Thread by @jon_severs

Today we launch the @tes curriculum series! Part One (of three) is all about the theory: we have some of the world's leading thinkers on curriculum giving you the insights you need and explaining the questions, challenges, decisions and complexities of curriculum creation.

First up is @MarkRPriestley - "There is a need for education professionals to develop a more nuanced concept of what a ‘curriculum’ should be...because by reducing the curriculum to content, its neglects other curricular practices."

Professor Ninni Wahlstrom - "The teacher is the key actor in creating and maintaining dialogue and relationships with both the pupils and the teaching content. Thus, the curriculum should establish an inspiring framework for the teacher to act within"

Professor Michael Young - "Stipulating the knowledge content of the curriculum is not enough. You also need an equivalent emphasis on the pedagogy of teachers, and the process through which students produce knowledge."

Wayne Hugo - "Curriculum is not just an individual effort, it’s a part of a great enterprise that sits at the heart of how humanity currently functions."

Professor Kieran Egan - "The three general ideas about education cannot themselves be subjected to research about which is better: they are not empirical matters. If anything, they are more obviously matters of emotion—what people feel matters most about human life"

@Counsell_C - "Subjects matter because content is not a static, heaven-prescribed, unchanging canon. Any good curriculum must teach pupils about the nature, origin and renewal of knowledge."

Vivian Hinchcliffe - "The starting point for all curriculum planning, however we define it, should always be the child: her developmental needs; health needs and wellbeing" .

@KingAdjapong - "Curricula are often designed and tailored to the ‘average student’, with little to no consideration of students who may be considered outliers... So, is it possible to create a curriculum that meets the needs of all?"

Professor David Scott - "The important point is that the pedagogic approach is derived from the set of curriculum objectives and not from any summative assessment or evaluation standard or approach."

Professor Eleanor Duckworth - "We need strong curriculum. We require materials that stimulate questions — questions that come from the learners, and are real for them. A problem is not a problem unless it is a problem — and no thought will be given to if it is not."

Professor Jan Derry - "If they are to be used to distinguish the meaning of concepts in different subject areas, the design of curricula cannot neglect the underlying norms that guide how concepts ought to be applied."

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