Written Evidence Submitted by Ark Curriculum Plus

(DIV0083)

About Ark Curriculum Plus

Grown out of Ark, one of the highest performing Multi Academy Trusts in the UK, our team of well-researched and highly skilled educational designers and expert trainers guide teachers and their pupils towards subject mastery.
 

We believe that great curriculum design and delivery leads to improved teaching and learner outcomes, which impacts positively on children’s life chances.

Evidence shows that pupils make more progress when they have been equipped to master a subject. They do this by understanding its fundamental concepts in sufficient depth that they can apply subject knowledge in unfamiliar contexts.

Our commitment is to empower and equip schools to provide high-quality subject teaching, through curriculum collaboration and integrated professional development, in order to develop young people’s subject mastery.

The issue of diversity in STEM

Girls are underrepresented in STEM at all levels. This is widely documented nationally and is exemplified in Secondary schools across the Ark Network, where boys are much more likely to choose to study Physics at A-level, for example. Contrary to a common misconception in the public, this is not due to an innate weakness of girls in this field. GCSE results show that girls outperform boys in maths and science.

Substantial research demonstrates that this is due to implicit and explicit biases that discourage girls and women from entering further study and careers in Physics, such as a cultural association between masculinity and STEM. Girls and boys with high mathematics aspirations have similar experiences of lessons and similar extrinsic motivations, however girls are less encouraged than boys to study maths post-16. (https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1160110.pdf)
 

At Ark Curriculum Plus, our mission is to empower teachers to give every young person, regardless of their background, the subject knowledge and skills that will allow them to succeed. We do this through the design of CCP’s (complete curriculum programmes). Our programmes include everything a teacher needs to plan and deliver high quality lessons for students, and relevant professional development for the teacher to ensure maximum impact.

The design of our KS3 Science and Maths Mastery programmes exemplify a proactive approach to countering the biases, so that over time a greater proportion of girls will choose to pursue further study and a career and STEM disciplines.

In Science Mastery,

• ‘Scientist in the Spotlight’ lesson activities showcase female scientists in a variety of fields to make visible to students a range of scientific careers, and so they can see people like them being successful in science
• Science in the News activities highlight hot topics and current affairs relating to Physics. This demonstrates for students the relevance of what they are learning and links the science in the classroom to current advances in the sector.
• Maths in Science lessons serve to increase girls' confidence in their Maths abilities in a science context, which has also been identified as a barrier to further study of Physics.
• Model expert teacher scripts for each lesson encourage discussion about the biases that students might have about who science is for, and who might be successful in the field of Physics.
• Detailed guidance for teachers throughout our curriculum materials supports teachers to become expert practitioners, especially in delivering practical science and in teaching Maths in science.

In Maths Mastery:

• Real-life contexts are used throughout to connect mathematical concepts to students’ experiences and demonstrate the relevance of the maths they are learning.
• Stereotypes are challenged through the choice of contexts and the gender of the image of the student that is paired with them.
• Images of female students discussing maths are used to normalise the idea of women as mathematicians.
• Fear of failure’ has been shown to be a barrier to success in maths, particularly with girls. Talk Tasks, which are in every lesson, readdress the idea that maths is either ‘right or wrong’ and help build confidence to ‘try’.
• Multiple physical and visual representations of concepts and techniques are used, moving away from the ‘traditional’ image of maths and its masculine association.
• Lessons are structured to encourage active involvement in lessons. Detailed Notes and Guidance slides support teachers to fully involve all students in the lessons regardless of gender, background or prior mathematical attainment, thereby not allowing girls to ‘opt out’.

(January 2022)