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Tailoring provision to student needs starts with identifying students’ personal, learning and progression needs. This should be carried out for each cohort or year group of students and for individuals. It involves:

identifying the needs of individual students

identifying the needs of a cohort

developing a curriculum to meet student needs

helping students to access the curriculum appropriate to their needs

tracking student progress

providing for progression.

Identifying the needs of individual students

A flexible and differentiated 14-19 curriculum will impact on the guidance that students need when making their choices at 14 and 16 (or even earlier in some cases). They, and their parents, need information and guidance based on thorough knowledge of them as individuals. Most schools have a range of quantitative and qualitative data to draw on when guiding students. It is particularly important to maximise the amount of information available where students are asked to choose between programmes or pathways intended to have different outcomes for different groups of students.

The information that schools can consider includes:

• predicted attainment in each subject at the end of a key stage
• the pattern of progress made during the key stage (or over a longer perspective)
• areas of strength and any extension opportunities provided and taken up
• areas of weakness, any support provided and the student’s response to it
• capacity for work and effort made during the key stage
• information on aptitudes, for example from cognitive ability tests, questionnaire-based careers programmes
• information on preferred learning style
• interests - in school and out
• aspirations - to post-16 learning, further and higher education, career plans
• experience of work - paid or voluntary
• any pertinent background information that might influence progression, eg ethnicity, family support.
  

This information can be moderated by judgements of a student’s emotional needs, maturity level, social skills and ability to cope with a particular type of programme.

Matching this information with the courses on offer within the curriculum will increase student motivation, reduce programme changes, maximise success and provide for individual progression.

Identifying the needs of a cohort

At the level of the cohort, there are four basic questions to address.

• Who are the students involved?
• What helps them to succeed?
• What stops them from succeeding?
• What curriculum changes will help them to recognise and achieve their potential?

Schools and colleges can analyse the extent to which existing data allows them to know:

• aspects of curriculum organisation that have enabled students to achieve well, eg subject combinations, cross-curricular approaches, private study, study skills teaching, longer lessons, extended days, focus days
• the courses that have high and low rates for switching and drop-out
• the impact of mode and location of study on student achievement and progress, eg off-site activities, e-learning, active learning
• how different approaches to the assessment of, and for, learning appear to affect student achievement
• the forms of learner support that impact positively on student achievement and progress, eg tutorial work, careers guidance, mentoring, counselling, recording achievement, target setting, individual interviews, differentiated provision, progression accords and agreements
• where students progress to and how successful they are in the next stage, eg retention rates within year 12 or the first year in HE.

This quantitative data can be supplemented by staff, student and parent views. What do they identify as being most important in helping learning, achievement and progression?

Developing a curriculum to meet student needs

Meeting the needs of individuals involves allowing them to work at a pace appropriate to their ability and circumstances. Thus different members of a teaching group could take varying amounts of time to achieve the agreed outcomes, rather than all of them completing the course in a predetermined period. They would progress in the manner that suited them best by:

• spending more time to acquire or consolidate learning
• studying an area in greater or lesser depth
• moving to a higher level of learning in the same or a related area
• moving on to a different, equally demanding, area of learning
• moving on to a different, more demanding, area of learning
• experiencing a different type of learning
• concentrating on personal development or experience.

In reality, curriculum development is subject to practical considerations such as size of institution or teaching group, location, resources available and the flexibility of timetable and staffing arrangements. However, putting practical considerations before students' needs constrains development, limits opportunities for change and will not support the achievement of national policy.

Developing tailored provision requires a creative, open-minded approach. It means making judgements that balance students' needs and practical considerations, and taking some hard decisions about the extent to which arrangements can allow students to work and progress at their own pace.

It is helpful to identify and agree parameters before embarking on detailed curriculum planning, and to incorporate these in overall curriculum principles. Examples of questions that can be used to define these parameters are:

• Are mixed age groups acceptable?
• Are different starting points feasible or will all provision have the same start and finish date?
• Will all courses lead to qualifications or will some offer experiential or enrichment provision?
• Will courses be modular, linear or a combination of both?
• Can students, staff or both be peripatetic?
• Will all provision have specified entry, achievement and/or progression requirements?
• Will each course have identified progression routes and explicit links with learning in other courses and activities? Or will progression be considered for a programme/pathway?
• Will use be made of ‘flexible’ time slots, eg early morning, twilight and evening sessions? Will there be a dedicated slot for flexible provision, releasing staff and students without affecting ‘core’ studies, and occasional suspended timetable days?
• Will assessment of learning be at specified times or will students have choice (where available)? Will all available assessment opportunities be used?
• To what extent can collaborative activities or e-learning be used to provide for students with individual needs?
• To what extent can adults other than teachers, and organisations other than schools and colleges, contribute to students’ learning and experience?

