Case Study 11

This case study focuses on the introduction of an Alternative Curriculum at St John's School & Community College, a large (1450 students) 11-18 co-educational comprehensive situated on two sites in Marlborough.

Why is an alternative curriculum needed?

The Alternative Curriculum is taught in the Lower School (Years 7 and 8 and a pilot group in Year 9) and is a Curriculum for the ‘love of learning’,raising standards by returning to teaching children how to learn rather than following the rigid pathway laid down by the National Curriculum. The current National Curriculum is viewed as little different to that of the 1960s, which prepared children for a world in which a job was for life. The relentless drive to raise educational standards, whilst laudable in principle, could be argued to be guilty of crushing curriculum innovation, producing a culture of measurement of standards through testing and ultimately a profession populated by people who can only vaguely remember what education of the whole person actually means. More seriously, the freedom to educate in a way that places the needs of the learner at the forefront of our thinking has been wiped out by the immense pressures of accountability through "league tables", performance management and unsustainable workload. The aim of introducing the alternative curriculum is to develop well-educated and competent lifelong learners who are capable of adapting to the demands of the rapid change of the 21st century.

What is the Alternative curriculum?

The work of the RSA in recent years has pointed to the need to re-examine and re-define work and education (RSA, 1995 and 1998). Following the publication of "Opening Minds: education for the 21st century" by RSA in 1999 a small number of schools, including this one, began to explore the way forward for the future of education in the secondary sector. For the Head Teacher of St. John's School and Community College involvement in the pilot coincided with a major realisation. After five years of continually raising standards from 55%A*-C GCSE to 68%, they were beginning to reach the plateau of what could reasonably be expected of the students. The staff had worked exceptionally hard and well beyond the call of duty. Should he continue to demand more and “allow them to drive themselves into the ground” or should he accept that in doing better they would need to start with a blank curriculum sheet? The Head Teacher felt it was important to confront the simple truth that they had not really been as effective as they thought. In the secondary curriculum it is probably the case that no one has an overview of the individual child’s experience; subject specialists do an excellent job but have very little idea what is being delivered in other parts of the curriculum. Therefore no one, except the child, knows when duplication of concepts/ideas is taking place and the inevitable outcome is discontinuity and incoherence. There is also the matter of holding learners back: current `wisdom` would suggest that one cannot do the Y8/9/10 curriculum before the Y7 curriculum has been completed.

It is a very significant step for a highly successful, oversubscribed school to embark on a path such as this. However, in March 2001 work commenced on developing a curriculum that would place the learner at the centre. The five competencies from the RSA framework (learning to learn, relating to people, citizenship, managing information and managing situations) formed the framework for the new curriculum. The existing curriculum delivery position of subjects being taught discreetly, of children moving every hour to yet another teacher, was ruled out. Coherence in the curriculum was regarded as essential if the learners were to make sense of the experience and be able to make visible connections between each facet of the curriculum. The curriculum from the students' view should be a continuous experience rather like opening a book and proceeding to be engaged and captivated by an exciting story unfolding before their eyes. The teacher and teaching team (six teachers per team as opposed to the normal thirteen plus teachers for each group) for each chapter (module) becomes the courier for the story and interpreter for the child’s journey. The interpreter helps to make sense of the story, encourages the child to go beyond the superficial meaning and suggests pathways to aid deeper understanding.

How is the Alternative Curriculum taught?

The teaching style requires critical reflection on the part of both learner and guide (teacher). Use of strategies to develop preferred learning styles, exploration of multiple intelligences, use of emotional intelligence, key skills and core competencies flow through all aspects of the work. At every stage the learner is required to take responsibility for his/her learning; tasks are deliberately open-ended and risk taking (with ideas and information) is encouraged. There is no such thing as "wrong" on the journey nor should any child feel constrained or inhibited. Real learning comes from experimentation with ideas, from having the freedom to work in a way which does not recognise limits or boundaries and that places sharing of ideas without fear at the forefront.

An important aspect of the year 7 course is that it builds directly on the primary school experience. The seamless transfer enables the children to adapt rapidly and securely to the large secondary school. The introductory module examines learning styles, skills for independent learning, including intensive ICT training, emphasises the core competencies and sets the scene. The six modules, written without reference to the National Curriculum, are taught in rotation. An example of the unfolding story comes from "Going Places": the story starts with an introduction into travel and why people move from place to place both historically and today. Stereotyping, customs and styles of world music become enmeshed in journeys through time, the crusades, basic navigation, finding the way using co-ordinates, folk tales, castles and medieval invasions, ballads, and pilgrimages. The journey visits China, India and Italy and ends at the outer limits with a vision of the universe of Stephen Hawking. En-route the students will have built siege engines, used algebra, investigated forces, movement and power; they will have met Leonardo De Vinci and discussed his scientific inventions. Each module seeks to inspire and enthuse in such a way that learning is fun but it is also clear why certain subject matter is being covered. The notion of homework is also being diminished. Going home is an opportunity for extended learning. Quite a lot of the ideas encountered are not usually addressed before Y9/10.

How Successful is the Alternative Curriculum?

The pilot, with 85 students (one third of year 7), proved to be more successful than the Head Teacher had hoped. Both internal and external researchers evaluated the project using the other two thirds of year 7 as the control group. The first project evaluation report will be published at the end of this year/ beginning of next. The early findings are compelling: in the initial thinking certain guiding principles were laid down, which were that this curriculum should not leave the participants in an academically or socially disadvantaged position compared with the control group, that teachers should not feel professionally exposed and that parents should not be given cause for concern. The findings surpassed the wildest expectations: compared with the control group the pilot group performed significantly better in English and Maths in the national Y7 tests. In internal tests (using KS3 SATs papers) the pilot performed at about 15% better in science than the control group. The pilot group is directly comparable with the ability profile of the rest of the year. Behaviour in the pilot was also found to be very significantly better than that in the control group. The pilot children claimed to really enjoy learning and the teachers claimed to really enjoy teaching again and could be found enthusiastically talking about learning and teaching strategies. In the words of one "I’m finally doing what I came into the profession to do".