This is a question that has been occupying relatively large amounts of social media space, not to mention government and local authority thinking, in recent months – ever since the new primary national curriculum was launched.
Mastery is a tricky beast to pin down – having been mentioned in relation to education since at least 1910 (U.S.A. Education approach), and in ‘masterpieces’ for hundreds of years. There seem to be three broad areas for defining mastery:
We have recently taken a further step on a very exciting journey with a group of academies – culminating in a two-day ‘Mastery’ event in which we explored each of the above definitions… and beyond!
The overall aim of this mini-conference was to agree a common definition, approach and understanding of this elusive educational enigma. In addition, each academy needed to leave with clear, concrete curriculum ideas of hot to move forwards with the idea of mastery.
I am delighted to say that we were successful on both fronts – through facilitated sessions, consultant-led discussions and high-quality ‘mastery-approach’ delivery methods, we were able to agree a consensus of definition, clear strategic plans for the next twelve months for the group of academies, and subject-specific action plans around each of Early Years, Literacy, Numeracy/maths and Foundation subjects.
Our support will be ongoing, but it is clear that this sort of experience is both very sought-after and very beneficial to schools that engage with us.
Published on 18 October 2015