Helping students to access the curriculum appropriate to their needs

Increased curriculum flexibility is likely to provide more choices and more decision points for students. It might increase the complexity of learning and career paths, and the number of sources from which students receive information and guidance. It is vital that students get the help they need to make informed decisions and keep their future opportunities open. In practice, achieving this means:

• ensuring that curriculum provision enables informed decisions
• providing information and guidance to help students with choices and decisions
• clarifying student expectations.

Ensuring that curriculum provision enables informed decisions

Students need opportunities, information and help to recognise their potential, understand their opportunities, develop their capabilities and link what they are learning with current and future prospects. Tutorial work, work-related learning, PSHE, citizenship, careers education, extra-curricular and enrichment activities all contribute. So do procedures to help students make sensible and realistic choices about their next steps. The complexities and additional decision and transition points (large and small) resulting from a more tailored curriculum might require schools and colleges to check that curriculum content, timing and procedures remain appropriate.

Providing information and guidance to help students with choices and decisions

Students receive information and guidance from a variety of formal and informal sources, some of which are more accurate and impartial than others. For students to gain maximum benefit from tailored curriculum provision, it is important that arrangements for providing information and guidance are of the highest quality, and that they are well timed. Areas for review could include:

• how the different strands of information and guidance (inputs and outcomes) are pulled together, both for adults and for students. This could take place through senior level management and coordination, the use of guidance forums, staff meetings and bulletins, shared recording mechanisms and regular review sessions with students
• whether best use is being made of contributions from adults other than teachers, eg parents and carers, mentors, librarians, learning support assistants, instructors, technicians, Connexions advisers and past and present students
• the clarity and effectiveness of referral procedures, both within the organisation and to external agencies and organisations.

Clarifying student expectations

Research on post-16 provision has identified that the failure of courses to meet students’ expectations is a major cause of course switching and drop-out. Schools and colleges should consider how to guard against this during the 14-19 phase as student choices expand. For example, by ensuring that:

• students have an accurate and up-to-date picture of themselves, eg through the use of progress files or other personal development portfolios, and that they can use this, alongside advice and guidance, when considering the suitability of opportunities
• information about provision is accurate and students contribute to the development and, if possible, delivery of information about aspects of provision of which they have experience
• course information and induction cover areas such as content and level, entry requirements, location, teaching methods and resources, working practices, group size, off-site placements, assessment demands, review, recording and reporting arrangements, possible progression routes and their requirements
• the curriculum enables students to become actively involved in finding out about courses and other opportunities they are offered, eg through, tasks projects, visits and taster events.

Tracking student progress

Tailored curriculum provision also requires the use of a coordinated, systematic and rigorous approach to individual monitoring. This is particularly important where students are working in more than one place. Efficient and effective systems help to ensure that:

• information is shared and does not get lost ‘in transit’
• progress reviews, target setting and so on build on what has gone before rather than repeating it
• monitoring is an ongoing process that provides a supportive structure for students and those working with them
• time and other resources are used to best effect.

Achieving this will mean checking that existing systems fit new curriculum arrangements and overhauling them as necessary. Issues to consider when doing this include whether:

• appropriate staff (in terms of seniority, experience and expertise) have responsibility for managing and coordinating arrangements for monitoring
• different tracking systems (within and across organisations) are compatible, secure but accessible and comply with legal requirements such as the Data Protection Act
• the timing of monitoring activities is an integral part of the assessment calendar and is compatible with the assessment of, and for, learning
• there is a shared understanding of the frequency and formality of monitoring processes and their outcomes (eg pre-course activities such as negotiating individual learning plans and initial targets, on-course activities such as assessment for learning and target setting, and end-of-course activities such as recording achievement to support transfer) between courses, organisations and geographical areas
• students play an active role in monitoring their own progress, eg by maintaining paper or electronic portfolios, progress files, log books, learning diaries and planners and using the outcomes in review, recording and planning sessions
• how staff development needs (eg enhancing one-to-one guidance skills) and student learning needs (eg portfolio-building skills) can be met.

Providing for progression

The 14-19 phase is a period of transitions and decisions. Planning provision across the whole phase will indicate where curriculum development or collaborative activity is needed to support individual progression.

Making maximum gains in learning during these important years encourages young people to remain in education and training, and helps them to achieve their potential. Establishing partnerships across and beyond the phase will support progression, transition and achievement. Ensuring that these partnerships include schools, colleges, employers and higher education will emphasise that young people are being prepared for progression in learning and into employment, and will support lifelong learning.

Also see

> Pathways within the key stage 4 curriculum

Case studies

> Progression

Other web links

> DfES: Progress File
> Connexions

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Page updated: 12 June 2008
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