Welsh – A New Curriculum Aiming To Make Education More Holistic

Currently, the Curriculum reforms are taking place in several more economically developed countries and regions globally. With globalization and digital technologies, Wales, New Zealand, British Columbia and more are overhauling their education systems to provide a radical response.

The primary and secondary along with the special schools in Wales are playing a significant part in transforming the country’s new curriculum, which will be published in January 2020 with roll-out beginning in 2022. This new-age reform is based on the principle of subsidiarity; also, the policy is created from the bottom up which means that approximately 180 ‘pioneer’ schools are actively involved in shaping this novel curriculum.

We listened to the hopes and fears of more than 600 teachers at these “pioneer” schools over the new curriculum for our soon to be published study. However, from the independent surveys, questionnaires and interviews conducted, we identified that the teachers are excited and optimistic about the new changes. As such, serious concerns were highlighted notably in relation to the effects that the curriculum change could have on pupils’ levels of subject specific knowledge.

Hopes

The pupils will embrace knowledge under a broader as well as a more holistic curriculum is one major hope the teachers identified. This will in turn dismantle the current burdensome and prescriptive system which puts too much pressure on the pupils and the teachers. It is expected that teaching will focus on more aspects of the learners’ development than merely exam performance, including helping learners see the relevance of study to their daily lives, significantly. The teachers also believe that lessons will be more ‘exciting and inspiring’, and thereby foster more motivated learners of tomorrow.

The second most commonly mentioned hope was linked to life-long learning. Speaking more about the curriculum the teachers stated that “The new curriculum should focus more on skills development, including more vocational skills. This would also blend ‘technical learning’ with ‘real life’ content, and help pupils develop personal competencies and qualities such as critical thinking, creativity and confidence in the long run.”

These latter ideas are reflected in the already published four core purposes of the curriculum, which, among other things, aim to ensure pupils become ambitious, enterprising, ethical, healthy citizens and contributors to society. “These ideas would remain central with respect to the implementation of the curriculum, and that they will have the flexibility to shape learning experiences around them,” many teachers added further.

By: Preeti Narula

Content: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/04/a-new-welsh-curriculum-aims-to-make-education-more-holistic-will-it-work/