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Curriculum design for Curriculum 2000

One of the most radical features of Curriculum 2000 is that it allows every school or college to design its own 16-19 curriculum. Before Curriculum 2000, there was scant scope for curriculum design. Essentially, there was a choice between the standard routes of A level, GNVQ or BTEC.

Curriculum 2000 provides curriculum professionals with a set of standard-sized building blocks (three-, six- and 12-unit qualifications) from which they can create the right curricula for their students.

But with the freedom and flexibility to design the curriculum comes a set of exacting professional issues.

This section outlines the principles of curriculum design and describes some of the different ways that schools, sixth-form colleges and FE colleges have planned the curriculum.

Curriculum design: the principles

Curriculum design: the possibilities

Curriculum design: the principles

Curriculum 2000 is intended to provide a curriculum that:

• is bigger and broader than its predecessors
• is more flexible than its predecessors
• overcomes the traditional academic-vocational divide.

Here are some suggestions on achieving these aims.

A bigger and broader curriculum

• Consider whether your standard curriculum should be 21 units, the equivalent of three and a half A levels. This is what nearly 70 per cent of students followed in the first year of Curriculum 2000 from September 2000, which suggests this curriculum is becoming the new standard route to university. Those with the equivalent of three A levels could be at a disadvantage if they are aiming for degree courses with the most demanding entry requirements. Similarly, consider whether your higher-achieving students should take a further three units in the second year.
• Encourage your students to take a broad spread of subjects. One way of doing this is to present the subjects in domains (arts, science and social science) and encourage students to select from at least two domains. Another is to show students the new database of higher education entry profiles on the UCAS website. The profiles indicate quite clearly that some universities favour applicants with a broad spread of subjects. An example of this is the University of Birmingham's accounting and finance course.
• Make sure sufficient depth, as well as breadth, is available. Students aiming for degree courses need at least two full A levels - the standard minimum entrance requirement for UK universities. AS qualifications can be substituted for the third A level but not for the first two. AS provides breadth; full A level provides depth.
• Encourage students who want to take 12 or 18 units in one vocational area to take additional broadening units in related vocational fields, general qualifications, or business and ICT, which are relevant to all career paths.

A more flexible curriculum

• Enable your students to make route changes at the end of their first year of study. They might need to change from GCE to vocational study, or vice versa, or to adjust the proportions of each in a mixed programme of study.
• Try to arrange your timetable, or collaborative links with neighbouring institutions, so that students can not only combine GCE and vocational studies in the same year, but also take three or six units of a subject in each year.

Overcoming the academic-vocational divide

• Don't segregate students into GCE and vocational streams. Many students will want to follow programmes that combine GCE and vocational studies in different proportions. Give all Curriculum 2000 students a common set of options from which each student can assemble a programme that is appropriate for that individual.
• Make sure your prospectus is not divided into separate sections for GCE and vocational programmes.
• Check that your recruitment processes do not segregate students into separate GCE and vocational groups. This is particularly an issue for general FE colleges with separate academic and vocational departments.
• Consider appropriate entry requirements for different types of programmes in both first and second years.

Curriculum design: the possibilities

These curriculum models described below demonstrate the versatility of Curriculum 2000. They start with the familiar three GCE A levels and go on to show how the three- six- and 12-unit building blocks can be used to create varied programmes using both GCE and vocational qualifications. Some of the models show how students can change route between the first and second year. The '1st year' and '2nd year' can be either the first and second years in an FE college, or years 12 and 13 in a sixth form.

Key skills, tutorial support and curriculum enrichment are here abbreviated to KS T E. Over two years, these curriculum areas are often allocated about the same number of hours as an A level. In these models, students enter for one to three key skills qualifications in addition to AS and A levels.

The traditional model

The traditional three GCE A level model continues to be possible in Curriculum 2000.

			1st year		2nd year
	GCE A level		GCE AS		A2
	GCE A level		GCE AS		A2
	GCE A level		GCE AS		A2
	1 key skills qualification		KS T E		KS T E
	19 qualification units

The new breadth model

The new breadth model of three GCE A levels and one GCE AS provides a broader programme than the traditional three A levels, as well as a deferred choice of specialisation. The student takes four GCE AS in the first year and decides at the end of that year which three to continue to the full A level.

