By TeacherPaddy · Last updated
What is a Scheme of Learning?
A Scheme of Learning is a plan for teaching one subject over a long period, usually a term or a whole school year. It shows what will be taught in each week, in what order, with which resources, and how learning will be checked. Teachers in Ghana's basic schools commonly prepare a Yearly Scheme and a Term Scheme for each subject from the standards-based curriculum. Schools differ in the exact layout they ask for, so check what your head teacher expects.
What teachers use it for
- Seeing the whole term at once, so the content fits the weeks available.
- Teaching topics in a sensible order, where each week builds on the one before.
- Preparing resources early instead of the night before a lesson.
- Writing weekly plans quickly, because each week's content is already decided.
- Showing a head teacher or supervisor what will be covered, and tracking what has been.
Scheme of Learning, weekly plan and lesson note: the difference
| Document | Covers | Answers the question |
|---|---|---|
| Yearly Scheme | One subject, the whole school year | Which parts of the curriculum are taught in which term and week? |
| Term Scheme | One subject, one term | What exactly is taught each week this term, with what resources? |
| Weekly Learner Plan | One subject, one week | How will each lesson this week run, and how will learning be checked? |
Many teachers call the weekly plan their "lesson notes". Whatever the name, the scheme comes first: it decides the content, and the weekly plan decides how to teach it.
What to include in a scheme
- Week: the week number, with holidays, revision and examination weeks marked.
- Strand and sub-strand: the curriculum's broad area and topic for that week.
- Content standard and indicators: the curriculum's codes for what learners should know and be able to do (see how indicator codes work).
- Resources: the teaching and learning materials you will need.
- Assessment: how you will check learning that week, even briefly.
- Remarks: space to note what was covered and what needs to move.
How to structure it week by week
- Count the real teaching weeks in the term, leaving out holidays, mid-term break and examination weeks.
- List the curriculum content for the term in the curriculum's order.
- Spread the content across the teaching weeks, giving more time to harder or bigger topics.
- Plan revision before examinations, and leave a little space for catching up.
- Add resources and an assessment idea for every week.
The term planning guide covers these steps in more detail, and the sample Scheme of Learning shows a finished example.
Common mistakes
- Putting too much into one week and leaving the last weeks empty, or the reverse.
- Forgetting public holidays, school events and examination weeks.
- Copying last year's scheme without checking it against the curriculum version your school uses now.
- Writing codes from memory instead of from the curriculum document, so they do not match.
- Leaving out resources and assessment, so the scheme does not help with weekly planning.
How TeacherPaddy helps
TeacherPaddy builds the Yearly Scheme and the Term Scheme for each subject from the curriculum and your term dates, with the official codes in the curriculum's order, and without AI. You can then turn each week into a Weekly Learner Plan. The Teacher, Term and Power packs include the scheme downloads; see pricing.