The role of powerful pedagogical strategies in curriculum development

Despite the frenetic pace of curriculum change in England and Wales it is highly questionable to what extent classrooms have changed since the inception of the National Curriculum, as little attention has been paid to teacher development. This article describes a human-scale approach to professional and curriculum development that relies upon powerful pedagogical strategies. The characteristics and popularity of these strategies are described. The model developed in the study of Effective Teachers of Numeracy (Askew et al., 1997) is used to explain how the use of the strategies can lead to professional and curriculum development. Particular attention is paid, through the reflective accounts of teachers who have used the strategies, to the role of pupil response in accelerating change. Finally the article discusses the way in which the strategies accord with much of what is known about how teachers plan.