Why curriculum knowledge should be at the centre of post-16 admissions processes

If curriculum knowledge is to be taken seriously, it must figure more importantly in how students are helped to choose their post-16 courses.

In this article, I’ll argue that knowledge needs to take more of a centre stage in all aspects of post-16 guidance and admissions processes. This isn’t just about improving the quality of education provided, it’s also essential to reducing drop-out and helping more students fulfil their potential.

How the focus shifts away from knowledge

Despite a greater focus in general on the knowledge in a curriculum, aspects of education provision still appear out of step. Many teachers recognise that for knowledge to really be owned by students they need to enjoy it and understand its relevance to their own lives. Education should lead young people on an empowering journey into new ways of understanding themselves and the world around and beyond them. Schools and colleges are often the only places with the resources to provide access to the knowledge that young people need; knowledge that is beyond what they will encounter and experience at home. But as students progress and are required to make more choices about the curriculum pathways they will take, focus quickly begins to shift away from the knowledge they will encounter towards more distant speculations about careers.

Often this begins to evidence itself in concerns about the skills and dispositions young people need to acquire for work. These can be seen as independent from the skills that can be acquired alongside active engagement with curriculum knowledge. However, a more pressing challenge for schools is to mitigate against the negative effects of assessment and accountability driven cultures on students’ engagement with study. These have a tendency to shift attention away from what new knowledge a student may learn in school today, to the skills they will need in the near future to navigate the assessment requirements of qualifications. Rather than students becoming skilled at exploring, questioning, and evaluating curriculum related knowledge, they become experts at understanding how to perform in assessments. This can lead them to becoming fragile learners who struggle to build effectively on previous learning.

 Curriculum knowledge reduced to a progression currency

 In this context, the curriculum content of school subjects can easily be perceived by some students as mere bankable currency, to borrow an analogy from Freire, little more than items of data used to acquire qualifications that purchase progression to higher-level qualifications. The post-16 education sector can reinforce this perception too under the influence of data demonstrating the relationship between prior GCSE attainment and predictions for post-16 success1. Statistically, there is no denying the patterns of relationships between these data. But practically and morally post-16 providers are in a difficult situation when they attempt to use these to guide, nudge or direct students away from some courses towards others. If a student is really convinced she wants to study A-Level Chemistry, pointing out that few students with her GCSE results attain above a D or C is unlikely to dissuade her. Furthermore, would it be right to press the issue too far when the initial conversation about choices may have taken place when only her predicted grades were available?

The principal determiner of choice, from a student’s perspective, should be their level of interest in the curriculum knowledge they will have to engage with on a chosen course. It is their unexpected encounter with topics and course content that is the key reason many doubt one or more choice and others drop-out. Long-standing evidence shows students simply don’t fully reflect on curriculum knowledge in post-16 course decision-making. Not doing this impacts their engagement and commitment, even when for different reasons they persist on courses.

Enabling thoughtful reflection of course content & interests key to successful choice

How can we place curriculum knowledge at the heart of the post-16 course choice process? This was the goal I set myself in the development of a new Options tool. Students are helped to reflect on the specific contents of courses they are considering. They receive immediate feedback that enables them to make more objective and informed choices, thus ensuring their motivation remains high when the challenges of study bite. The research behind the tool shows that students with stronger interest levels and confidence in their abilities with the assessment demands of courses are more likely to succeed. Furthermore, by placing curriculum knowledge at the heart of course choice Options helps ensure knowledge remains at the heart of educational provision & students’ progression.

Dr Nigel Newton is an educational researcher & writer, he is lecturer in education at Cardiff Metropolitan University (University of the Year 2021, Times Higher Education).

Thank you for taking the time to read this article. Please share your thoughts and the post.

There is more information about the Options tool at www.options-ed.co.uk

If you'd like to talk to me about course choice, please contact me at nigel@options-ed.co.uk

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