About our curriculum

Building the UWCSEA learning programme

Our curriculum is part of our Learning Programme. It explicitly articulates concept-based learning goals for our students. Being concept-based, our curriculum organises learning around the development of transferable ideas, which may be disciplinary or interdisciplinary. Knowledge and skill acquisition is vital, but not the end goal in a concept-based curriculum. Using their knowledge and skill learning, students construct and express conceptual understandings, which transfer to new contexts. This allows our students to apply critical thought in any situation, now or in the future. It is particularly relevant for students in an international school environment, where much of the student population is mobile and may move during their school years, meaning they need to be able to transfer 

Advantages of a concept-based approach

Curricula structured around knowledge and skill learning lack the intellectual rigour and depth required to shape critical thinkers. With technological advances automating many jobs now and in the future, a curriculum focused solely on knowledge and skill learning does not adequately prepare students. Because our curriculum is organised around conceptual understandings, it supports both the application and transfer of learning to near and far contexts. This means that students are supported to think laterally, creatively and in interdisciplinary ways. By making connection-building a core element of our curriculum design, students learn how to construct and justify their own ideas and opinions.