CUREE summary of Jerome Bruner’s work in relation to the curriculum for the 21st Century Curriculum:
Building the Evidence Base project.

How can ideas from the past about the curriculum help us make effective changes today?

How can ideas from the past about the curriculum help us make effective changes today?
Sometimes, when we encounter a change in teaching, such as a change of policy or a new strategy from CPD, we may be tempted to think we are simply returning full circle to ways we used to do things. But the experiences gained in the intervening years are a valuable part of the process of change. Working from a new starting point helps us to move earlier thinking further along. This is not just a case of recycling. Revisiting the ideas Jerome Bruner put forward about the curriculum nearly half a century ago demonstrates this well. They take on a new meaning when we consider them alongside recent developments such as assessment for learning and thinking skills.
What did Bruner propose?
Bruner argued that curriculum planning should work in a spiral
Bruner believed that the curriculum should continually revisit basic ideas, building upon them incrementally and making links and connections between them until the pupil has grasped full understanding – a spiral curriculum that links ideas and thinking skills incrementally over time.
Where should we start?
Bruner proposed that the starting point of learning should be what learners know, believe and can do already
He said, ‘Any subject can be taught effectively in some intellectually honest form to any child at any stage of development’. He recognised that this suggestion might seem startling at first sight, but he was keen to highlight an essential point, often overlooked in curriculum planning, that ‘schools may be wasting precious years by postponing the teaching of many important