Transforming the curriculum through the Extended Project

Written by Patrick Derham - Rugby School

The law of unintended consequences is responsible for much of the world’s evil. One of those misfortunes, it could be argued, is the existence of an overly prescriptive, over-loaded curriculum. If you were sitting down to design the curriculum, where would you begin? Most of us would naturally think in terms of curriculum content: what students ought to know to count as ‘educated’ in a certain subject? But here, it can be argued, the difficulty arises: where do you draw the boundaries? The worthy atttempts of the committees who drew up the ‘minimal core content’ for today’s specifications (an interesting semantic shift from the more classical term ‘curriculum’) have led to a monolithic body of learning outcomes. All this content could be defended as being ‘essential’ - yet jointly, it leads to a regimented approach to teaching and testing which drives out the creativity which is so essential to good education. It also fosters a dangerously ossified picture of what knowledge is: students think that all they ‘need’ to know is what they will be tested on.

Is there an alternative? What would education look like if courses were designed on a different approach? An approach which embodies a picture of knowledge not as a system of bite-sized learning outcomes, but as a world to be explored, on which journey many routes are possible?

At Rugby we have found our curriculum being transformed by the development of this approach. It began in 2004 with the introduction of the AS ‘Perspectives on Science’ course, a national development which we have supported since it began in 1999. This qualification has no prescribed content. Teaching takes place, but the focus is on the development by students of the research, analysis and presentation skills needed to engage in historical, ethical and/or philosophical discussion of issues raised by science. The crucial point about the course is that the ‘content’ element is determined by the skills basis. Students are equipped with the intellectual tools needed to begin learning for themselves.

This approach has shaped and informed the new Edexcel ‘Extended Project’ qualification, being piloted here at Rugby and nationally. The EP offers the chance for a real breath of fresh air alongside an examinations dominated curriculum. It is equivalent to an AS in UCAS points terms and is entirely assessed by means of a student project and presentation. It has been warmly welcomed by HE. At Rugby we have developed a suite of EP programmes based on the ‘Perspectives on Science’ model. On May 13 we will host a conference to explore this exciting opportunity. Speakers include world-renowned academics such as Simon Blackburn, the Professor of Philosophy at Cambridge, and tele-historian and Harvard Professor Niall Ferguson. For more details see the website for Rugby school

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 5th, 2008 at 4:07 pm by Patrick Derham - Rugby School and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.