As the 2012-13 school year comes to a close, teachers will be deciding what they should include in next year's curriculum. In this post, curriculum leader for Geography David Rogers describes a five-step method he implemented in his school which gave students in Years 7 to 9 the opportunity to decide for themselves what makes a 'perfect lesson' and then write their ideas onto the schemes of work in Google Docs. In this way, students can effectively - and lawfully - 'hack' their curriculum!
Lots of schools and teachers bang on about giving students a voice, but very few actually allow them to have one. At Priory Geography, we have developed a strong culture of allowing young people to get involved in making decisions about school life, for example:
- The Space Explorers, Space Creators Building Schools of the Future Project supported by a 21st Century Learning Alliance Fellowship;
- Choosing our GCSE Specification during the last round of GCSE ‘reform’, and;
- Creating the Mobile Learning Policy for Priory School.