Why change?
Successful Futures and the new curriculum for Wales is being put into practice in order to reliably prepare young people for a learning life. In this information-rich and fast moving world, knowledge alone is no longer the reliable source of advantage it once was: it must now be partnered by the development of learning dispositions or habits. — This means helping students build up the mental, emotional and social resources to enjoy challenge and cope well with uncertainty and complexity.
What change?
The new curriculum will prepare students for the changes they will need to embrace in their lives after school. Preparing for a complex life involves the development of the habits or dispositions of learning…those attributes of character that make you more or less likely to; persevere and learn well with others; check out and change you’re learning as you go along; think carefully and question things critically. These are the ‘hows’ of being a successful learner. Research shows these learning habits having strong effects on educational attainment and additional positive effects on life outcomes beyond school. Dispositions aren’t fixed at birth, they change over time in response to the environment. And so it’s the school and it’s classroom cultures that will have a major influence on developing students’ learning character. It is learning cultures that make the difference.
How can we make it work?
As a Headteacher you are now deeply involved in shaping the future of learning in your school. Proposed new content combinations and approaches to assessment will help structure the future of learning but much is left for the school to shape. At the heart of it all, the engine that will make it work, will be your learning friendly classroom cultures; cultures that will ensure students intentionally learn how to be tenacious and resourceful, imaginative and logical, self-disciplined and self-aware, collaborative and inquisitive.
This short resource raises eight key questions which, as a Headteacher, you will want to consider in the run up to implementing the new curriculum for real. The questions revolve around growing learning habits and creating classroom and school cultures strong enough to nurture those ambitions.
This is NOT a resource about the content of the curriculum. Instead it goes to the heart of any change strategy…that of developing positive learning dispositions in students, staff and the school more widely. It simply opens the box and offers you a map of the territory, food for thought, ideas to try, and tools to use to make a confident start on your journey.
The why, the what, and the how
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