Curriculum Making is best done collaboratively.
"We need to construct our own meaning, in our own context, of a collaborative learning community … It is not a checklist of factors, it is a mindset as much as a map... It is taking responsibility for our craft, our own development and that of our students; it is ensuring our future."
Carole Cooper & Julie Boyd, in the South Australian Teaching for Effective Learning Framework Guide.
Find out more
WE HIGHLIGHT TEACHER AGENCY WHEN WORKING WITH AI
Our 4-Phase method of working with AI is all about your agency to make sure that every student makes progress. We view a Large Language Model(LLM) not as a tech tool, but as an AGENT there to support us. The 'teacher-in-the-loop' can benefit from its prodigious capability with his or her relational, ethical, cognitive, imaginative and holistic abilities.
We value schools' dual focus of Learning and Wellbeing
School Strategic Plans tells us where schools see gaps in their curricula. For instance, a sample of the goals of 50 Australian schools, reveal to us the following five strategic themes.
- Maximising Academic Achievement and Learning Growth
- Cultivating Student Wellbeing, Health, and Resilience
- Fostering Student Voice, Agency, and Responsibility
- Strengthening Community Partnerships and Pathways
- Enhancing Institutional Culture and Infrastructure
This is what Curriculum Makers live for, a win-win way of lifting whole school communities.
Phase 1. What does 'Establishing the Shared Baseline' mean?
This phase is all about starting well - as much physically as conceptually.
The advent of Large Language Models has been called 'the 4th Industrial Revolution'. It is a very big change to have a technology that can no longer be classified a 'tool' but an 'agent'.
We've created one-page examples of our own experiences when using AI in our teaching workflows.
First Steps
Context is Everything
Putting AI "On a Leash"
Balancing Compliance with Creativity
Does Content Have A Bottom Line?
Phase 2. What does 'Co-designing the BIG idea' mean?
If Phase 1 is about taming the information, Phase 2 is about finding the meaning. In this phase of the Curriculum Makers methodology, you shift your focus from simply "managing content coverage" to rigorously designing for student understanding.
We ensure you approach the technology with a designer’s mindset. Here are the core insights that drive Phase 2:
From "Coverage" to "Typical Progress"
The "If... Then" Logic Audit
Synthesising the "Big Idea"
Training the AI (Not the Other Way Around)
Elevating Professional Practice (APST 1)
Phase 3. What does 'Co-constructing Rigour' mean?
If Phase 2 is about finding the "Big Idea," Phase 3 is about enabling your students demonstrate that they learned it. In this phase, we tackle the heavy administrative lifting of teaching—rubrics and grading—by shifting your mindset from treating assessment as a retrospective afterthought to treating it as the rigorous anchor of your entire unit.
Embracing True Backward Design
Designing for a "Band of Progress"
Dealing with the "Rubric Pain Point":
Teacher Judgment & Being Inclusive
The Summative-to-Formative Link
Elevating Professional Practice (APST 2)
Phase 4. What does 'Collaborative Enactment' mean?
Traditionally, the "daily lesson plan" is where planning both begins and ends. You stare at a blank proforma, fill in the boxes, and hope it survives contact with the classroom. In the final phase of the Curriculum Makers methodology, you will learn that the daily plan can be responsive and ongoingly vital.