			1st year		2nd year
	GCE A level		GCE AS		A2
	GCE AS		GCE AS
	GCE A level		GCE AS		A2
	GCE A level		GCE AS		A2
	3 key skills qualifications		KS T E		KS T E
	24 qualification units

The super breadth model

The super breadth model, where the student starts a different GCE AS in the second year, provides even more breadth. Instead of studying only three subjects in the second year, the student takes a further GCE AS.

This programme covers five subjects and gives the student three A levels and two AS levels. The student does not need to decide on the fifth subject or choose which subject to continue to A2 until halfway through the course. The unit loading is spread evenly across the two years.

			1st year		2nd year
	GCE A level subject 1		GCE AS		A2
	GCE A level subject 2		GCE AS
	GCE A level subject 3		GCE AS		A2
	GCE AS level subject 4		GCE AS		A2
	GCE AS level subject 5				GCE AS
	2 key skills qualifications		KS T E		KS T E
	26 qualification units

The tapering model

The tapering model provides the same number of qualifications as the super breadth (three A levels and two AS levels) but the student takes five subjects in the first year, tapering to three in the second year. The unit loading is weighted heavily towards the first year, so the key skills qualification is taken in the second year. Three of the units in the first year can be general studies or critical thinking.

			1st year		2nd year
	GCE A level		GCE AS		A2
	GCE AS		GCE AS
	GCE A level		GCE AS		A2
	GCE A level		GCE AS		A2
	GCE AS		GCE AS
	1 key skills qualification		KS T E		KS T E
	25 qualification units

The vocational breadth model

In the vocational breadth model, the student takes three A levels but one of the three traditional GCE A levels is replaced by a vocational A level, providing a vocational form of breadth.

			1st year		2nd year
	GCE A level		GCE AS		A2
	GCE A level		GCE AS		A2
	Vocational A level		Vocational A level		Vocational A level
	3 key skills qualification		KS T E		KS T E
	21 qualification units

The vocational experience model

This model is a variation on the vocational breadth model. The first year is the same but the student chooses to pursue a different vocational area in the second year. This provides greater breadth: four different subjects or vocational areas for the equivalent of three A levels.

			1st year		2nd year
	GCE A level		GCE AS		A2
	GCE A level		GCE AS		A2
	Vocational AS		Vocational AS
	Vocational AS				Vocational AS
	2 key skills qualifications		KS T E		KS T E
	20 qualification units

The changing routes model

The changing routes model applies to students embarking on the traditional three GCE A level route and then discovering it is not the ideal route for them: a familiar situation in 16-19 education.

In the case illustrated here, the student decides to continue only one of the GCE subjects to the full A level and to devote the remaining six units to vocational study. Because the traditional 12-unit vocational award entails studying six units a year, the student is able to achieve a full vocational A level in one year.

			1st year		2nd year
	GCE A level		GCE AS		A2
	GCE AS		GCE AS
	GCE AS		GCE AS
	Vocational A level				Vocational A level
	3 key skills qualifications		KS T E		KS T E
	21 qualification units

The super flexibility model

The super flexibility model is the mirror image of changing routes. This time the student is changing from a predominantly vocational route to a GCE one. It illustrates the point that if a vocational A level can be achieved in one year then it can also be possible to do the same with GCE A levels.

The college or school might timetable a whole A level in one year, doing first the AS and then the A2. Alternatively, the year 13 student might attend year 12 classes, if the nature of the subject permitted, so that the AS and the A2 were studied simultaneously. Such a pattern would be impractical in some subjects, mathematics perhaps, but in others, such as English literature or history, it might be feasible.

			1st year		2nd year
	Vocational A level		Vocational A level
	GCE AS		GCE AS		A2
	One-year GCE A level				GCE AS A2
	1 key skills qualification		KS T E		KS T E
	19 qualification units

Also see

> Qualifications
> Basic and key skills

Case studies

> Curriculum design
> Coherent vocational programmes

Other web links

> UCAS: entry profiles

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Page updated: 12 June 2008
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