Thread by @Suchmo83

Apologies if I am repeating myself, but there is an elephant in the room when it comes to Ofsted's curriculum focus in primary schools: subject knowledge.

1/n

I strongly suspect there is little difference in outcomes between an excellent curriculum and a poor one if the teachers implementing it do not have good subject knowledge.

2/n

In the foundation subjects at primary school, I would say good subject knowledge is not the norm. (It isn't uncommon in the core subjects either, though lack of pedagogical content knowledge tends to be a much bigger factor here, especially in mathematics).

3/n

This isn't a criticism of primary teachers. It would be a rare adult indeed who had a solid enough grasp of science, history, geography, RE, computing, etc to keep up with the expectations placed upon primary teachers implementing a *detailed* primary curriculum.

4/n

Given the current planning and teaching requirements, having good subject knowledge basically requires primary teachers to have history, geography, RE, etc as hobbies in their own time. This sometimes happens, but it isn't realistic to *expect* it.

5/n

I reckon there are basically two options:

(a) Ask teachers to teach a detailed curriculum in the foundation subjects, but allow them to focus on improving their subject knowledge by providing them with *lots* of structured resources (e.g. lesson overviews, activities, etc)

6/n

(b) Ask teachers to teach significantly simplified foundation curricula. Focus on the absolute basics of whatever topic is being taught. Expect teachers to prep everything themselves without the guidance provided by lots of structured resources.

7/n

You can have a detailed curriculum in the foundation subjects that requires good subject knowledge across the curriculum. Or you can ask teachers to fully plan and prepare the lessons themselves. I don't think you can have both.

8/n

My preference, where possible, is to provide teachers with lots of resources. Others feel that the resulting loss of lesson personalisation is unacceptable. The important thing is to recognise that there is a trade-off between personalisation and curriculum detail.

9/n

If you *do* think you can have both teacher-personalised lessons and a really detailed foundation curriculum, then you either got very lucky with the knowledge base of your teachers or you are overestimating the subject knowledge of your teachers.

10/n

The latter is very easy to do. How frequently do school leaders have the time for a conversation with their teachers that gets to the heart of what they know about the Tudors or Hinduism or the Amazon?

11/n

Even then, teachers don't want to let on to school leaders that their subject knowledge is weak. If there is one thing I learned in my time as a TA, it is that, through no fault of their own, school leaders commonly overestimate the subject knowledge of their teachers.

12/n

I have no doubt that many schools have just about found the time to put together a detailed, thoughtfully sequenced curriculum (and may even have sold it to Ofsted as such).

13/n

But, realistically, how many primary schools have had the time to create the host of structured resources that would allow that thoughtfully sequenced, detailed curriculum to be implemented well by their teachers? Vanishingly few, I'd imagine.

14/n

A chat with a few kids and check of books to see whether they match curriculum progression says very little about the implementation and impact of a curriculum. Ofsted are deluding themselves if they think they can see this.

15/n

School leaders who have has successful inspections recently will be strongly incentivised to believe that all this talk of delusion is fanciful, so I predict some understandably defensive reactions. Maybe your school *has* somehow squared this circle. If so, congrats.

16/n

This isn't (entirely) a dig at Ofsted. I still prefer the new framework to what came before by a long way. Having a one-off 'Ofsted lesson' resourced and ready to go in your cupboard was grim.

17/n

I'm just certain that the issue of subject knowledge is one that is rarely part of the discussion. Either way, pretending that primary teachers are knowledgeable enough in every subject to deliver a detailed curriculum without structured resources is benefiting no one.

18/n

As ever, this is just what I've seen in my time in primary teaching, and I might be wrong.

Also, I am no exception to any of this. I have at points asked more of teachers, in terms of their subject knowledge, than it is reasonable to expect.

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