Ahead of hosting a workshop at the COBIS Annual Conference, we sat down with Abigail Barnett – Cambridge's Director of Curriculum for ages 3-19. In this interview, Abbi talks about her career journey, opens up about the teaching experiences that still shape her thinking, and shares why Cambridge will continue to emphasise the importance of knowledge alongside skills development.

Q: Can you tell us about your career journey?

I started out as an English teacher at a secondary school in England, and over time took on responsibility for whole school literacy. I’d always been interested in living and working abroad, and the international opportunities open to teachers had been a driving factor in my decision to build a career in teaching. I was fortunate to get a job at an international school in Bangkok and worked there for five years.

Teaching in Thailand was a brilliant experience. My colleagues had been trained in all sorts of different contexts, and across the student population there were over 50 nationalities. It made me really examine my teaching practice.

When I came back to the UK, I initially took on a local government advisory role supporting schools on English and literacy. When we moved to the Cambridge area, I briefly returned to teaching but realised it wasn’t the right career for me anymore – and I had the opportunity to join Cambridge’s international curriculum development team for an initial six-month project. Fifteen years later I’m still here and now leading the development of our international curriculum for students aged 3-19. It’s a fantastic privilege.

Q. Are there any experiences from your teaching days that still shape your thinking?

Yes absolutely. I had done all my education – school and university - in the UK, and that can lead you to think that the way you learned is the way to do things. Working in Thailand really opened my eyes and showed me that there are many ways to approach teaching and learning. It was liberating to see different ways to think about education, and that liberation made way for opportunities to experiment and freedom to do things differently.

Culturally, the students I taught came from quite contrasting learning environments. Some students were not used to discussions in class or questioning the teacher, so I learned how to question my usual assumptions and start from where my students were to build their confidence.

There was a big focus on supporting the whole child, and that’s still something that’s important to me today. Academic success is only part of the picture, and my time in Thailand showed me the importance of creating opportunities for students to get out of their comfort zone and challenge themselves. One time in Thailand we took students white water rafting – I was terrified, but I had to lead by example!

Q. How do you define ‘curriculum’ and what impacts it?

The word curriculum means many different things. Within my team, we are often focusing on the intended curriculum – what learners should be able to know, understand, and do as they go through their education. Part of our job is to define that as clearly as we can.

Alongside the intended curriculum we also need to consider the context in which the curriculum is taught - the classroom environment, and the school environment. Both the teacher and learner bring their values, beliefs, behaviours and motivations every day into the classroom and that impacts how they engage with the curriculum, too.

The curriculum can be defined as the totality of experiences a learner engages with, and by that definition, we’re really working in partnership with our teachers and schools to help prepare learners for the future

Q. How should curricula respond to change?

That’s an interesting question, and a prevailing focus right now. There are some subjects where the curriculum  responding to change is important – such as science, where research helps our understanding evolve and develop over time – but in other subjects, like maths, the evolution is in the way the subject is taught, for example, how teachers articulate the skills required to solve problems, rather than in the content of the subject.

One of the most interesting areas currently is how AI might change education, and for me this raises important questions around citizenship and decision-making. AI is forcing us to answer questions that until now have been theoretical and philosophical.

The example I like to use is driverless cars – if the car has a choice of crashing into two different people, one a baby and one a 70-year-old, what will it do? Somebody has to decide how to programme the car to make this decision. This example highlights the importance of preparing our learners to respond to the challenges AI raises, for example by developing their critical thinking skills and understanding of the principles that inform ethical and sound decision-making.

Q. What should we expect from your workshop?

We’re going to challenge the idea that knowledge and skills somehow need to fight each other for curriculum time by looking at the structures that help balance them optimally in a curriculum.

We’ll be sharing our work on knowledge and skills within the context of designing a high-quality international curriculum that prepares learners for the future. The workshop is also an opportunity for you to tell us what your school and students need from the curriculum, too. l’m looking forward to hearing your views on how we can help learners be ready for their futures and hope to see many of you there!

Join Abbi Barnett at our annual conference on 12 May at 11.00 to explore how we can develop learners' adaptability through a multi-disciplinary approach.

We are grateful to Cambridge for being the headline sponsors of the 43rd COBIS Annual Conference.