module specification

The Curriculum Studies module aims to ensure that all students have appropriate knowledge, skills and understanding to teach their chosen specialism as an effective practitioner, in fulfilment of all relevant aspects of the Core Content Framework.

To support the student:
● to develop an understanding of the curriculum knowledge and pedagogical knowledge that they will require as a teacher, including the ability to interpret this to plan, teach and assess engaging lessons which promote pupil progression.
● to develop their own subject knowledge to ensure they are confident to teach their chosen specialist subject and/or phase, through a combination of assessment, self-assessment, target setting, personal study and engagement with university teaching and learning sessions.
● to develop a critical appreciation of the relevant traditions in pedagogy, assessment and children’s rights related to the areas they will be required to teach, and to use this knowledge to make decisions about planning, teaching and assessment which promote pupil progression.

Graduate (and must be enrolled on PGCE)

The Curriculum Studies module will enable students to access all aspects of the DfE Core Content Framework as a minimum course requirement. The module will focus in particular on
• The curriculum – the National Curriculum and the taught curriculum, including age-specific syllabus requirements
• Planning learning – lesson planning; medium-term planning; constructive alignment
• Assessment – formative and summative; formal and informal; examinations
• Pedagogy – teaching approaches, health and safety, children’s rights, pedagogic research.

Student teachers are responsible for their own learning, with the support and guidance of university tutors via scheduled teaching and individual tutorials and through the ongoing support and guidance of school-based mentors.

• Students will complete subject knowledge audits throughout the training programme and devise individual action plans to plan to make progress in areas where this is required.
• Individual and group tutorials will be provided to help guide students through this process.
• Peer teaching enables students to share areas of subject knowledge strength.
• Compulsory university-based workshops will address the curriculum, adaptive teaching, assessment and subject related pedagogy in the following areas:

Primary (3-7, 5-11, 7-11, SEND)
• English and language development;
• Maths and numeracy;
• Science;
• Foundation subjects

Secondary (11-16 or 11-18)
Individual secondary subject specialisms, currently
Computer Science with ICT (11-16)
Computer Science with Maths (11-16)
English (11-16)
English with Drama (11-16)
English with Media (11-16)
Maths (11-16)
Maths with Computer Science (11-16)
Modern Foreign Languages (11-16)
Science with Biology (11-16)
Science with Chemistry (11-16)
Science with Physics (11-16)

Where courses are designated 11-16, there will be consideration in addition as to requirements for teaching at post-compulsory level (16-19)

On successful completion of the module, students will be able to:
• LO 1 Demonstrate that they are able to critically review their own professional development needs and plan a training programme that will enable them to make progress in their own subject knowledge.
• LO 2 Demonstrate a thorough understanding of the curriculum / assessment frameworks for their specialism to enable them to plan engaging and effective lessons and sequences of lessons.
• LO 3 Understand how to use formative and summative assessment methods to support their judgements in relation to children’s attainment in key areas of the curriculum.
• LO 4 Identify and justify appropriate pedagogical strategies, adapting teaching to address specific learning intentions, using experience, relevant research and wider literature where appropriate.
• LO 5 Demonstrate a thorough understanding of children’s rights and how they are embodied in the curriculum that they will teach.
• LO 6 Demonstrate how their teaching has an impact on pupils’ learning and progress and how they critically apply of skills of reflection and evaluation to ensure this.

SDQ017: SDQ017 Curriculum Studies | London Metropolitan University (talis.com)

Each phase / subject area has a separate Talis booklist, relating to the specific requirements for their curriculum.