Learning outcomes

The intended outcomes of this activity are for you to:

Learn that:

• A school’s curriculum enables it to set out its vision for the knowledge, skills and values that its pupils will learn, encompassing the national curriculum within a coherent wider vision for successful learning.
• Secure subject knowledge helps teachers to motivate pupils and teach effectively.
• Ensuring pupils master foundational concepts and knowledge before moving on is likely to build pupils’ confidence and help them succeed.
• Anticipating common misconceptions within particular subjects is also an important aspect of curricular knowledge; working closely with colleagues to develop an understanding of likely misconceptions is valuable.
• Explicitly teaching pupils the knowledge and skills they need to succeed within particular subject areas is beneficial.
• In order for pupils to think critically, they must have a secure understanding of knowledge within the subject area they are being asked to think critically about.
• In all subject areas, pupils learn new ideas by linking those ideas to existing knowledge, organising this knowledge into increasingly complex mental models (or “schemata”); carefully sequencing teaching to facilitate this process is important.
• Pupils are likely to struggle to transfer what has been learnt in one discipline to a new or unfamiliar context.

In your notepad

Keep a note of your responses to the following questions and bring them with you to your first mentor session for this module to inform your discussions:

• why is having secure subject and curriculum knowledge so important?
• what is explicit teaching and when should you use it? Why is it particularly important when addressing misconceptions?
• how does a well-sequenced curriculum benefit pupils’ learning?
• what do you need to consider before you ask pupils to think critically about a subject?