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"A school is not merely a teaching shop, it must transmit values and attitudes. It is a community in which children learn to live first as children and not as future adults"
School has to be a culture of letting kids be kids. At the same time you have to teach live skills that will develop their character. The balance between these two aspects can often become challenging.

Curriculum development becomes difficult when you have to prioritize which subjects should be core. "there are a number of subjects or themes which can be taught through other subjects … it is proposed that such subjects or themes should be taught through the foundation subjects"
With a world that is constantly changing and upgrading the education system should also be doing the same to meet the needs of the real world.

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I wonder how different the school experience is here compared to Ireland?
Having went to an all boys school in Ireland, and now working in a US school system I wonder if it is more challenging back home or here?
I would love to get a students view on this.

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Throughout the extensive study that was conducted it had many flaws. One flaw being the accuracy of the responses and how many schools would respond as it wasn't mandatory.
"For example, do the more ‘successful’ schools choose to participate and therefore ‘skew’ the responses accordingly? Therefore the findings of the survey are reliable to the extent that the self-reported information is accurate. In the context of the survey, with anonymity and confidentiality guaranteed to the schools, the expectation would be that respondents had no reason to supply inaccurate responses."
Was interesting that the focus shifted from cross subject linkage to a more concentrated single subject teaching philosophy.
It is definitely beneficial to give schools a voice in what changes needed to be made to the national curriculum.

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How do you really create a culture?
What makes a schools culture successful?
I believe that for a strong culture you have to set high standards around doing the little things. Each student should be held accountable but more importantly hold each other accountable to be the best they can be.

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"A curriculum should be structured in a way to extend beyond the teacher-controlled classroom and include learning beyond the school context and beyond school years through the concept of the ‘lifelong learner’ who constantly works to become self-determining."
The aims for a successful curriculum are so much more than just in the classroom.

Throughout this chapter the word culture is used throughout. When designing a curriculum you have to take in to context the culture that your school has. The hardest thing to do in any capacity is to change the culture. The culture and curriculum mutually strengthen each other.

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Philosophy: What philosophy governs curriculum design and deployment? Where does it come from? What measures are taken to uphold it in all practical respects?"

For me philosophy has to be one of the biggest aspects of designing a curriculum. I believe that a strong philosophy gives you the foundation to build the correct curriculum for your environment. This goes hand in hand with culture.

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I always like to relate my ideas back to coaching, the philosophy for a soccer club is truly the basis of how successful that club is going to be. Without establishing the philosophy it is setting you up for failure. The other part of it is getting everyone to buy in to that philosophy, if you dont have the right people in place who have the same values and goals the club wont succeed. I think this is very similar to the school/teaching environment.

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"No matter how good their background might be, teachers and other school actors need explicit guidance in the deployment of any curriculum. This guidance should cover all practical facets of the curriculum, from the programme of study (outlined in the Curriculum Standards document) and necessary mechanisms for monitoring its implementation, to all aspects of learning, instruction, assessment, evaluation and necessary resources and environment. The Scheme of Work provides in part necessary guidance in some of these respects."
After reading chapter 5 it is clear to see that the most successful education systems invest so much in to their teachers professional development. I feel sometimes we as educators are afraid to admit that we can become better teachers. In any capacity schools should always try to develop their teachers just like they develop their students.

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Chapter 6 deals with the early stages of development and what the curriculum looks like and how it differs from each country. The EYFC curriculum model is conceptualized by using steps. The superior model in New Zealand is conceptualized using a web. The pros of using the step model is that you can have a better idea of where the child is at. The con's however show that it is too structure and doesn't identify the ever expanding development of a child's learning. The EYFC model is much less student-centered compared to other models.

EYFC Goals

1.

Being creative: responding to experiences and expressing and communicating ideas.

2.

Exploring media and materials.

3.

Creating music and dance.

4.

Developing imagination and imaginative play.

By contrast in the Qatar EYFC, ‘creative expression’ is organized under three goals:

1.

Children experience an environment in which they explore different forms of creative expression (drama, movement, music, art and media, creative play).

2.

Children respond positively to diverse creative opportunities.

3.

Children develop their creative skills in expressing themselves through art, music, movement and dramatic performances.

The goals are very similar although the EYFC has chosen to present the information in a simplistic manner.

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At the start of the chapter it discussed the importance of free play. My understanding is that free play has to be unorganized without rules so that the kids can learn to adapt to each other in an environment that doesn't have structure. Most kids at an early age thrive in these environments and channel their inner creativity however, other kids may need that structure to feel in their comfort zone.

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Chapter 7 discusses the need for a broader standardized curriculum. The amount of emphasis put on Maths and English compared to other core subjects has been greatly criticized in key staged levels. The government has expressed its concerned for the lack time spent on Science. With expanding technology in all subject areas is it not a better idea to measure a broader range of subjects rather than two or three main domains?
"Therefore the claim of ‘raising standards’ is shallow, hugely contrived as a contortion and restriction of the curriculum and bears no resemblance to anything connected to a school’s role in developing teaching and learning matched to individual needs or offering children the opportunities to experience an involvement in a ‘broad and balanced’ curriculum."