Back in 2014, I had the pleasure of sitting on a panel at the Curriculum Prototyping Symposium in Calgary and followed it up with a blog post entitled, “Why curriculum needs to change.” The panel brought together a wide array of stakeholders debating the “big why” of curriculum redesign. The process of prototyping in itself was revolutionary and provided great hope for the future of curriculum. Unfortunately, the process stalled and the expectation that new curriculum would be “just around the corner” has never come to fruition, here in Alberta.
I remember clearly the hush in the room when I made the statement, “There are no curriculum police!” Some government officials thought I’d just committed educational heresy but those attendees from my own school division were not surprised, given it was a statement I’d been making for a number of years. It was one of the ways I employed, to shift our system to a more innovative culture, allowing students to become more engaged and learn more deeply.
It should not come as a surprise that every curriculum has far too many outcomes and… every outcome is not equally important. What I was giving teachers the permission to do, was to cull the curriculum to ensure that the most essential outcomes were not just taught by them but more importantly competently learned by students. Teachers have been expected to “cover the curriculum” at all costs rather than to have been allowed to go deep with learning, which is essential for the current and future success of students. Most experienced teachers, (since they are curriculum experts), would be able to reduce the number of outcomes taught by close to 20%. There is a vast difference between outcomes that are considered “need to know” and those which are “nice to know” and teachers understand this well. That one phrase allowed teachers, who took it seriously, far more time to engage students in meaningful learning. The excuse of not having enough time was no longer a barrier.
Given the pandemic and the already loss of learning time, this is not just important but rather critical. As time is reduced due to school closures or isolation requirements, teachers need the ability to focus on what is most important in the curriculum. This is not an opt out as some politicians may think, but rather an opt in from teachers, schools and districts to ensure that the outcomes most critical to a student’s current and future success are not just taught but deeply learned. What a novel idea… LEARNING FOR ALL!
This is certainly not a solution for all time but it is part of the answer going forward. The next step is to go from personal autonomy of what are the essential outcomes in a curriculum to collective autonomy whereby teachers in schools and districts come together to flesh out the “need to knows!” This process allows teachers to dialogue as professionals and establish key outcomes in order to maintain high standards. One of the other spinoffs is that students get to go deep in their learning and ultimately direct their own learning but framed by teachers. The need for new charter schools becomes obsolete…just saying! The result will be a transformation from a “still” industrial style model of compliant students to a highly engaging and personalized system of committed learners. Too often we’ve heard from high school graduates that don’t remember what they learned the previous year or semester because all they were doing was playing the game of school and trying to get a good mark. THAT, can’t be enough for school and education in the 21st century. Deep learning sticks, it is not fleeting!
One of the pillars of the Canadian educational system is a robust centralized curriculum in each province. However, one of the barriers, is the inability of most governments to be nimble enough (or trusting enough) to thin the curriculum to the essentials or provide the big ideas. Teachers, others in the K-12 education system and most government bureaucrats do with this quite easily because they are experts in the field. However, those outside the K-12 educational system (some, not all) and often politicians themselves tend to impede this process. They get pulled in all directions on what needs to be in a particular curriculum, make curriculum development a political game or worse, look for outside direction (most of which is either out of date or out of touch) rather than allowing experts inside to manage the development process.
The pandemic has turned our world upside down but it has provided us with an opportunity for curriculum development, enhancement and transformation. By concentrating on the essential outcomes (the big ideas) and committing to going deep in learning we will do well for our students and assure parents of the high quality. And, teachers, schools and districts can do this without fearing an archaic accountability system (seen in many provinces) that includes provincial achievement tests and diploma exams. In other words we have a “free pass” to get it right because this window, will close quickly at the end of the pandemic.
