During the Corona virus pandemic, many children worked from home. Much has been said about recovery and catch up but what does it mean to recover from the interruption caused by the pandemic?
Why recovery?
If we accept recovery as being a return to how things were, we may deduce that we should continue in the same ways as before. This may be problematic. All children have had a unique experience with education recently. Whether in school in bubbles during lockdowns, accessing remote learning or not accessing any learning at all. The gap between those who have and have not engaged may have increased.
The Primary National Curriculum is relatively broad, with lots of concepts and procedures for children to learn. It is based on a spiral curriculum of gradual progressive development by revisiting previously taught concepts.
RE:Covery
Regarding covering the curriculum, a spiral curriculum design enables recovering and revisiting of concepts. Tracking back and tracking the vision forward allows teacher to be fluid with why, what, when and how to teach concepts which sequentially build.
How?
Prioritising concepts and key skills will be essential for children to master concepts. For example, knowing where concepts begin and how they develop across year groups and stages will help teachers and leaders support all learners. This approach will ensure children gain mastery of essential concepts, many of which are essential to access the wider mathematics curriculum. For example, multiplying and dividing by 2, 4, 5 and 10 is considered a key concept and would link to many areas of the curriculum including ratio, geometry, measurement and statistics.
This is a real opportunity to teach children for understanding, to develop and embed concepts which children will use in aspects of their education and their life. Taking time on each small steps of a concept within lessons, sequences of lessons and across school years in many different contexts will strengthen and deepen conceptual understanding. Access to key concepts will unlock the wider mathematics curriculum and enable children to master the breadth and depth of the curriculum.
When?
Redesigning your curriculum to prioritise key concepts in the summer term 2021 and then into the academic year 2021 - 2022 will allow children to master the wider mathematics curriculum by making links and connections to all areas of mathematics.
In some cases, lessons may be designed to revisit previously taught concepts before other year group concepts, as set out by the National Curriculum, are taught.
Check out our RE:Covery curriculum and Key Concept Lessons to support teaching and learning.