Curriculum coherence in Art

Well hello there and welcome to update #030!

Photo by Anna Kolosyuk on Unsplash

When we’re considering coherence across the key stages, it’s helpful to know about the content and approaches that are being taught in different phases.

We can ask:

·  What is the journey for a pupil as they learn about a subject in their time at school?

·  What are the concepts and big ideas that they will understand as they learn about a subject over the key stages?

·   How does what is taught in primary link to what they will be learning in secondary?

One way is to have a brief overview of the programmes of study for art, for example. This means in primary that we have a broad outline of the programmes at key stage 3 and even more important that secondary colleagues are familiar with what pupils have learnt in primary.

Another way is to have some insights into what subject leaders have to say about the development of their subjects in their phase. The subject networks on Myatt & Co have colleagues talking about how they develop the subject in their setting. In primary art for example, there’s Mia Bano talking with Rachel Higginson about how she implements the subject in her school.

And then for secondary art and design, we can compare with an example from Hollie Dolan in conversation with Steve Willshaw where Hollie explains the “bookletised” approach taken in her school, where carefully curated pieces of text introduce new knowledge to the students in a structured manner. She explains the way this approach is designed to encourage the creation of connections and juxtapositions between ideas, artists and movements.

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And we’ve just launched a Myatt & Co app to make it even easier to access this rich work! Click here for Apple and here for Android.

Until next time

Mary