1. Curriculum for Wales Creating the Climate for Change
Essential Knowledge
Curriculum for Wales
Creating the Climate for Change
This presentation has been created to ensure that all schools in CSC know the essential information relating to curriculum reform.
Please note that the content of this presentation is a minimum requirement of knowledge for the Autumn Term of 2018.
All staff in schools should be familiar with the information provided.

2. Our National Mission
The National Mission sets out key policy areas which will be re-shaped in the next 4-5 years:
A new national approach to Professional Learning
An increase in school to school working
ALN reform and a focus on Equity and Wellbeing
The development of a new Assessment and Evaluation Framework (including reforms to school inspection)
Reform of Initial Teacher Education provision
The establishment of the National Academy of Education Leadership
New Professional Standards for Teaching and Leadership
Schools to be re-conceptualised as Learning Organisations
The key document that all schools must be familiar with is ‘Education in Wales: Our National Mission’.
It sets out the changes to the education system along with the timescales for these.
There is significant change but it is all linked and aligned.

3. Our National Mission
The new curriculum driven by the 4 purposes is at the centre of all reform
A high quality education profession will deliver this
Led by inspirational leaders
Ensuring excellence, equity and wellbeing
Through meaningful and manageable assessment evaluation and accountability
The core essence of the national mission is outlined in this slide.
It gives the opportunity to reflect upon the fact that although the change can feel overwhelming, the rationale behind it is what all educators would want for their system.

4. How does change feel in your school?
Professional Learning for all staff
School to school working
ALN reform
Curriculum for Wales
Developing pedagogy
Assessment and accountability
Professional standards for teaching
Professional standards for leadership
Schools as Learning Organisations
One of the biggest issues with significant change can be the feeling of not knowing where to start. Promoting professional dialogue around the change is critical.
A useful exercise can be to diamond rank some of the changes to promote staff discussion and allow leaders to engage with practitioner views at a deeper level. This information can be powerful in planning school improvement priorities and professional learning. It can be useful for leaders and practitioners to complete this separately to compare views.
The diamond ranking could be completed from most to least knowledge/confidence or by significance to a school. Notably there is no ‘right’ answer, each school and staff member will have different knowledge bases and skills set.

5. Education in Wales – Transformational Curriculum
Autumn 2018
Begin roll-out of online adaptive personalised assessments (replacing paper-based reading and numeracy tests)
December 2018
Areas of Learning and Experience (AoLE) design complete
April 2019
New curriculum and assessment arrangements available for feedback. Welsh language continuum available to schools to for feedback
July 2019
Feedback period for new curriculum closes
January 2020
New curriculum and assessment arrangements finalised and available
September 2022
Schools using the new curriculum – Nursery to Year 7
The new curriculum will be rolled out to Years 8 to 11 between 2023 and 2026
It is important that all schools know the timelines for the curriculum changes. This is so that school improvement activities and professional learning for staff can focus on ‘readiness’ or in simple terms, ensuring that all schools will be ready to trial the draft curriculum in April 2019 so that they can give their feedback.

6. So how do we prepare? The Readiness Tool
The CSC readiness tool was shared with all schools in Central South Consortium to provide a baseline picture of the needs of the system in moving towards the new curriculum for Wales.
Each pillar contains a number of statements against which schools self-assessed to determine their current performance through focussing -> developing -> enabling -> enhancing.
CSC has developed the readiness tool which schools can self asses their journey towards readiness for the new curriculum.
The readiness tool should not be treated as a tick list to be done; it is a developmental tool to encourage schools to explore areas of their practice critically, promote professional debate and outline a way forward. Nor should schools feel that they have to progress in all areas on each submission.
The data collected by CSC is not linked to accountability for individual schools; it is used to allow plans for the most appropriate professional learning offer and school improvement activities to take place.

7. Readiness Consider the readiness tool completed by your school.
How much has the readiness tool fed into our school improvement plan?
Have all staff been able to engage with the reform process?
What professional development does the school need to access to support the development of curriculum reform?
The questions on this slide are designed to allow schools to consider how they can use the readiness tool more developmentally in order to bring about improvement.
All staff should be engaged in professional dialogue around curriculum reform.

8. Professional learning
School needs
Hub Programmes
SIG working
Cluster working
Pioneer schools
Partner schools
Bespoke training
The national mission and the self-improving system in CSC recognise that there is no one correct way to bring about improvement. Each school, staff body and cohort of pupils will have different needs at different times.
It is important that all schools access the support that is best suited to them. The needs of the school should dictate which professional learning activities they engage with to develop.
CSC provide a menu of improvement activities that aims to ensure all needs can be met. Consider as a school what you are engaged with and whether this best meets your needs.

9. The four purposes, more than just slogans…
Ambitious, capable learners, ready to learn throughout their lives
Enterprising, creative contributors, ready to play a full part in life and work
Ethical, informed citizens of Wales and the world
Healthy, confident individuals, ready to lead fulfilling lives as valued members of society
The beginning of the reform journey, and also the end is focussed on the 4 purposes. A purpose driven curriculum means that all activity should support learners to achieve the 4 purposes.
All members of the school community should be familiar with these.

10. Task
To what extent do the purposes describe your own or your schools vision for the future of young people? Does you school’s vision for young people (and their learning) need to be revisited in this context?
Are there any aspects of the four purposes that the existing curriculum (in your school) does not provide young people the opportunity to access/experience?
What professional learning requirements does your school have?
Creating a powerful school vision should focus on hearts and minds and should capture the ethos of the school. All members of the school community should know the vision and should also enact it.
If appropriate consider rewriting your school vision to ensure that it supports the delivery of the 4 purposes.
Ensure that in discussing the questions you refer to the full 4 purposes as laid out in Successful Futures.