The day begins by unpicking the role that you have in the curriculum design process so that you understand how much ownership you have, what you can do with the National Curriculum and the influence of others in the curriculum design process. With the support of your course lead, Becky, sketch out your KS3 curriculum by considering what you want your vision to be, the key geographical concepts and golden threads that you want to run through it and some justification around sequencing. The final session will look at assessment as a tool for understanding how far pupils are in their journey as geographers and how progression can be hard-wired into the curriculum design process.

Supporting research / references

Planning your coherent 11–16 geography curriculum: a design toolkit is an essential handbook for planning your curriculum. Written in 2022 by David Gardner, it includes practical activities and resources to support you through the process of curriculum development and case studies of schools who have engaged critically with the process.

The GA's Curriculum Framework and accompanying resources sets out the nature of the school subject, its disciplinary foundations and the significant features of geography that should underlie any geography curriculum or set of curriculum requirements at national level.

The GA's guidance on Progression and Assessment provides benchmark expectations for students for each Key Stage so you can build progression into your curriculum.

Key learning aims

• To better understand your role in the development of your geography curriculum
• To better understand the process of curriculum development
• To better understand how the curriculum can be a model of progression

Expected impact on teachers

• Increased understanding of curriculum development and progression in geography
• Increased confidence in curriculum development in geography

Expected impact on students

• A well-planned geography curriculum supports students to acquire broad and deep knowledge of diverse places, people, resources, and environments, enabling them to make connections across different aspects of geography. This course will support students immersion within a geography curriculum that is ambitious, authentic and relevant to their lives and their learning.

Course programme

This course will take place face to face at Pimlico Academy in London as a full day, 10.00–15.00. 

10.00: Welcome and introductions

10.15–11.30: Session 1 – My role in the curriculum design process

11.45–13.00: Session 2 – Developing some golden threads

13.45– 14.45: Session 3 – Building in assessment and progression

14.45-Close: Next steps

Meet your course lead