This document discusses ways for learners to influence their curriculum experience by expressing their views and opinions. It suggests that the most effective way to collect learner views is through direct engagement, using methods like focus groups and surveys. Learners are best positioned to provide feedback on whether the curriculum is meeting their needs and how it could be improved. The document proposes several actions schools can take, such as creating new communication channels, developing learner research skills, and directly soliciting feedback through questions, to more meaningfully involve learners in shaping the curriculum.

1. TALKING POINT: How do your learners
influence the curriculum?
With your colleagues, discuss the different ways in
which your learners can influence their curriculum
experience by expressing views and opinions.
For example:
• Which methods of collecting the views of
learners are most effective?
• Are they all well used?
HOW will you know when you are achieving your aims?A
CTI VIT
Y
Involving your learners
3
The people who can really tell you whether your
curriculum is working are the learners who experience
it. How well does your school listen to learners? What
opportunities are there for learners to share their
opinions and views with staff and governors? Has the
opinion of learners ever actually made a difference to
the curriculum in your school?
© Qualifications and Curriculum Authority

2. PRACTICAL ACTION: Starter questions
Use the questions listed on resource C
as a starting point for finding out what
learners really think about the curriculum
they experience. Try to talk to a small group of
learners at a time, perhaps focusing on particular
groups such as the more able, girls or those with
English as an additional language.
PRACTICAL ACTION: Creating new
communication channels
Talk with colleagues and learners about new ways
that you could make sure young people in your
school have a say and influence the curriculum.
Sketch out each idea to show how it would work in
practice. For example:
Try to put some of these new channels of
communication into place and make sure that you
use them to find out what learners really think of
the curriculum your school offers.
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PRACTICAL ACTION: Developing learners’
research skills
To help your learners gather their own and their
peers’ opinions on the curriculum and then
represent them clearly and accurately, consider
training some of your learners – for example
school council members or lead students – as
researchers. This will help to improve the quality of
the information that they feed back to you.