The Chronicle January 2020

ST EDWARD’S CHRONICLE 16

Pathways and Perspectives A New Approach to the Middle School Years From September, the GCSE years at Teddies will be transformed with the introduction of two new courses: Pathways and Perspectives. Alongside their chosen programme of GCSEs, pupils will take at least one Pathways course and one Perspectives course. Pathways courses are academically stretching and will give pupils the opportunity to delve deeper into subjects they may be thinking of studying at university; and Perspectives courses provide an engaging scrutiny of humanities subjects with a far greater emphasis on contemporary issues.

tackle different topics and challenges. We will be able to see how well they have analysed information, how creative they’ve been and how well they have worked with their peers. We don’t want to produce young people who are only capable of memorising the right answers and manipulating a mark scheme to get maximum points. It is a skill, but not one that will take them very far beyond GCSEs. As they progress in their studies, our pupils will encounter ideas and situations we can’t yet anticipate – and we need to equip our pupils to face them without floundering – without thinking: ‘Why didn’t Dr Fletcher tell us the answer to this scenario?’ MA: We’re not doing this to get better grades – we’re doing this because we want to move away from box-ticking and take a bold leap into what we see as a proper education. We care passionately about education here at Teddies and it is without question our job to develop these young people in the right way. We want to recognise every individual for their talents, not just those who can remember things.

It’s clearly easy to assess how much a pupil knows – which is largely what GCSEs do. How can you assess for the skills you feel are important for the ‘framework’? MF: We will be able to use techniques not open to GCSE examiners. They are dealing with huge numbers of pupils at great speed, so there is little time for a nuanced or multi- faceted view. We will be able to speak to our pupils, monitor their progress over a number of months and observe how they

A key feature of the new courses is that they will develop more than just the capacity to retain information. To do well in Pathways and Perspectives, pupils will be encouraged to cultivate a much broader range of skills, such as research, creative thinking, self- awareness, collaboration and communication: all vital for Sixth Form, university and the workplace beyond. We caught up with Matthew Albrighton, Deputy Head Academic, and Dr Matthew Fletcher, Head of Chemistry and Oxbridge Advisor, to look in particular at how pupils’ skills will be developed and assessed. Why did you feel that an addition to the Middle School Program was necessary? MF: We have a particular view of education here at Teddies which isn’t wholly served by GCSEs in their current form. Of course pupils need a good, solid foundation of knowledge, particularly in my subject, Chemistry, but we know that knowledge alone is not enough. If we are to prepare our pupils for the next stage of their education, we need a curriculum in place that develops the skills they need to process, develop and apply that knowledge, proactively, creatively and collaboratively. MA: Yes – it’s about having the right framework. Knowledge is required, but with the right framework, pupils will be able to embrace and analyse future knowledge to good effect.

Prisca Olagunju and Sam Perkins