Plenary Session I: Strengthening the Teaching Profession for the 21st Century

Curriculum Development for Student-centred Learning and Child-friendly Schools
Dan Buckley, Director, Research and Development, Cambridge Education, UK

Our 21st century global economy finds value in diversity, collaboration, creativity and innovation yet the structure of our schools tends to lead to conformity, compliance and homogeny. Currently there are few models across the world, of schools that are able to respond to the creative chaos of collaborative learning whilst ensuring consistent quality and measurable outcomes.

In this presentation I explore the curriculum frameworks that are emerging for truly personalised learning and how we safeguard the progress and life chances of children as their schools transform around them. I consider models that allow personalisation to be introduced piece by piece at a pace which is in line with the capacity for change and ability of the teaching workforce. I will describe student-centred learning in terms of the P-route and T-route models of personalisation and the implications of each on school design, curriculum design and the ICT tools required. I will draw upon a wide range of international case studies and research findings by way of illustration including the Personalisation by pieces (PbyP) framework.

The PbyP approach is research based on the idea that if learning is owned by the learner and practiced through real opportunities then progress is accelerated considerably. The research includes the use of a toolkit which works on any device from a mobile phone to a PC. This enables learners to demonstrate incremental progression in competencies by providing evidence that is assessed anonymously online by their peers. This evidence can also be analysed across the learning institution to inform the change management process.

Already there is evidence that this has given schools the confidence to provide a much wider range of learning opportunities. In some cases schools have offered the opportunity for children to devise and manage learning activities for other students so that complex competences can be practiced. Such activities are having a profound effect in terms of role modelling, multi-age learning and the effective teacher ratio. They are creating truly child-friendly schools.

For the globally interconnected citizens of the 21st century ICT is redefining learning. I hope to illustrate the routes by which schools can act as centres of empowered, collaborative learning and provide practical guidance as to how this can and is being achieved in every educational context in the world.

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