In this episode, I’m talking with Mary Myatt. Mary is nothing short of a patron saint of curriculum design in the uk, with her books including The Curriculum: Gallimaufry to Coherence, Huh: Curriculum Conversations Between Subject and Senior Leaders and Back on Track: Fewer Things, Greater Depth.

I find myself quoting things Mary has said in discussions with colleagues on a regular basis and was elated with the chance to speak with her. Particularly of interest was her focus in middle school and her insistence that with the right planning, it can become the ‘intellectual powerhouse’ of secondary schooling. 

We discuss: 

• The extent to which schools have taken the advice of a 2015 paper entitled ‘KS3: the wasted years?’
• Why as a profession we were getting curriculum coherence wrong for so many years
• The advice Mary typically gives to identify the powerful knowledge a curriculum should be organized around
• What she feels are the strengths and weaknesses of units or assessments that are planned with authenticity or a real audience in mind.
• Her work with the University of Sussex's Just Reading strategies
• And finally, where does Mary stand on interdisciplinary learning?

Thanks again to Mary for her indefatigable online presence, her writing and taking the time to talk to me today. 

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Links

Mary’s books

Ofsted’s ‘KS3: the wasted years?’