three things:

1. Revisit: by regularly revisiting our factual and process knowledge we get it to stick it our memories. Once we have memorised something, we can be said to ‘know’ it.

2. Use: The best way to improve the ‘stickability’ of our knowledge is to use it. That might mean explaining something to someone else, or finding ways to apply our knowledge in practical, real-life ways.

3. Practice. By practising our skills knowledge we get better ‘how to…’ knowledge.

From knowledge to competencies By taking a meta approach to knowledge and breaking it down into component parts, we can start to focus on our competencies as learners. The emphasis shifts from what we know, to how well do we know.