Tel: 07590219746 - www.mistservices.co.uk
In recent weeks MIST Services has received a number of enquiries with regard
to introducing a competency curriculum in year 7. It is seen as an essential
step in easing the transition from primary school, motivating learners and
raising achievement overall. Typically schools are planning to devote approximately
30% of curriculum time to this style of learning. All schools ask 'is it
possible to timetable and what impact will it have on other areas of the
school'?
Schools will define what they want to include in their competency teams
in different ways to reflect their aims, needs and aspirations. The example
below is to be implemented in Academy that will open its doors in September
2010:
In this model the competency curriculum will utilise 9 out of 25 periods
in the week. The whole of the year group will be on together. The year group
will also come together as a whole for Personalised learning for 1 period
a week. For everything else a learner will be in one of 3 pathways depending
on their ability.
Organising the blocks
Organised in this way you essentially have a block requiring 7 staff for
9 periods in the week. In many ways it is no different from a double option
block in KS4. It is unusual to have blocks of this size lower down in the
school and because of the size of the block and its cross-discipline nature
it will be more difficult to timetable than a traditional Y7 curriculum
and hence needs to be put on the timetable early on in the scheduling process.
Within these 9 periods staff will be free to organise their time in whatever
way is considered best for the learners. Although the periods are all 60
minutes in duration this should not confine anything. Because there will
always be a language teacher in the team there will be the flexibility to
organise the language teaching into bursts of 20 or 30 minute sessions if
this is seen as the right thing to be doing. DT will be offered at set times
within the block and there will be pairs of classes to allow for rotations
etc.
Impact on staff
The Principal is a visionary and a realist. An experienced primary specialist
is to be recruited to co-ordinate this significant part of the curriculum
and this person will be a member of the leadership team. There is no prescription
as to what times in the day or the week the competency curriculum should
occur. It could be a whole day, 2 half-days, a double period on each of
4 days and a single on another or any combination that suits the overall
timetable for the school.
A structure such as this is likely to challenge the skills of the timetabler
but it should certainly not be beyond the capability of most. It should
certainly provoke some interesting debate about the composition of staff
'teams' and may well challenge some traditional subject specialist teams.
At the very least it should get people really thinking about what they are
trying to achieve and why it is being done. Potentially it offers the opportunity
for some very exciting teaching experiences that will help in the overall
goal of looking at every learner as an individual and raising confidence,
aspirations and achievement.
Is your school going to introduce a competency curriculum?
If your school is looking to introduce a competency based curriculum for
a year group or several year groups and would like to discuss anything further
please contact MIST Services. MIST Services works with many schools, colleges
and Academies each academic year, ultimately being exposed to literally
hundreds of curriculums and timetabling problems.
Tel: 07590219746 - www.mistservices.co.uk