Curriculum design and delivery (part 3)

In the first part of this series on the curriculum, I said that one of the problems of curriculum design and delivery was that no-one really knows what the curriculum is and what content it should include.

The notion of an unplanned curriculum – or a hidden curriculum as it’s often called – is important because pupils learn not solely through their experiences in the classroom, but also from other pupils, and through the accidental juxtaposition of a school’s stated values and its actual practice.

The curriculum, therefore, can be found, not just in a policy statement, but in the subjects and qualifications on the timetable, in the pedagogy and behaviours teachers and other adults use, in the space between lessons when pupils interact with each other, in approaches to managing behaviour, uniform, and attendance and punctuality, in assemblies and extra-curricular activities, and in the pastoral care and support offered to pupils – in short, in the holistic experience every child is afforded in school.