Wales: BBC News 'Draft Welsh curriculum 'poorly defined' education bosses say'

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Debbie_Hepplewhite
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Wales: BBC News 'Draft Welsh curriculum 'poorly defined' education bosses say'

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This notion of children's education being "left to chance' seems to be a common theme in a number of countries:
Draft Welsh curriculum 'poorly defined' education bosses say

By Bethan Lewis
BBC Wales education correspondent
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-46811508
Pupils' learning could be "left to chance" because of a lack of clarity in Wales' new curriculum, education bosses have warned.

They told assembly members too much of the draft curriculum so far was "generic, poorly defined and weak on knowledge and skills development".

A draft will be published in April and it is due to be rolled out from 2022.

The education minister said she was concerned there was a misunderstanding of the vision behind the curriculum.

The Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) and the Association of Directors of Education in Wales (ADEW) raised their concerns in joint evidence to the Assembly's children, young people and education committee, which is reviewing how the reforms are progressing.

'Grandiose themes'

"It is likely that pupils' knowledge, understanding and skills development will be left to chance, i.e. relying heavily on the knowledge and experience of individual teachers as opposed to an entitlement defined by the curriculum," they said.

They said pupils without "strong family support" were at risk of missing out the most.

In the area of language and literacy learning, they said: "There are many high-level and grandiose themes at the expense of the nuts and bolts of language development - speaking, reading and writing."
Science and technology appeared to be "the least developed" area.

Although there had been some improvement, there remained poor communication with schools on the progress of reform, they added.
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