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  • Support for early career teachers
  • Education Development Trust
  • Year 1: Second half-term: the importance of subject and curriculum knowledge
    • Spring week 1

    Mentor materials

    Setting the scene and reflecting on your subject and curriculum knowledge

    Intended outcomes

    The intended outcomes of this session are for Early Career Teachers 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 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

    Learn how to deliver a carefully sequenced and coherent curriculum, by:

    • Working with experienced colleagues to accumulate and refine a collection of powerful analogies, illustrations, examples, explanations and demonstrations
    • Using resources and materials aligned with the school curriculum (e.g. textbooks or shared resources designed by experienced colleagues that carefully sequence content)
    • Being aware of common misconceptions and discussing with experienced colleagues how to help pupils master important concepts

    Activities

    Introducing the module: your school’s curriculum vision (10 minutes)

    Preparing for this module:

    • Each school has its own vision for what successful learning means in their setting, which is articulated through its school curriculum; this will encompass the national curriculum. Remember, Academies do not have to teach the full national curriculum but they must teach a ‘broad and balanced’ curriculum including maths, English and science.
    • The ECT needs to know that what they teach in their classroom (following the school curriculum maps) fits into this wider picture for the school.
    • Spend a short time at the beginning of this module looking together at the school curriculum vision, which might be in the form of a statement or statements or a longer document.
    • If the mentor is unsure where to find it, they should check the school website or speak to the senior leader with responsibility for curriculum.
    • The mentor may want to ask the curriculum leader to share some information about how the vision came to be decided upon and how it has influenced classroom teaching in the school.

    Some questions for discussion:

    • Do you know what our school curriculum vision is?
    • How is this vision demonstrated through your subject?
      • For example, if the vision is for opportunities to learn cross-curricular, does your subject link up with any other areas for topics or projects?

    Understanding the evidence (20 minutes)

    Guidance to mentors:

    • The ECT should have read the ‘Understanding the evidence’ section of the self-directed study materials ahead of the topic.
    • The mentor should also read them to familiarise themselves with the content.
    • In this portion of the mentor topic, the mentor will ask questions to check the ECT’s understanding of what they have read. The guidance below provides a full range of responses that show understanding. However, the mentor should not treat this as a ‘test’ of the ECT’s knowledge; use the prompts to elicit fuller answers or clarify if they have misunderstood any aspect.

    Suggested dialogue for mentors:

    You completed activity 4.2 of the self-directed study materials ‘Understanding the evidence’ in relation to subject and curriculum knowledge ahead of this topic. Let’s discuss your response to the questions to check your understanding of that material.

    • Why is having secure subject and curriculum knowledge so important?
      • Secure subject knowledge allows you to teach more effectively.
      • When you teach better, pupils are more likely to be successful. Success is a motivating factor for pupils.
      • It means you understand the structure and the rules of the subject.
      • It helps you better sequence learning.
      • It helps you better understand what pupils’ misconceptions might be and therefore prepare for them.
      • It helps you to make links to previously learned material in the curriculum, thereby strengthening schema and improving long-term memory for pupils.
    • What is explicit teaching and when should you use it? Why is it particularly important when addressing misconceptions?
      • Explicit teaching is direct instruction or exposition from the teacher.
      • It might include using modelling, explanations, examples or worked examples.
      • It should be used when introducing new content and addressing misconceptions.
      • It is particularly important when there is a fundamental idea, concept or piece of knowledge that the teacher needs pupils to have understood without any misconceptions.
      • If a pupil commits a misconception to their long-term memory or reinforces it in their schema, it will be a lot harder to undo later. Explicit teaching can prevent this.
    • How does a well-sequenced curriculum benefit pupils’ learning?
      • A well-sequenced curriculum ensures pupils master foundational knowledge and skills before moving on to more complex material. For example, if teaching a scheme of work on Space a teacher should ensure that pupils have secured the important knowledge (such as the names of the planets) early in the sequence of lessons so that they can build up to more complex activities (such as analysing which planet is most likely to sustain other life).
      • It can help build pupils’ confidence when they master new material, which increases pupil motivation.
      • It ensures pupils have a secure understanding of the knowledge in a subject so that they can think critically about it.
    • What do you need to consider before you ask pupils to think critically about a subject?
      • You need to first consider what you want pupils to think critically about. Be as specific as possible, e.g. I want pupils to think critically about the causes of erosion in coastal towns.
      • You will need to be clear on what knowledge pupils need to have before they will be able to think critically about your chosen topic (e.g. what prior knowledge do they need?).
      • You will need to consider how you assess whether pupils have this secure knowledge (e.g. will you use a homework task, or a quiz at the start of the lesson).
      • You will also need to know which critical thinking skill you want pupils to use (e.g. comparing, judging, evaluating).
      • If this is the first time or first few times pupils will be using this critical thinking skill in your subject, how might you scaffold it for them (e.g. model on the board, have prompt questions).

    Reflecting on your own subject knowledge development (20 minutes)

    Having secure subject knowledge can feel like a daunting task, particularly if the ECT is teaching multiple subjects as a primary teacher or across a faculty. They will already have had lots of successes this year and so this task should help to identify useful resources and experiences to build on.

    Use the questions below to help them identify their successes and existing resources from this year. The mentor should introduce the activity and share their own experience:

    Suggested dialogue for mentor:

    At the start of your career, it can feel daunting when you have to teach a new subject or a new topic within a subject for the first (or second!) time. In fact, as a teacher you will often be teaching something new even after many years. [Insert personal story e.g. new curriculum being introduced.]

    It is important to remember that there are lots of resources available (including more experienced teachers) who can help you to develop the secure subject and curriculum knowledge that you need. You will have already taught something new by this stage in the year, so I want you to reflect back on that experience, take a moment to appreciate your successes and to recognise the resources that you found useful and why.

    Questions to ask the ECT:

    • Which subject(s) have you taught for the first time this year? (This might be a complete subject, or topics within a subject or year group)
    • How did it feel at the beginning of the year before you taught X? How do you feel now that you have taught X once?
    • What resources did you use to help you develop your subject knowledge of the new topic/subject and to sequence the learning appropriately? (Answers might include textbooks, websites, department resources such as curriculum maps, a more experienced teacher or wider network. Remember, ECTs cannot know everything.)
    • How did you identify potential misconceptions? (Answers as above). There will be a further mentor session on this working with colleagues to identify common misconceptions.
    • Which of the resources were particularly useful? What made them useful? (Answers might include that they were clear and easy to follow, they gave specific examples, they were able to understand how the knowledge was being built on previous learning).
    • What is a unit of work coming up that you do not feel entirely confident about teaching yet?

    Planning for action

    In the next mentor topic, the ECT will work with the mentor to map essential concepts, knowledge, skills and principles from a unit of work they plan to teach in the near future.

    Discuss together which unit of work the ECT should pick for this.

    They will need to bring to the topic any existing documentation such as a scheme of work, PowerPoints etc. Spend some time now identifying these materials.

    If the mentor is not from the same subject or phase, you may want to invite an experienced colleague from that area to join the next topic. Agree now if and who you will invite.