Abstract:

Curriculum transformation has become one of the most ubiquitous phrases in HE. It features in strategies, enhancement plans, and countless internal conversations. Yet for all the talk, many colleagues struggle to describe what transformation looks like in practice. It is a phrase so over-used that it has almost begun to lose meaning. For many, the experience feels less like a bold reimagining of education and more like Groundhog Day - a loop of reform, refresh, and reinvention that rarely settles into lasting change. When the sector revisits similar problems with similar solutions, it becomes increasingly difficult to know whether we are transforming or simply rebooting an old narrative with new packaging. We talk about changing the curriculum, but how often do we change the culture, the behaviours, and the conditions that shape it? Are we truly transforming, or simply rebooting the same story with a new title?

This presentation uses a novel film-inspired narrative (references include Speed, Dead Poets Society, Lost in Translation, Groundhog Day amongst others) to explore what genuine transformation could look like if universities approached it as a new script rather than a sequel. Transformation cannot be achieved through templates, restructured modules or new approval routes alone. It relies on shifting culture, building capability, empowering teams, supporting professional growth, and measuring the things that genuinely matter to learning. Without this deeper work, any curriculum redesign - however ambitious - will eventually repeat familiar patterns.

Drawing on pioneering work from the University of Portsmouth, the presentation will show how aligning culture, learning design frameworks, staff development, and academic support can create the foundations for long-term change. The presentation will unpack five core principles that, taken together, offer a realistic and grounded model for long-term curriculum transformation: changing culture, empowering teams, developing capability, supporting professional growth, and measuring what matters. Examples include the University's Teach Well framework, the enABLe learning design model, new collaborative approaches to assessment design, integrating AI, and structured support for capability building. These are not presented as perfect solutions, but as practical illustrations of what can happen when culture and curriculum are developed together.

At the heart of this argument is a simple proposition: transformation does not begin with structures, documents or templates. It begins with culture. You cannot transform a curriculum without transforming the environment it emerges from. When culture remains static, curriculum change becomes cosmetic; when culture shifts, curriculum change becomes inevitable. This session aims to encourage colleagues to pause, rethink what transformation means in their own context, and reflect on the role they play in shaping that journey. The sector does not need another reboot - and our students deserve more than a sequel.

This is Curriculum: Endgame. The mission starts now, if you choose to accept it.

Outcomes:
- Distinguish genuine curriculum transformation from routine cycles of change.
- Apply practical strategies that support long-term, sustainable curriculum development.
- Reflect on their own role as an educational change-maker and how they can influence transformation within their institution.

Keywords:

Transformation, culture, strategy, education, innovation.