Developing resources for Hwb

The purpose of resources is to support practitioners’ curriculum design and pedagogical approaches to enhance the quality of learning and teaching. For both curriculum design and pedagogy, resources can support schools and settings to:

• ensure all learning is purposeful and supports the four purposes of the curriculum
• ensure all learning enables learners to progress towards the four purposes
• support an understanding of the progress learners make

Within the Curriculum for Wales, schools are curriculum designers. The role of resources is to support this process, rather than to provide practitioners with products to adopt. Schools and settings have the flexibility to design resources that meet the needs of their learners.

You should consider the following 7 principles when developing new resources or adapting existing ones. This is particularly important if you want to make them available nationally through Hwb.

1. Be consistent with the principles of the Curriculum for Wales

The four purposes of the curriculum are the starting point and aspiration for all learners. You need to be clear how a resource helps learners to:

• realise the four purposes
• progress in their learning along the 3 to 16 continuum as set out in the curriculum framework

Practitioners need your support to understand how your resource helps that process as part of their development of learning and teaching.

What to consider

• Ensure the resource helps learners to realise the capacities and dispositions within the four purposes.
• Your resource should support learners to progress along the 3 to 16 continuum in relation to specific statements of what matters, through experiences, knowledge and skills.
• Support practitioners by making relevant reference to mandatory aspects of the Curriculum for Wales.
• Reflect cross-curricular skills and cross-cutting themes.
• Ensure the learning resulting from your resource can be assessed by the practitioner.
• Resources aimed at practitioners should meet the requirements of the ‘Continuing the journey’ section of curriculum guidance.

What to avoid

• Representing the four purposes as specific learning objectives or creating and developing content directly from the four purposes.
• Superficial reference to the four purposes that add no value.
• Isolated activities that don’t relate to prior learning or a learner’s next steps. 
• Not providing practitioners with a sense of how it moves learners forward in their development.
• Not considering the learning in your resource in the context of the mandatory elements of the curriculum.
• Developing materials focused on a single task or learning objective or encouraging practitioners to ‘tick off’ the curriculum guidance framework.
• Assessment should not be separated from learning and teaching.
  
  

2. Have a clear learning rationale (the why, not just the what)

It is essential that resources have clear aims for learning based on the needs and aspirations of learners. If your resource includes a teacher guide, it should be underpinned by explanations of:

• the understanding that the resource is looking to develop and/or deepen in learners that can be transferred to new and unfamiliar contexts
• what knowledge, skills and experiences are included and what indicators of progression could look like for these
• why the learning intentions are important and how they contribute to the overall purpose of the learning in a given aspect of the Curriculum for Wales
• how the resource supports learner development

What to consider

• Your resource should develop learners’ experiences, knowledge and skills to support their progress in the ways described in the principles of progression.
• You should consider (and explain for practitioners) how your resources will support learners to develop over time through a practitioner guide that outlines the purpose of the resource, with suggestions on how to use it.
• Developing (over time) a wider range of resources that support learning progression across the 3 to 16 continuum to better reflect differing learning needs, aptitudes, dispositions and abilities.
• You should provide a clear sense of why the resource matters and how it contributes to broader learning.

What to avoid

• Resources focused on an activity or task that have no clear or significant knowledge or skills related to learner development.
• Long, complicated learning aims. Keep it concise.
• Producing one-off activity-based resources aimed at particular year groups, with no plans to build from that.
  
  

3. Support practitioners to design and develop learning

Practitioners in schools and settings are best equipped to make decisions on how they design, plan or organise learning to meet the specific needs of their learners. This reflects the principle of subsidiarity that continues to guide the Curriculum for Wales’ development.

What to consider

• Your resource should support flexibility for schools and settings in their curriculum design and planning within their own context.
• Your resources should support practitioners to understand and develop learning.
• Build on the designing your curriculum sections of curriculum guidance by suggesting topics, themes, possible activities, approaches and learning for an aspect of the curriculum. This could discuss why these could be effective and include information on what has not worked in trialling the resource with practitioners and learners.

What to avoid

• Creating a detailed curriculum, scheme of work, prescriptive lesson plans or modules designed to be used off the shelf.
• Timing activities or ordering use of materials in the classroom.
• Teacher guidance weighted towards undertaking activities or tasks, at the expense of options to develop learning set out in the curriculum framework.
• Prescriptive teacher guides that tell teachers how to teach using the resources.
  
  

4. Support appropriate and research-informed approaches to learning and teaching in line with the Curriculum for Wales

Resources should help practitioners to make informed judgements on how they apply materials in their teaching. Where there is robust research that suggests particular approaches to teaching are more effective, your resource should highlight those to help practitioners in their approaches to learning and teaching. This will ensure that they are coherent with a purpose-led curriculum. This is also important to support practitioner understanding of the potential impact of a learning aim.

What to consider

• How further reading, thinking and evidence could help support the use of your resource.
• Think about whether the 12 pedagogical principles can be reflected to support schools and settings in their use of your resource, their key elements and likely impacts, and how and why the concept or topic is taught.
• Use illustrative examples and examples of practice to stimulate thinking and critical engagement.

What to avoid

• Being overly specific on how a lesson must be taught.
• Providing advice that doesn’t align with the principles of the Curriculum for Wales.
  
  

5. Involve a process of co-construction

Co-construction brings together the expertise of developers, experts and users to create resources of higher quality. The best way to do this is to engage with:

• current practitioners working with the Curriculum for Wales
• wider subject-related stakeholders and experts
• community organisations
• learners

What to consider

• Co-construct your resource with practitioners currently working with the Curriculum for Wales.
• Collaborate with a range of practitioners from the start of the development process to ensure your resource meets user needs, and includes an appropriate level of rigour and suggestions for further development.

What to avoid

• Resource development without direct practitioner input, which would also prevent testing drafts in learning settings before finalisation.
• Demonstrating activities or tasks without suitable challenge or stretch.
  
  

6. Plan and develop Welsh- and English-medium resources

Your resource must be developed in both Welsh and English. Both languages must be of equal quality, use the correct terminology and be available at the same time. This includes videos, audio clips and all other elements of the material. 

To meet Welsh language standards, we can’t publish materials that treat the Welsh language less favourably than the English language.

What to consider

• The availability of resources should reflect the needs of schools and settings in all language categories, to ensure timely access to high-quality and diverse resources.
• Use of Welsh and English terminology that clearly aligns with the Curriculum for Wales framework guidance.
• You should resolve any potential issues at the outset to ensure that Hwb is able to accept and publish your materials.

What to avoid

• Not planning from the outset for this fundamental requirement of your resource development.
• Commissioning translations at the end of resource development without reference to correct terminology available on Hwb and BydTermCymru.

The production of fully bilingual materials may present some challenges, such as producing videos. Please seek advice, if needed, at Safonau.Standards@llyw.cymru. Early dialogue with the Welsh Government will help ensure a better end product in both languages.

7. Be accessible to all learners and practitioners

Your resource must follow accessibility requirements and guidance. Read our creating accessible documents guide for more information.

What to consider

• A guide to create accessible digital communications
• Adobe’s workflow for creating accessible PDFs
• Welsh language standards and Cymraeg Clir
• Plain English guidance
• British Deaf Association
• National Deaf Children’s Society

What to avoid

• Submitting resources for publication on Hwb without checking accessibility.