Gates Foundation to invest millions in training teachers on curriculum

One of the world’s biggest education charities is set to invest millions of dollars to support the delivery of a “high-quality curriculum” in US schools.The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation plans to award six to ten grants of up to $1 million each for partnerships to provide professional learning to teachers in the US.The investment comes as the focus on curriculum in England's schools is increasing. Ofsted aims to put what is taught at the heart of its new inspection framework.The new funding announced by the Gates’ foundation is part of a broader attempt by the charity to research curriculum design and provide “availability and awareness of high-quality curriculum and instructional tools”.A report in the US publication Education Week says the new announcement is “likely to attract attention for inching closer to the perennially touchy issue of what students learn every day at school.”Bob Hughes, an education director at the foundation, told Education Week that the grants will be used to help share approaches that work.