Deep dives; AI; EDI and character.
Deep dives; AI; EDI and character.
Learn how members are working on them.
What. A. Week. Ups and downs.
100+ talks, 400+ resources, 700+ attendees, 293 new members and a strike during Curriculum Thinking Week 2023.
Plenty of food for thought for you as learners and the government as leaders.
I hope both lead to positive outcomes for everyone.
In the meantime here are four sessions from *Curriculum Think Week 2023 that got members talking.
If you find something useful, be sure to let speakers know in the comments at the bottom of each session.
*Talks and resources are available to everyone until Monday morning. After that, just speakers and members of the Curriculum Thinkers Community.
That said, we appreciate how busy this week has been, so if you're not a speaker, or a member of the Curriculum Thinkers Community, and want to access them beyond that, let us know here.
We - schools - Are In Beta - always learning (when we feedback on others’ work and we’re fully resourced).
This week
🕵️♂️ Adapting Ofsted's Deep Dive methodology without freaking everyone out.
🤖 How Artificial Intelligence can be used to support teaching and learning.
🌈 Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: a whole school approach.
❤️ Building character education in a secondary school.
Curriculum Thinking Week was supported by Ambition Institute
Ambition Institute’s research-informed ‘Curriculum for Senior Leaders’ programme focuses on improving outcomes for pupils by transforming the quality of curriculum design across your school.
The deadline for applications was Tuesday 31 January but futures cohorts are available.
🕵️♂️ Adapting Ofsted's Deep Dive methodology to drive improvement without freaking everyone out.
Maurice Dixon & Fay Cooper from Oxford Spires Academy, aced their tag team delivery. Here’s what they revealed:
How to create self-critical communities that challenge and collaborate for mutual development.
How to be rigorous and developmental at the same time.
How to get the best out of your teams.
How to help your teams prepare for Ofsted & build their confidence.
Here’s what others thought:
🤖 How Artificial Intelligence can be used to support teaching and learning.
The awesome Head of Computing, Business and Media at Little Lever School - Sue Farimond, shares:
The future of teaching will include Artificial intelligence (AI).
How to use the available AI models that exist now to support teaching and learning.
Capabilities of AI to reduce teacher workload.
Problems with AI including potential misuse by students (plagiarism).
Here’s what others thought:
🌈 Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: a whole school approach.
The excellent Curriculum Lead for Geography, Culture and Ethics at Manor School, Jon Andrew shares:
How to create a culture of equality, diversity and inclusion in a school
How to review and adapt your curriculum to become more inclusive and representative
How to get additional support to improve inclusion and representation across a school
Here’s what others thought:
❤️ Building character education in a secondary school.
Five Acres High is a ‘World Class School’ and holds both the School of Character Quality Mark and the Quality Mark Plus from the Association of Character Education.
The amazing Head of History, Character Education Lead, Bekki Smith, shares how they did it, covering:
How to build an inclusive character education programme in a secondary school
The benefits of good character in our ethos, culture and visison
Having a planned approach to building character in school and across the community.
Here’s what other’s thought:
On a personal note
I recently wrote about the power and the importance of saying thank you. So I want a say six thank you’s here:
Everyone who attended Curriculum Thinking Week 2023.
Everyone who commented under talks and fed back on sessions - the speakers really appreciate it.
All the senior leaders in schools who nominated and supported speakers.
All brilliant the speakers themselves - such incredible generosity.
The We Are In Beta team for their work over the last 4 months to make CTW23 happen: Fran, Catherine and Fiona.
All the teachers who had to make difficult decisions about safeguarding your students’ education.
None of it would be possible without your belief in collaboration and sharing with (and for) the community.
A massive thank you to all of you.
@NiallAlcock and the We Are In Beta team.
P.S. Please ignore the ‘Pledge your support’ note at the end. The platform we use to send emails is pushing readers to pay writers. It is written by them. Not us. Let me know if you have any questions.
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🆕 New here? Catch up with previous editions, podcasts and webinars via the archive.