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Let’s talk about charting the course.

When the 2022 cohort of students who took their GCSE and equivalent examinations this summer started out on their educational journey, the final destination that they were aiming for was different to the one they finally arrived at. They were welcomed into Reception in 2010-2011, and their trajectory was to experience statutory tests to give them a level at the end of Year 6 and GCSE grades of A*-G, the focus being to achieve a minimum of 5+ at A*-C to include English and mathematics. Their reality, however, was to take statutory tests that gave them a standardardised score at the end of Year 6, and GCSE grades of 9-1 with the possibility of having satisfied the English Baccalaureate.

Change was always on the horizon for this cohort. Michael Gove became the Secretary of State for Education in May 2010 and the school’s white paper, “The Importance of Teaching”, was published in November that same year. Proposed reforms included the restructuring of the curriculum and changes to performance tables. The 2022 examination cohort were the first to experience phonics screening in Year 1 but the change to the curriculum didn’t happen until the September 2014, the start of their Year 4, bringing with it an increased focus on literacy and numeracy and assessment in terms of achieving “expected standards”. Imagine this curriculum experience as a journey made by a sailing boat, this is a change of tack. A change that had to be managed by teachers so to not disadvantage the pupils. However, whilst the end of Key Stage 2 destination was known, the same could not be said for Key Stage as yet unknown as the new 9-1 GCSE courses that these pupils would take had yet to be published.

This situation had been resolved by the time the 2022 cohort came to make their Key Stage 4 curriculum choices. However, the pandemic disrupted the second half of their Year 9 and much of their Year 10. They were the first cohort to sit final examinations for two years: modified to take their lost learning into account.

Whilst the impact of the pandemic on the curriculum is beyond control, the same can not be said for other factors. Learning is defined a change in long-term memory. A curriculum to bring about such a change needs to be sequenced and to plan a sequenced curriculum the start and end point of the curriculum need to be known. Not only did the end point change for Cohort 2022, the end point wasn’t revealed until the later stages of their curriculum journey. To return to the sailing analogy, teachers have sailed boats through uncharted waters and weathered the covid storm to ensure that Cohort 2022 reached their final destination once it revealed itself through the mist.

It is fortunate that teachers are great sailors. Who knows where the pupils going into Reception in 2022-2023 are heading for.

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