Racing through content doesn’t mean pupils learn more
Well hello there, and welcome to update #177!
Racing through content means we’ve covered it, but it’s not the same as learning.
I watched a class who’d spent a lesson on homophones. Worksheets completed and ticked off. But when asked what they’d learnt, they couldn’t say.
They looked up at the board, stumbled over the learning objectives, and couldn’t explain homophones in their own words.
Task completion had become a proxy for learning.
So how do we escape the curse of content coverage?
𝟭. 𝗥𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿: we 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 we 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸
In KS2, if we assume one hour a week across 40 weeks and 4 years, that’s 160 lessons per foundation subject.
𝟮. F𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗶𝗴 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗮𝘀 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁
Don’t let’s start with the detail of the programmes of study in the national curriculum documents. Start with the importance statements, they contain the concepts that matter.
Then we can look at the tier 3 vocabulary in the knowledge organisers. These technical terms are clues to the conceptual territory we need to explore.
𝟯. 𝗨𝘀𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗽𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝘀 𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗸𝗲𝘁𝘀
When pupils grasp the big ideas, new knowledge becomes stickier. Concepts give information somewhere to land.
Short-term memory holds about four items at any one time. Long-term memory appears to have no limits. Racing through content overloads the first without building the second.
𝟰. 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗳 𝗽𝘂𝗽𝗶𝗹𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻’𝘁 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗲
If they haven’t grasped what you’re currently teaching, the next lesson won’t land either. The plan is not more important than the pupils.
When we focus on concepts rather than coverage, planning becomes easier and learning becomes deeper.
What’s one unit where you’ve shifted from coverage to depth?
Until next time!
Mary
PS: Free resources
For primary colleagues: a new webinar on building literacy that endures, focusing on reading aloud, vocabulary and curriculum design:
👉 Link to watch here.For secondary colleagues: explore the free KS3 booklets from The Ambitious Years project, practical, subject-specific materials designed to put challenge and coherence back at the heart of Key Stage 3:
👉 Link to access here.