Personalise your approach

In my previous post I talked about what continuous provision is and why depth is such an overlooked yet essential component. In this post I want to delve into some of the thinking required when establishing your continuous provision and why an ‘out the box’ or overly prescribed approach isn’t going to work.

First, let’s establish one thing off the bat. I’m a big advocate of personalised learning. But I’m also a pragmatist and know that even with a big budget and a healthy ratio, it’s not possible to personalise all aspects of your provision and practice. Many of our children will follow a generically linear approach in certain aspects of their learning, but not all. And there are some areas where I find it inexcusable to be generic when personalised is easier and far more impactful.

Let’s begin with some of the core considerations for developing your continuous provision. Firstly, there’s your culture. In my video below I address the different aspects of culture. This is an older video but everything within it still rings true, drop in and make some notes when you get a chance.

Next you must consider your curriculum intention. At different levels of education this means different things. In a school-based setting this curriculum may be heavily prescribed as learning has been mapped out for all year groups. This can, at times, lead to an unhealthy expectation in Early Years beyond those set out in statutory documents (E.g. EYFS in England). Some settings, particularly international schools and private settings in the UK, adopt a more holistic curriculum approach instead focussing on not just the knowledge, but the skills, dispositions and events too with a particularly focus on depth in prime areas.

Regardless of how you set out your curriculum or how detailed it is, it’s something we must consider when setting up our continuous provision.

When taking these two into account, I hope, you’ll realise that each setting or school will need a unique approach to their continuous provision. Your children, the staff, parents, expectations and resources are different and whilst, as acknowledged above, there are a few areas where all children progress in linear ways, the vast majority of learning happens at a personalised pace. We cannot copy one school’s approach and apply it in another – it doesn’t work.

Large chains of nurseries and complex academy chains struggle to establish a unified approach for this very reason. The most successful organisations are those who value the individuality of each component site and capitalise on that uniqueness.

In my next post we’ll be building a continuous provision area using a model curriculum and culture but for now let me know what you think below.