The three key challenges facing curriculum reform
There are three key challenges involved in implementing the new curriculum in Wales, says Chris Taylor, Professor of Education Policy at Cardiff University. Here, he outlines the issues ahead
Education has always played an important, if not central, role in nation-building. This has been particularly true for Wales since devolution. While many educational policies in Wales since 1999 could very easily be described as putting “clear red water” between Wales and the rest of the UK, the implementation of a new school curriculum signals a major development in Wales’ nation-building.
In accepting the recommendations of Professor Graham Donaldson in his report Successful Futures to design and implement a new curriculum for three to 16-year-olds, the Welsh Government is embarking on its most ambitious and challenging programme of reforms yet.
It has decided to do this using the principle of subsidiarity, whereby the decisions should be taken at the lowest possible level within the system. It is producer-centred, bottomup rather than top-down. As Estyn recently noted, this is designed to encourage ownership by the profession.
Indeed, in recent interviews we undertook with headteachers across Wales there was a strong appetite for being given this control.
As one headteacher said: “Successful Futures is one of the most exciting documents that has been produced for us as educationalists in Wales. I think it offers us the creativity and gives us the autonomy that we’ve been asking for, for many years.”
As the Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research, Data and Methods (WISERD) begins to celebrate its 10th anniversary next year, we have looked back over the many educational research projects we have been involved in to identify what we think will be the three key challenges in implementing the new curriculum.
The first relates to the context and conditions in which these new curriculum reforms will be introduced into.
While there is good evidence, for example, that the introduction of similar reforms in the Foundation Phase has led to raised levels of child wellbeing in the classroom, greater involvement in their learning and higher levels of attainment in core subjects, gaps in attainment between particular groups of children remain stubbornly strong. We still do not know enough about why this particular reform has not had the impact so many desired.
So how can we be confident that the development of a new curriculum for all will help those learners most disengaged from the current curriculum?
The second key challenge is how to create the space for curriculum innovation and teacher autonomy while simultaneously constructing a robust and effective accountability system.
While many of those practitioners involved in the design of the new curriculum might not be too concerned about the role of accountability in this, there are many others, particularly parents, who will want to ensure that whatever kind of education their children receive will definitely benefit them.
The final challenge relates to evidence. With such a major transformation of the education system, all stakeholders – teachers, parents, employers, policy-makers – must have confidence in the direction the new curriculum will take us. We have already seen in Scotland what can happen to this consensus when other educational issues arise, such as declining PISA results and teacher shortages.
This requires clear and measurable outcomes for the new curriculum. But it also requires an appetite for reflection and challenge throughout the implementation process. Only with robust evidence can those charged with designing the curriculum be confident that they are making the most appropriate decisions as to how the curriculum should be organised and what its content should be.
Prof Taylor is co-director of the Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research, Data and Method at Cardiff University.