Written by Debra Kidd, A Curriculum of Hope: As rich in humanity as in
knowledge explores how good curriculum design can empower schools to
build bridges between their pupils' learning and the world around them.
A great many schools are wondering how they can build a curriculum model
that meets the demands of government policy as well as the needs of the
children and communities they serve. In A Curriculum of Hope, Debra
illustrates how teachers can deliver learning experiences that genuinely
link knowledge to life.
Working on the premise that a strong curriculum is supported by five key
pillars of practice coherence, credibility, creativity, compassion and
community she presents a plethora of examples that demonstrate how
schools, parents, pupils and the wider local community can learn
together to build from within.
Debra enquires into the ways in which schools can create units of work
that are both knowledge- and humanity-rich, and challenges the view that
the role of children is simply to listen and learn instead advocating
their active engagement with local and global issues.
She does so by delving into the role of pedagogy as a means of
empowering children, and by exploring some of the more overlooked
pedagogical tools that can have a great impact on children's learning
and well-being story, movement and play as well as some of the recent
research into memory and retention.
Towards the back of the book you will find case studies demonstrating
how teachers can work with both their own and other subject departments
across the school to plan in ways that allow for pupil choice, autonomy
and responsibility. Furthermore, there are some accompanying planning
documents for these examples provided in the appendix (The Seed
Catalogue) which you may find useful, and these documents are also
available for download.
Suitable for teachers and leaders in all schools.
