Leading the Diverse Curriculum
Well hello there and welcome to update #061!
Most people agree that diversity in the curriculum is a good idea and there’s plenty of information available about general diversity work. In fact, many schools and trusts appointing colleagues with responsibility for DEI. However, what has been missing has been support specifically for leading and then development of diversity in the curriculum.
The phrase ‘diversity in the curriculum’ usually applies to the concept of a curriculum that is inclusive of the experiences and histories of those with protected characteristics.
It often seeks to erase systemic barriers in our society through fairer and more equitable distribution of curriculum content.
It serves to allow young people to think more critically about how knowledge is formed and how it comes to be valued.
DiverseEd specialists Hannah Wilson and Bennie Kara were being increasingly asked by colleagues in schools about how to really dive into the principles and processes to achieve a diverse curriculum. They were also being asked for advice on the leadership aspects of leading a diverse curriculum.
As a result, they developed Leading the Diverse Curriculum programme. They recognise that schools and colleges are busy places and so they have curated the programme through self-paced recordings and resources. I am delighted to be hosting the programme on the Huh Academy.
Leading the Diverse Curriculum has been designed to be run across a half-term to support planning and implementation. This way of working provides an opportunity for self-regulation with self-directed learning without needing to make a commitment to attend a live session on a weekly basis.
Hannah says
‘It’s also good to touch base to talk through how things are going, find additional support, magpie best practice and share ideas is also an important element of professional learning. And so we have a hybrid of self-paced together with live check-ins to keep the momentum going.’
‘This work takes time, we can’t rattle through it, it’s not a sprint.’
This idea of curriculum work being developed over time reflects the ethos of the Huh curriculum books. Huh is the Egyptian god of regeneration, creativity and everlasting things. It sums up the iterative process of deep work, made manageable. And it’s the underlying principle of both the Huh curriculum series and the Huh Academy courses.
Across the course, Bennie and Hannah will be sharing insights on how to set out the vision for a diverse curriculum, how to articulate this to stakeholders and how to bring them on board. They will frame this work within curriculum principles of powerful knowledge, supporting the process of getting started by considering what is already within the curriculum. Â
They share practical strategies, show what diversity looks like across different subjects, plus how to manage the process, dealing with the emotional elements of unpacking this work and addressing disagreements and controversies. And finally making sure to celebrate the work!
Leading the Diverse Curriculum 6-part programme is now live. It will support you throughout an academic year, through a half-termly virtual session. We also provide two places on the course as we believe curriculum development is not a one-person piece of work!
You can watch the introductory webinar with Bennie, Hannah and me here.
Until next time
Mary
You might also like to know that we now have the Building Teams webinar
It’s a new course on the Huh Academy with Lekha Sharma and Sam Crome and on the webinar I talk with them about how to develop strong teams in our settings.