The US philosopher John Rawls famously posed the question: “If you could design society from scratch, what would it look like?” It’s an interesting thought experiment and usually a good way to get a conversation flowing.

So, when we set about discussing how we would approach Ofsted’s new inspection framework, we took this philosophical puzzler as inspiration for our own discussion: “If your subject didn’t exist on the school curriculum, why would you insist it was taught?”

This was no empty exercise. Having produced several years of superb exam results, we were keen to move to the next level - not just producing students who got the grades they needed but also those who could hold their own in the outside world in whatever they chose to do.

To achieve this, we wanted to instil a love of learning, of wider cultural experience and subject-specific appreciation that sometimes makes all the difference in a university or job interview. So the question led to some passionate debate among staff who, if they were honest, would probably admit that they had fallen into an annual routine of “teaching to the specification” that produced good results but perhaps lacked a love of their topic to enthuse pupils.

It was wonderful to hear the challenge and debate as subject specialists argued over what the “point” of their subject was. Was it useful to learn a language without an appreciation of its context in French or Spanish culture, asked our modern foreign languages teachers? What were the moral and ethical questions that a knowledge of the English language helped to answer?

The exercise was incredibly powerful as a starting point in reviewing our current curriculum offer but a welcome by-product was a whole new appreciation of the breadth of learning that happens at our school and how we could expand this.

Too often, we look at subjects in isolation but, by drawing together the skills and knowledge that each subject brings to a child’s learning, we were able to build up a holistic picture of how an education at our school prepares pupils for a successful and fulfilling future.

Eyes on the prize

To build on this momentum and excitement, we decided to organise a Curriculum Intent display competition. The aim was for each department to try to convey the importance of their subject to pupils, with a prize for the display that was deemed most successful at doing this.

It was a great competition with some really interesting and innovative displays. They included the maths department’s demonstration of the salaries you can achieve in different careers that use maths. This was a particular hit with some of our more competitive students.

The art department was the runner-up, with a great idea to have an artist-in-residence board, which changed regularly with different students’ works of art.

However, the science department was the winner after its staff updated their whole corridor with the kind of “wonder” questions - such as “why is the sky blue?” and “why do we age?” - that science can answer, as well as biographies of some of the scientists who have shaped our world.

To complement this, each teacher was also asked to write a paragraph about why they love teaching their subject, which was then stuck on their classroom door.

This proved really popular as the staff enjoyed sharing why they had become teachers. This also helped staff discover more about the backgrounds of colleagues, which they could use when planning careers or university talks.

Doing all this really helped put the subject knowledge of our teachers and the content of their classes at the centre of school life, academically and culturally.

For example, in languages lessons, the society and politics of France and Spain are now taught alongside the core language elements to help students gain a stronger appreciation of what they are learning.

Carrying out the blank-page exercise also helped us to better understand the sequencing of our curriculum to ensure that students are continually building on strong and carefully selected foundation knowledge.

A starting point for this work was to identify the main knowledge we wanted all pupils to know and understand by the end of their time at school for each subject. This allowed us to produce work flows that showed how ideas were developed from Years 7-11 in a logical order.

For example, we found that Macbeth was taught in Year 8 drama before being taught in Year 9 English, while we discovered gradient knowledge is needed in Year 9 science before it is taught in Year 10 mathematics.

This was easily modified to provide a more joined-up experience for pupils and now helps to broaden their wider understanding that what they are learning in one subject is often directly relevant to another.

Pitch perfect

The initial work we have done in the first term of this academic year on our curriculum has made sure that the foundations of what we are teaching in each subject are secure. However, we now need to see how this works in practice.

It is important that we build in time to see if the knowledge that we are intending to teach is being taught in the right way, pitched at the right level and is being absorbed by the students. This is where we will now need to shift our focus to classroom and teacher level.

This shift will include subject reviews, where middle leaders are taken off timetable to see how their curriculum plans are being implemented in the classroom, and a front page for schemes of work that detail all prior knowledge needed before the topic is taught.

We also intend to include both student and teacher input within lesson observations so that we can see if learning experiences are being planned over time and knowledge is remembered.

Complex jigsaw

Since embarking on this journey to essentially rebuild our curriculum from the ground up, there have been some key learning outcomes that I would urge any leader thinking of a similar exercise to be aware of to ensure the benefits of the process can be truly derived.

While it is tempting to use existing schemes of work and packages as a jumping-off point, we found the process of starting from a blank page really refreshing and empowering for teachers. This was especially the case for those used to just teaching what is put in front of them: the process gave these teachers real ownership in the curriculum selection process.

It is essential to set aside substantial time for discussions on curriculum. It is a complex jigsaw to fit together and, to do it successfully, subject teams need time to debate, discuss and revisit ideas over a period of several months.

Curriculum maps and guides need to be presented in a format that is easy to read. If they are created in a way that pupils, parents and teachers can understand, there is more chance that they will be used to improve learning in the classroom.

Curriculum revision cannot be done in isolation from teaching and learning. A curriculum can look wonderful on paper but is worth nothing if it cannot be seen in action in the classroom.

Start the process with blue-sky thinking, using the passions and interests of teachers to get buy-in from staff. Reconnecting teachers with their love of their subjects and getting them to celebrate this is a wonderful way to recognise your school’s strengths and raise aspirations for students.

Be as flexible as you can in the documents that you ask departments to produce. Always remember that subject leaders are the experts in their curriculum and they need to work with a format that is useful to them in sequencing learning. What will work as a format for maths might be very different for English.

As long as subject leaders can explain their thinking and this can be backed up with examples from the classroom, the format of presenting the curriculum can be varied. If in doubt, use subject specialists from other schools or from subject associations to sense check what has been produced.

Mehul Shah is deputy headteacher for curriculum and achievement at Barnhill Community School in West London, part of Middlesex Learning Partnership

This article originally appeared in the 3 April 2020 issue under the headline “Is your subject really worth teaching? Discuss”