Each curriculum area that contributes to the personal development curriculum has specific skills, knowledge and understanding that are integral to teaching and learning in that area. Each has its own learning outcomes that demonstrate successful delivery of that subject. These learning outcomes should not be affected by a coherent approach but should be enhanced and supported by it.
What are the signs of success for students?
The learning outcomes below reflect those specific aspects of the key stage 4 curriculum that contribute directly to students’ personal development. They are the signs of success for a coherent personal development curriculum. A coherent personal development curriculum should help students:
A coherent personal development curriculum should help students explore issues about themselves and others
Students should:
- know about healthy, safer lifestyles and be able to make informed choices
- develop good relationships and appreciate the benefits of friendships, including those with people from different backgrounds from their own
- have hopes and aspirations for themselves and others
- enjoy describing their abilities and interests
- know how to set targets for improving their performance in school and other activities
- be able to find out about topics in which they are interested, and share their findings in different ways, backing up their opinions
- understand the importance and need to continue with learning after they have left school
- identify people and organisations from whom they can seek impartial advice about personal issues
- be able to identify their income and expenditure, work out the balance and plan for future spending and saving.
A coherent personal development curriculum should help students take a useful and active part in their community
Students should be able to:
- be responsible, caring and capable of helping to make things better for themselves and others
- take an active and responsible role in school and community activities
- explain some of the rights, responsibilities and duties of people in their communities, for instance the role of the voluntary sector, forms of government and the criminal, legal and economic systems
- understand the diversity within and between religions and how this is expressed
- understand about the way our world is changing and how these political, religious, social and economic changes affect individuals and groups of people
- understand what is meant by “sustainable development” and know why it is important to people’s lives.
A coherent personal development curriculum should help students understand more about moral, cultural and spiritual issues
Students should be encouraged to:
- develop their own values and attitudes, and recognise their own and others' rights and responsibilities
- show respect for the beliefs and values of others in their school, community and other social contexts, in their conversations, behaviour and work
- understand the power and meaning of religious and philosophical language and other forms of expression, and use some specialist expressions themselves
- think about, discuss and explain religious, spiritual, philosophical, moral and cultural issues, in the context of their own lives, in an informed manner and with increasing confidence
- relate and apply their learning about spiritual, moral and cultural issues to their own and others' lives, their family, their community and to society.
A coherent personal development curriculum should help students make informed choices about careers and work
Students should be able to:
- use the school’s Connexions Resource Centre to find and use information (paper and ICT-based) about personal issues, learning and work
- participate in activities within and outside school which provide opportunities to develop skills for employability and enterprise
- describe and demonstrate a range of these skills - showing leadership, drive, self-reliance and innovative approaches when working on tasks and in teams
- describe a range of opportunities available to them after key stage 4 in terms of learning and work
- reflect on their abilities, achievements, interests and skills to make realistic choices for progression after key stage 4
- understand the differences between various institutions such as school, college, university and employment
- give an account – in any medium – of their work placement and/or part-time job, identifying what they have learned about work and its impact upon their schoolwork and future career plans
- understand how changes in employment patterns might affect their career plans
- produce a written plan for the next and future stages in their learning and work.
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Page updated: 12 June 2008