Curriculum Planning and Design It is important to distinguish between the curriculum and the syllabus. At is most simple, the curriculum is the logic underpinning teaching. It rests upon a view of what knowledge is and how we come to acquire and understand it. What makes the curriculum different from educational learning theory, is that it applies a view of knowledge and learning to a plan and design for teaching. So the curriculum is a thoughtful action plan, a strategic and ‘principled’ action plan. The syllabus is the what of teaching, the content. There is always a gap between theory and practice. When reflecting on your teaching practice, ask what has slipped, the curriculum or the syllabus. How and why we teach

Aims for the session Develop an understanding of the curriculum Encounter educational uncertainty Identify critical issues It can be difficult, in the beginning, to think about the curriculum separately from the syllabus. What you are going to teach, how you are going to spend or fill your teaching time is the immediate imperative. Why you are going to teach it in a particular way , can seem like a distant, perhaps even precious concern. It would be good if after this session a concern with curriculum planning and design seemed more useful to you. More ambitiously, I would like you to examine educational uncertainty both as an idea and as part of your curriculum planning. What learning theories inform your planning? Are these the same that inform your practice? How are they going to change? Do these questions seem appropriate to assignment 2? How?

Three Stories “ I have a fear of lecturing you, lest you believe me.” Tutor: “ I have a fear of lecturing you, lest you believe me.” (Dr Beverley Labett) Student “ I sat there thinking, I have given up a career in the police to listen to this plonker telling me that he isn’t going to tell me how to teach.”

A short history of curriculum development Improve test scores Improve books Improve teachers Improve schools Improve policies On the left is the external/political agenda for change. On the right, the educational response. Of course this is oversimplified but the caricature is used to make the point, that so was the understanding of the problem and how to respond to it.

What educationalists learned. Psychometric Testing Case Study Casing the case Policy Test scores Resources Teachers and schools Change Forces There is an interplay between the development of the methodology of educational research and perceptions of what the problem is and what the solution might be.

Perspectives on Education Student Tutors School or workplace National and Regional Policy Whose view counts ? Educational research in schooling and professional education has widened the lens away from am exclusive focus on the student and tutor , to take account of the contexts and influences that shape and impinge upon the learning process? Whose view counts and counts most is a question with education, ethical and political considerations.

Certificate of Teaching in Higher Education Tale Three Certificate of Teaching in Higher Education National Standards Local Needs The national standards are evolving , pushing their way onto the higher education professional agenda in much the same way that revalidation crept up the health care political and professional agenda. Practitioners..academics who must teach, need to be prepared for practice. Is the OU different to other HE’s ? Are mathematicians different to historians?

The Curriculum (Course Philosophy) The Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice provides a principled approach to learning and teaching . A principled approach treats the idea of ‘good’ teaching as being problematic. It acknowledges uncertainty in the educational process and promotes professional judgment and autonomous practice. (Course Philosophy) If you don’t start with a strategic set of intentions you can find yourself operating in an un-coordinated and piecemeal way.

Key Aims Stimulate critical engagement with a set of theories and pedagogic approaches. Engage students in examining, evaluating and developing their practice. Link teaching, research, management This course will be research based and research led. Students will examine their own practice using research approaches. I have broadened the lens in two ways: teaching is not just about the student /teacher relationship . Teaching is seem as part of being an academic. At the moment there is a dysfunctional and unnecessary dislocation of functions within the role.

The key challenge Changing the process of curriculum planning. Changing the product of curriculum planning.

Why? To value the role of the teacher To take account of the contexts of practice To ‘un-box’ knowledge To enable self-directed learning

The obstacles Challenging established practice Challenging values Change and accommodation Building in future development As a course team we are working in different ways and producing different resources. There is a new valuing of those who teach and directly support teaching. Change will only embed if you have widespread ownership of it and advocacy for it.

Group Task What are your main teaching aims? How do these aims relate to the kind of practitioner you want? Choose one or more of these aims and link them with a teaching event? Design and describe the plan of the teaching event.

Group Task What challenges do you think you may face in practice with : Knowing what to teach Teaching a trainee Getting support from the practice/hospital/HE? Choose one or more of these and describe what you might do to face the challenge. How long will you have a trainee for. What are your priorities? How will you divide up your time and Are resources an issue?