One Common Curriculum Mistake You Might Be Making (And How To Avoid It)

I've looked at a few primary curricula in my time, and there's one thing I see fairly often - a common mistake made by the curriculum-maker.

Let's start with an example, and see if you can spot what's wrong. Imagine if your KS1 geography curriculum documentation stated:

Pupils should be taught to name and locate the world’s seven continents and five oceans.

That's an example you might recognise - it's taken directly from the National Curriculum.

If you've not spotted the problem yet, consider what the purpose of your school's curriculum is. Hopefully it's something along the lines of:

• to be a record of what teachers should teach children

In the example above, we get an idea of what should be taught, but it isn't exactly what should be taught.

That statement really needs to be broken down into exactly what the seven continents and five oceans are. This would look something like this:

• The seven continents are Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America.

• The five oceans are the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Southern, and Arctic oceans.

But can't teachers work that out for themselves?

Well yes, but why not make it clear from the outset? And, where there may be different interpretations of 'loose' objectives such as the one we have been looking at, it makes sense to clarify exactly what is to be taught, particularly with consistency and continuity in mind.

To exemplify this, one teacher might think the seven continents are Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Oceana (or Australasia), Europe, North America, and South America. And another teacher might think the five oceans are the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Antarctic, and Arctic. Neither of them would be wrong, and it might be the case that as a curriculum-maker you do decide to teach children these alternatives, but it is good for consistency's sake to make things clear from the start. This is especially important when you consider how much prior knowledge is relied on when teaching new content.

Now, in the example I've given so far, there is actually a limited range of different interpretations. But for other objectives there could be considerably more. So let's look at another example to help us consider the seriousness of ensuring you don't make this mistake:

Pupils should be taught about Viking raids and invasion

Well? What about them? There are a great number of things a teacher could choose to teach about after reading that objective (which is another example from the National Curriculum). As a curriculum-maker, you need to decide exactly what pupils should be taught about Viking raids and invasion.

Writing Key Facts To Make A Curriculum Worthwhile

The best way I've found to do this is to write key facts, in child-friendly language, that communicate to teachers exactly what children should learn, and be able to recall later. These key facts can then be used in various activities with children to aid recall and retention.

For example, you might choose to focus on when and why Viking raids began and what happened, writing key facts such as:

• When: In A.D. 793, the Vikings arrived by boat and raided the monastery at Lindisfarne, a holy island off the coast of England.

  
  

• Why here: Monasteries were an easy target for Vikings because they were not guarded and were filled with valuable treasures like gold and jewels.

  
  

• What happened: The Vikings killed the monks and stole everything they could carry. This event marks the beginning of the Viking Age in Britain.

Doing this takes a little bit more time when developing a curriculum but it is exactly what makes the curriculum actually useful to teachers. If you are expecting to follow a curriculum not of their design, you are also obliged to ensure that there is clarity - that the exact content to be taught is outlined.

Besides, Ofsted's new school inspection toolkit which they'll be using from November 2025 says that they should be looking for evidence that 'the curriculum is implemented in line with leaders’ intentions and that teachers teach the subject curriculum effectively, focusing on the most important knowledge or concepts'. For pupils in Reception and key stage 1, inspectors are also supposed to 'consider the extent to which the curriculum clearly identifies and prioritises the foundational knowledge and skills pupils need for later learning'.

What About Your Curriculum?

Take a look at your curriculum - particularly the termly overviews, unit overviews, scheme of work, medium term plan, or whatever it's called at your school. What kind of detail does it give?

A good litmus test is to ask 'Is what is written here what I'd want the children to say if I asked them a question about this?'

For example, if you asked children what the seven continents were, you wouldn't want them to answer, "Pupils should be taught to name and locate the world’s seven continents." You'd want them to answer, "The seven continents are Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America."

Your curriculum documentation should provide specific content to be taught, not just vague, loose ideas. Your curriculum should be a record of what teachers should teach children.

A Note On Additional Curriculum Content

None of this is to say that teachers can't teach additional information - this is the joy of personalisation and responsive teaching. However, wherever a curriculum is in place, there should be agreed pieces of knowledge (be they substantive, procedural or disciplinary) which all children are taught. Teachers and children may choose to follow lines of enquiry and individual interests beyond these and this can be done safe in the knowledge that the key information has been taught and learned.

If you recognise your own curriculum in those vague statements (be honest), or realise that the reason why you're still struggling to implement your curriculum and see measurable impact of your curriculum intent, get in touch with me because I can help you sort this out once and for all.

Your 3-step curriculum clarity plan:

1. Drop me an email

2. Have a phone call with me to talk about your school

3. We'll work together to empower you and your staff to enhance teaching and to enrich your pupils' lives

Take a weight off your mind today - let me spin a couple of your plates