How to Design a Key Stage 3 Curriculum
You know the old joke - two people are lost in Ireland. They have no satnav, or map. They stop a passer by and ask how to get to X.
The Irishman thinks hard. Rubs his chin. Then inspiration strikes. “Ah sure, that’s easy,” he says, “But I wouldn’t start from here.”
‘Here’, in this analogy, is GCSE.
The KS3 curriculum in schools tends to be deformed by the pesticide that is GCSE exams. Endless topics and assessments from GCSE are shoe horned into the KS3 curriculum, as though we don’t have time to prepare students for these in KS4.
Let me show you what I mean:
Imagine you and I are setting up a school on an island which has only 100 students. There are no GCSEs. We want a curriculum which will:
1. Make them as brilliant at each subject as possible.
2. Prepare them for later life.
This transforms the way you look at KS3.
Would food, DT or art contain any writing at KS3? No. They would just make things.
Would students write poems and stories every year in English? Yes. Would they write long descriptions? No.
Would all students sing every week in music lessons? Probably. And in assembly.
Would history lessons include the Big Bang, the formation of Earth, the formation of continents from Pangea, the evolution of life and its time-lines, the evolution of homonids, the development of agriculture, the first cities, the chronology of world civilisations? Maybe.
Would students in art lessons create a portfolio for an exhibition of their work each year? Probably.
Would each student learn to touch type? Yes.
Would language lessons focus on being able to speak the language fluently, rather than write? Yes.
Would all students have an exercise programme for personal fitness, or play a sport each week outside of lessons? Probably.
There’s a long etc of other subjects and after school activities, volunteering, leadership, school trips…
Once you apply this thinking, you will see how the KS3 curriculum has to change, because it is so limited and unambitious in most schools.
Finally, would all the students above get better GCSE results, as a result of this new KS3 curriculum which ignored GCSE? Yes.
Would more students choose to take a language, DT or creative arts GCSE? Again, yes.
Now, imagine your own 11 year old child coming to this school. Would it be a better educational experience than the one your hypothetical child would have at your school (or the one your real child had at their real school)?
It’s a double ‘yes’ for my kids.