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A flexible curriculum, built around and responsive to individual needs and aspirations, is at the heart of the aims for the 14-19 phase. Achieving flexibility means that schools and colleges should:

• develop independent learners
• use a wide range of teaching methods, appropriate to different learning styles
• consider the nature of the relationship between teachers, support staff and learners
• review learning and teaching materials and resources.

Students are likely to find lessons, courses and programmes motivating if they can:

• feel involved and have some control over what they do
• understand how the content and style of their learning is relevant and can be applied in other, less familiar contexts
• see that what they are doing is making a difference to their progress, achievements and future prospects.

In developing a more flexible curriculum, schools and colleges might need to consider the following issues:

• developing independent learners
• learning and teaching styles
• relationships between learners and teachers
• materials and resources

Developing independent learners

If students are to become actively involved in their own learning, they need to learn how to learn. Independent learning skills allow students to review, record and reflect on their learning, set targets for improvement and make and use action plans. They also allow students to adopt a more systematic approach to problem solving and decision making, and to access and use guidance and advice.

Such skills require time to develop, so an early start gives students more opportunities to develop and practise their skills in a supportive environment, allowing them to learn from their mistakes and build on their successes. Ideally, such skill building will be sustained throughout an individual’s learning (irregular use leads to skill erosion). Students who do not receive such development opportunities and support are likely to struggle with courses that demand they take some responsibility for their own learning. Transition to, and success in, vocational, higher level, college or HE courses will be easier for those with well-developed independent learning skills.

To ensure that students can cope with such courses, schools and colleges might want to review how they build and support independent learning skills. For example, they could consider whether they have in place:

• a whole-institution approach to the development of these skills
• curricular and other activities that provide structured opportunities for their development
• a common vocabulary and a consistent approach to skills development
• clear and consistent expectations of learners.

The key skills units in improving own learning and performance could provide a framework for a review of this type.

Learning and teaching styles

Independent learning does not mean passing all responsibility to students or expecting them to work independently all the time. Nor does it mean lowering expectations. Teachers still have to set and clarify learning objectives, expectations and boundaries, and share these with students. They still have to help students acquire knowledge, skills and understanding, and give them structured opportunities in which to demonstrate, practise and apply these skills. Independent learners still need help to reflect and build on their learning. However, teachers might have to modify or extend existing practice, for example, by placing more emphasis on active learning techniques and less on didactic ones, or by broadening the range of techniques they use so that they can tap into the full range of students’ learning styles.

Theories about learning styles abound, but they all share the same basic concept: individuals learn in different ways, so their learning improves when teachers use a wide range of methods that are supported by varied and differentiated learning materials and resources. The research suggests that individuals remember 20 per cent of what they read, 30 per cent of what they hear, 40 per cent of what they see, 50 per cent of what they say, 60 per cent of what they do and 90 per cent of what they experience by reading, hearing, seeing, saying and doing. The research also indicates that teachers tend to use teaching methods that reflect their own preferred learning styles.

Helping students to benefit from a more flexible 14-19 curriculum might require teachers to review both the methods they use and the learning styles that these methods support. For example, they could consider whether the teaching methods used:

• represent a varied but balanced range of teaching methods (eg didactic, active and experiential)
• meet the needs of the range of learning styles (eg visual, aesthetic, kinaesthetic, reflective, theoretical, pragmatic and active)
• help learners to develop their learning styles, building on the stronger and developing the weaker ones
• help students to make the connections with other learning, break large tasks into manageable steps and demonstrate the relevance of what is being learnt, now and in the future
• encourage students to participate by ensuring that they know and understand the learning objectives and outcomes, and have opportunities to review, record and reflect on their progress
• support ‘assessment for learning’ through teacher, peer or self-assessment.

Relationships between learners and teachers

It is possible that a change in the relationship between learners and teachers will result from a change in the balance of teaching methods used. Teachers could find that, in developing more independent learners, they are taking on a wider range of roles and increasing the amount of one-to-one contact they have with students. Students might find that they are spending more time on guided independent learning and are actively seeking assistance and feedback in a range of settings and at a variety of times. Adults other than teachers, particularly learning support assistants, might also find that they are taking a more proactive role. This could be in a direct way (eg by participating in assessment activities) or a more indirect way (eg by helping to develop differentiated teaching materials and resources).

Schools and colleges might need to check that current arrangements fit changing staff and student needs. In particular it would be worth considering:

• using adults other than teachers, and how best to make use of their experience and expertise
• staff development needs (if staff are to become learning facilitators and take on a wider range of roles)
• how and where students have access to staff (in person, electronically or via written communications).

Materials and resources

Increased emphasis on involving students in learning and helping them to take more responsibility for what they do makes the availability of good quality materials and resources more important than ever. This applies to classroom materials (eg textbooks, videos and worksheets) that can support independent learning and to other provisions, such as departmental and centralised provision (eg reprographic and ICT facilities, and resource centres).

Institutions planning to adopt a flexible approach to curriculum provision and learning might want to consider the extent to which:

• existing materials and resources are sufficiently varied (eg in format, presentation, media and differentiation of content and tasks) to meet the approach chosen and student needs
• materials and resources are available and accessible to those who need them (including when the resources are needed and what systems should be established to make them available to students during and outside lesson times)
• there is a coherent strategy for using and giving students access to resources, including multimedia
• staff and students have the skills (including technical skills) they need to make full use of the materials and resources available
• there is a team approach to developing materials and resources (involving teachers, IT and other specialists, students, support staff and external contributors as appropriate).

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Page updated: 12 June 2008
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