National Curriculum and the RSA Opening Minds Curriculum - Literature review Example

Comparison of the National Curriculum and the RSA Opening Minds Curriculum Introduction This essay is about the National Curriculum and the RSA Opening Minds Curriculum. Developed by the Department for Education, the National Curriculum (NC) is widely used by the majority of schools within the United Kingdom. On its part, the RSA Opening Minds Curriculum is an alternative form of educational curriculum that developed by the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce (RSA). In this essay, different ways in which the two sets of curricula compare with and contrast from each other are presented with regard to holistic development in education. Holistic development is a way of preserving the uniqueness of a child while providing for the child the right environment for overall development (Wagner 2009, p. 9). On the other hand, curriculum is a set of subjects that are designed and planned for the learning of individuals within an education system (Marsh 2009, p. 9). In this essay, the historical development of the two sets of curricula is presented. This is followed by an analysis of the extent to which the aims and objectives of each of the two curricula meet the requirements for holistic development in education. Lastly, a detailed analysis of the content and organisation of each of the two curricula in terms of the extent to which they meet the requirements of holistic education is done. The National Curriculum The National Curriculum was introduced for the first time back 1988 (Roberts 2014, p. 4). It was developed as a framework upon which the process of learning in schools in the United Kingdom would be based. In general, the structure of the curriculum remains the same. It is made up of subjects that are referred to as core subjects as well as others that are referred to as foundation subjects. Core subjects, which are few in number, are maths, English and science. On the other hand, foundation subjects comprise a relatively large number of subjects. The National Curriculum has four main aims: to establish an entitlement, to establish standards, to promote continuity and coherence and to promote public understanding (Department for Education and Employment & Qualifications and Curriculum Authority 1999, p. 12). By providing clearly organised content, the National Curriculum provides an opportunity for all children to be taught using a common framework. This provides a sense of entitlement to all citizens. Secondly, the National Curriculum has a set of standards that can be used to measure the rate of improvement of learners over the course of time. Continuity, coherence and public understanding are promoted by the form of the National Curriculum which takes into consideration the different abilities of learners and the need of learners to progress in their learning. According to Hare (2010, p. 3), the essence of holistic education is to prepare students for achievement of their full potential in the future by providing an environment in which they develop fully. The general aims of the National Curriculum provide sufficient opportunities for the nurturing of holistic education. For instance, promoting a sense of entitlement by providing learners with a common learning framework can be said to be related with the aspect of holistic education which is based on the need to help students to critically examine their social and political contexts. Further, promotion of coherence, continuity and public understanding is related to helping students develop morally, intellectually, emotionally and spiritually – an important aspect of holistic development. The RSA Opening Minds curriculum The RSA Opening Minds curriculum was first developed in the year 2000 by the RSA (Candy 2011, p. 285). The development of this alternative education curriculum emanated from the observation that the majority of individuals who successfully complete their education remain incapable of effectively handling situations and working effectively in the business environment (Candy 2011, p. 287). Therefore, the overall aim of the curriculum is to develop individuals who are well equipped to handle the challenges of the 21st century. To this end, the RSA Opening Minds curriculum is organised into five key competencies that are regarded as essential for the successful functioning of individuals in the current times: competencies for citizenship, competencies for learning, competencies for managing situations, competencies for managing information and competencies for relating with people (RSA Opening Minds 2015). It can be seen that the aims of the RSA Opening Minds curriculum are designed to address the holistic development needs of individuals. This is because the competencies-based approach that is used in the curriculum is designed to help learners learn how to do things as opposed to only learning about them (James 2002, p. 4). Further, different areas of life are covered under the five competencies upon which the curriculum is based. Therefore, the curriculum seeks to help individuals achieve broad development in preparation for life-long learning, which is one of the key aspects of holistic development. The holistic needs of children in the National Curriculum and the RSA Opening Minds curriculum Whether the National Curriculum and the RSA Opening Minds curriculum consider the holistic needs of children can be determined by evaluating their overall form, content and organisation against the requirements for holistic development of children in education. Two concepts – Piaget’s concept of concrete operations as the basis for cognitive development of children, and Vygotsky’s concept of Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) and scaffolding – can be used to analyse what the holistic needs of children are. The concept of concrete operations is part of the cognitive stages of development that individuals are thought to go through when growing up from childhood to adulthood. The following four stages are identified: sensori-motor, pre-operational, concrete operations and formal operations (Eysenck 2004, p. 522). The concrete operations stage occurs when an individual is between the ages of 7 and 12 years. At this stage, children are able to demonstrate a sense of awareness of others, understand the concept of causality and most importantly, reorganise the images and symbols that they have acquired in order to reach a logical conclusion (Shaffer & Kipp 2013, p. 221). On the other hand, the concept of scaffolding is part of Vygotsky’s idea of ZPD (Verenikina 2008, p. 163). It means that for learning to be effective, it must be organised in such a manner that children are required to engage in activities that are within their range of capabilities (Lefrancois 