Learning for Life and Work Curriculum relevance in Northern Ireland

ROLLOUT SCHEDULE FOR KS3 Rollout schedule for review of Northern Ireland Curriculum at Key Stage 3: 2008/9 Areas of Learning including LLW Statutory Yr 9 2009/10 Areas of Learning including LLW Statutory Yrs 8-10

The following extracts, from the Learning for Life and Work programme of study at Key Stage 3 of the Northern Ireland National Curriculum, relate to BBC News School Report.

Learning For Life and Work: Personal Development

Learning For Life And Work: Local and Global Citizenship

Thinking Skills And Personal Capabilities

Teachers may also find these extracts useful.

School Report and the existing Curriculum

LEARNING FOR LIFE AND WORK: PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

Key Concept - Self Awareness

Pupils should have opportunities to:

• Develop skills and strategies to improve own learning, for example, self management, time management...and organisation.

Key Concept - Personal Health

Pupils should have opportunities to:

• Develop strategies to promote personal safety, for example...developing safe practice in relation to the internet.

Key Concept - Relationships

Pupils should have opportunities to:

• Develop strategies to avoid and resolve conflict, for example, active listening, assertiveness, negotiation, mediation etc.

Learning Outcomes

Pupils should be able to:

• Research and manage information effectively to investigate PD issues, using Mathematics and ICT where appropriate;

• Show deeper understanding by thinking critically and flexibly, solving problems and making informed decisions, using Mathematics and ICT where appropriate;

• Demonstrate creativity and initiative when developing ideas and following them through;

• Work effectively with others;

• Demonstrate self-management by working systematically, persisting with tasks, evaluating and improving own performance;

• Communicate effectively in oral, visual, written, and ICT formats showing clear awareness of audience and purpose.

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LEARNING FOR LIFE AND WORK: LOCAL AND GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP

Key Concept - Human Rights and Social Responsibility

Pupils should have opportunities to:

• Investigate why different rights must be...balanced in our society.

Key Concept - Democracy and Active Participation

Pupils should have opportunities to:

• Investigate various ways to participate in school and society, for example...community action/involvement.

• Investigate why rules and laws are needed, how they are enforced and how breaches of the law affect the community, for example, media law.

• Investigate an issue from a range of viewpoints and suggest action that might be taken to improve or resolve the situation.

Learning Outcomes

Pupils should be able to:

• research and manage information effectively to investigate Citizenship issues, using Mathematics and ICT where appropriate;

• show deeper understanding by thinking critically and flexibly, solving problems and making informed decisions, using Mathematics and ICT where appropriate;

• demonstrate creativity and initiative when developing ideas and following them through;

• work effectively with others;

• demonstrate self-management by working systematically, persisting with tasks, evaluating and improving own performance;

• communicate effectively in oral, visual, written, mathematical and ICT formats showing clear awareness of audience and purpose.

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THINKING SKILLS AND PERSONAL CAPABILITIES

Thinking skills are tools that help children to go beyond the acquisition of knowledge in order to search for meaning, apply ideas, analyse patterns and relationships, create and design something new and monitor and evaluate their progress.

Personal and interpersonal skills and capabilities underpin success in all aspects of life. It is important, therefore, that children's self-esteem and self-confidence are explicitly fostered along with the ability to understand and manage their own emotions and to interact effectively with others.

Teachers should help children to develop thinking skills and personal capabilities by focusing on the following areas:

• Managing Information

• Thinking, Problem Solving and Decision Making

• Being Creative

• Working with Others

• Self-Management

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EXISTING CURRICULUM FOR LEARNING FOR LIFE AND WORK IN NORTHERN IRELAND

The following extracts, from the Learning for Life and Work Key Concepts and Learning Outcomes of the existing Northern Ireland Curriculum at Key Stage 3, relate to BBC News School Report:

Local and Global Citizenship Strand

Key Concept - Democracy and Active Participation

Young people should have opportunities to:

• Investigate the basic characteristics of democracy for example, free speech, free press and the media.

• Investigate a local issue from a range of viewpoints and suggest action that might be taken to improve or resolve the situation, for example, how to improve local youth services; enhance an existing play area; design a community garden, drop-in centre or multi-cultural mural/event etc.

Key concept - Career Management

Young people should have opportunities to:

• Develop personal skills, for example, evaluate personal qualities, strengths and weaknesses, identify areas of interest, targets for self improvement, short, medium and long-term goals.

• Develop interpersonal, conversational, negotiation skills.

• Develop presentational and self-marketing skills. Practise expressing these through role-play, class presentations, mock interviews with peers and teacher etc.

Personal Development Strand, PSHE

Key concept - Personal Understanding

Young people should have opportunities to:

• Develop study skills and strategies to improve own learning, for example, self management, time management, organisation and recognition of own style etc.

• Investigate the influences on a young person of, for example, peer pressure, media, social and cultural trends etc. entering agreements, consulting with a relevant consumer.

Learning Outcomes

Young people should be able to:

• Research and manage information effectively, including number and statistics where appropriate (utilising the internet, newspapers, television, texts and ICT based sources) to investigate citizenship issues, explore problems, undertake action projects and make informed decisions.

• Communicate effectively in visual, oral, written and ICT formats, showing clear awareness of audience and purpose, for example, in role-play scenarios, presentations and other tasks.

Work effectively within teams.

Young people should be able to:

• Work independently to manage, evaluate and improve own learning and performance.

• Demonstrate creativity, initiative, organisation and perseverance in carrying out tasks and developing own ideas.

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