During the first COVID lockdown, teachers were faced with the job of rapidly putting new lessons into place, on a range of online platforms. The responses varied depending on the massively different school contexts they found themselves in, access to technology, home broadband speeds and data availability. For those in challenging circumstances, there were substantial problems to overcome, but teachers rose to the challenge.One option which appeared in late April 2020 was Oak National Academy.
This was a set of resources, including video lessons and supporting materials, which were produced by a team of teachers who were supported to create and share materials which could be used remotely. They were supported by the DfE and received a great deal of funding.
Resources were produced for a range of subjects including geography.
I took a look when the first few lessons launched, as did others, and they were problematic in their language and emphases. I blogged about them at the time.
They improved as time went on, and found a use not just during the lockdowns, but also when teachers returned to schools, or found themselves with hybrid learning for a while, with a stop-start school year, and pupils who were shielding or cautious of returning to in-person school settings.
There was also some criticism that they were deskilling teachers.
As a parent, I would also have been concerned if my children's teachers were relying on them too much for work, or homeworks. As the pandemic eased, some schools and teachers continued to use the resources, or direct certain people to them: home schoolers etc.
Having got used to using the resources, some teachers were disappointed when they were removed from the platform.
United Learning produced the Geography materials and disagreed with the decision to remove them.
On their website, they said at the time:
United Learning was pleased to be one of a group of partner organisations which came together to provide lessons for students and curriculum support for teachers through the pandemic. We believe that the trusts and schools which created Oak and provided the lessons performed a valuable national service at a time of crisis.
This was an independent, charitable activity led by schools and trusts in the national interest and supported by philanthropic funding. The partners were grateful for some government financial support, which accelerated production of video lessons. It was never a government project.
However, we think it is wrong for government to take over the Oak resources and do not support the creation of an NDPB to do so. There should not be a ‘government approved’ curriculum, nor any suggestion of one – whether presented as ‘optional’ or not.
As we do not think government should be getting involved in provision of lesson-by-lesson curriculum resources, we have declined the government’s offer of money to hand our resources to the new NDPB.
However, we are conscious that our resources – representing over 1,500 video lessons with associated curriculum plans and resources – are a core and popular part of the original Oak offer for teachers. We will thus continue to share these materials, free of charge, with any teachers or schools that wish to access them via a new site www.ContinuityOak.org.uk. This platform will be active as of 1 September and will be further developed as we receive feedback on the user experience.Continuity Oak Geography Lessons
Since then, things have changed substantially within this area.
There have been quite a few opportunities for people to get involved in creating resources for these new fully resourced curricula. It will be interesting to see in the longer term whether this is a good investment and what the take up will be. There is also a 'danger' that this may become a default new 'national curriculum', although some may see that as a good thing.
The GA was revealed as the partner for the Primary Geography materials a while back.
As with the other subject areas and phases announced by
Oak, the primary geography curriculum sequence and initial resources will be available on the
Oak platform from the autumn term of 2023, with materials being rolled out throughout the school year. A full package of curriculum materials is due to be completed by September 2024.
GA Chief Executive Alan Kinder said at the time:“The GA is looking forward to working as one of Oak National Academy’s new curriculum partners. This partnership will enable us to further support a large number of teachers of primary geography throughout the country, through the provision of high-quality lesson materials and curriculum plans written by expert teachers from the GA’s subject community. This collaboration will therefore complement the professional services the GA already provides to its members in primary schools nationally.”
I've been working in a small part (so far) on the project, and have been involved in some of the Oak preparation for today's launch of the first examples. Please take a look...
A sample Primary unit is now up and available:
There will be regular additions for the next year.