2011, p. 229). The general aims of the National Curriculum take into consideration the holistic needs of children. This is because the progressive nature of the content ensures that children are allowed to engage in activities that are neither too difficult nor too easy for them to solve. This is an application of scaffolding. On the other hand, the competencies that children are required to develop under the RSA Opening Minds Curriculum represent an application of the concept of concrete operations since children are required to discover different concepts in the process of learning. Broad aims of the NC KS2 English and maths and how the broad aims of RSA Opening Minds relate to the areas The NC KS2 English curriculum has a number of broad aims that are related to learners at this stage (Department for Education 2013, p. 33). The following are the broad aims of the NC KS2 English curriculum. First is that learners should be able to accurately read books that have been written at an age-appropriate level of interest. Second, learners should be able to accurately write their ideas in sentences that are correctly punctuated. The third one is that learners should be able to correctly spell common words. On the other hand, the NC KS2 maths curriculum has different broad aims for learners at this stage (Department for Education 2013, p. 101). First is that learners should be able to work with whole numbers and perform the four operations correctly. As well, learners should have memorised the multiplication tables up to the 12 multiplication table. Thirdly, learners should be able to solve a range of problems that include simple fractions and decimal place values. The broad aims of the RSA Opening Minds curriculum are closely related to the broad aims of KS2 English and maths under the National Curriculum. For instance, under the competencies for learning, students are expected to think originally and develop their creative capabilities (Candy 2011, p. 287). These aims are related to the objectives of maths and English under the National Curriculum. Furthermore, under the RSA Opening Minds curriculum, learners are expected to develop a range of techniques for communicating with others (Candy 2011, p. 288). This is related to the aims of reading fluently and writing accurately, which learners are expected to master at Key Stage 2 under the National Curriculum. Learning objectives of NC KS2 English and maths for the 3-4 years age group There are several specific learning objectives for the NC English curriculum for the year 3-4 age group (Department for English 203, p. 36). The first one is that the pupils should be taught to further apply their knowledge of the use of prefixes and suffixes as root words to master the meaning of new words. The second one is that the pupils should be taught to develop a positive attitude towards reading as well as understanding what they are reading. The third one is that the pupils should be taught to plan their writing and effectively use their knowledge of prefixes and suffixes to use new words. On the other hand, the learning objectives for maths at the same stage include ensuring that learners are able to count from 0 using multiples of 4, 8, 10 and 100 (Department for Education 2013, p. 102). Several activities can be used to achieve these objectives. One of them is reading books that are structured in different ways as well as reading for different purposes. Another one is asking questions to ensure that meaning has been grasped as well as composing and rehearsing sentences orally before writing them down. What is important to note is that regardless of the extent to which the broad aims of the curriculum consider the holistic needs of children, successfully implementing the specific objectives has been reported as a challenge (Beverton & Harries 2013, p. 57). The most important reason is that there is always insufficient time to allow learners to effectively go through all the recommended activities that are meant to help them develop their cognitive, creative and other aspects of development as part of their holistic development process. Similarly, teachers find it difficult to effectively achieve the learning objectives for maths for the 3-4 years age group under the NC KS2 curriculum under the context of considering the holistic needs of the learners (Beverton & Harries 2013, p. 69). This is because it is observed that teachers are finding it difficult to make use of cross-curricular links in the teaching of maths at this stage (Beverton & Harries 2013, p. 70). On the contrary, the RSA Opening Minds curriculum provides a framework that can be effectively used to handle the challenges that are experienced under the National Curriculum (James 2002, p. 5). This is because the curriculum provides a framework that can be used to help learners learn from different activities, thus benefiting from cross-curricular experiences. Conclusion  The National Curriculum and the RSA Opening Minds curriculum provide for the effective teaching and learning of key subjects such as English and maths. This is because the key aims in both curricula are based on the holistic development of learners. However, implementation of the specific learning objectives of the National Curriculum is associated with different challenges. It is these gaps that the RSA Opening Minds curriculum seeks to fill. References Candy, S 2011, ‘RSA opening minds: a curriculum for the 21st century’, FORUM, vol. 53, no. 2, pp. 285-292, viewed 10 November 2015, . Department for Education 2013, The national curriculum in England: framework document, viewed 10 November 2015, . Department for Education and Employment & Qualifications and Curriculum Authority 1999, The National Curriculum: handbook for primary teachers in England, viewed 11 November 2015, . Eysenck, MW 2004, Psychology: an international perspective, Taylor & Francis, New York. Hare, J 2010, Holistic education: an interpretation for teachers in the IB programmes, viewed 10 November 2015, . James, L 2002, RSA: opening minds: project update, viewed 10 November 2015, . Lefrancois, G 2011, Theories of human learning: what the professor said, Cengage, Mason. Marsh, CJ 2009, Key concepts of understanding curriculum, Taylor & Francis, London. Wagner, K 2009, ‘The holistic development of babies and young children’, in H Fabian & C Mould (eds), Development and learning for very young children, SAGE Publications, London, pp. 9-23. Roberts, N 2014, National curriculum review, viewed 10 November 2015, . RSA Opening Minds 2015, What is RSA Opening Minds? viewed 11 November 2015, . Shaffer, DR & Kipp, K 2013, Developmental psychology: childhood and adolescents, Cengage, Belmont. Verenikina, I 2008, Scaffolding and learning: its role in nurturing new learners, viewed 11 November 2015, . Read More