The impact of a National Curriculum development on teaching and learning behaviours

A study of science classroom behaviours reported by Eggleston et al. (1976) was replicated in 60 secondary school classrooms where the National Curriculum was being followed. Key teacher and pupil characteristics were matched across the two samples, and it was suggested that curriculum change was the most likely factor influencing changes in the teaching and learning processes which were observed. It was found that there was more emphasis upon lower‐order intellectual skills in classrooms where the National Curriculum was being studied. There were also fewer speculative behaviours and fewer behaviours concerned with experimentation. It was shown that a less effective informational instructional strategy was more popular with teachers implementing the National Curriculum, and that instructional strategies which involved practical work were less frequently employed. Participating teachers were asked to give possible reasons for these changes, and it was suggested by many of them that an overburdened curriculum may be a significant factor influencing their choice of teaching and learning strategies. It was suggested that this problem would only be resolved if the informational content of the National Curriculum was reduced, perhaps by focusing upon those key concepts which Bruner (1961) has described as constituting the structureof the discipline.     

Education for Diversity in a Multisexual Society: Negotiating the contradictions of contemporary discourse

In spite of recent significant changes to the National Curriculum in England and Wales, including the introduction of personal, social and health education and citizenship, the subjects of sexuality and sexual identity remain virtually untouched in English primary and secondary schools. While diversity of sexual orientation is acknowledged in new government guidance on sex and relationship education, it receives no explicit recognition elsewhere in the curriculum. In this article, the author examines the current social, political and legal context within which this curriculum is situated, and its often contradictory intersections with popular culture. Drawing on current research into sexuality, gender construction and heteronormative forces in education, the author outlines a complex and contradictory network of forces which simultaneously exploit and undermine non-heterosexual lifestyles and relationships, and examines the way in which these discourses permeate both the school and wider society. The author considers ways in which these intersections and contradictions might be used as a means of challenging compulsory heterosexuality within and beyond the school.     

Beyond Economic and Industrial Understanding: An economic perspective in the primary curriculum

Abstract

In the fashioning of the National Curriculum on a subject basis, Economic and Industrial Understanding (EIU) emerged as one of the ‘cross‐curricular themes’ intended to impart some coherence and social purpose to the whole curriculum. In this way, attention was focused on Economics, which is not one of the National Curriculum foundation subjects. However, Economics is not only linked in the primary curriculum with Industry, but should also constitute one of a series of necessary perspectives on the children's world, all of which, together with moral and social understanding, they should learn to apply as they learn to live in that world. Before institutional education developed, this economic perspective was central to life, and is still indispensable and should be progressively fostered within a flexible curriculum as children grow. It necessarily involves problems and controversies, but the recognition of, and engagement with, such matters is itself an important part of social education. Due, but not unthinking or excessive, attention should be paid to ah economic perspective in its own right, in any simplification and revision of the National Curriculum in the primary phase.     

The impact of the National Curriculum on twelve special schools in England

Abstract

The National Curriculum represents one of the most significant UK educational reforms of this century. However, it was planned and introduced with little reference to pupils with special needs, particularly those attending special schools or units. Alongside pragmatic responses to the implementation of the National Curriculum in special education, there has been a lively and continuing debate about its appropriateness, in principle, for pupils in special schools. This paper reports data derived from interviews with headteachers of twelve special schools (encompassing three distinct special needs groups). Continuities of view, notably an acceptance of the principle of a national curriculum for all pupils, are discussed. Divergent Views reflected an adherence to equality or individuality as underlying educational principles. The findings are placed in two contexts: first, the process of curriculum change, and second, the links between integration and curricular conformity as reflected in some European special education literature.     

Does what you study at age 14–16 matter for educational transitions post-16?

Abstract

This paper considers whether subject choice at 14–16 influences post-16 transitions, taking into account prior academic attainment and school characteristics, and if so, whether this accounts for socioeconomic, gender, and ethnic differences in access to post-16 education. We consider post-16 progression to full-time education, A-levels, and studying two or more facilitating subjects at A-level. We use ‘Next Steps’, a study of 16,000 people born in England in 1989–1990, linked to administrative education records (the National Pupil Database). We find that students pursuing an EBacc-eligible curriculum at 14–16 had a greater probability of progression to all post-16 educational outcomes, while the reverse was true for students taking an applied GCSE subject. Curriculum differences did not explain the social class differences in post-16 progression, but an academic curriculum was equally valuable for working-class as for middle-class pupils. Pursuing an EBacc-eligible curriculum particularly strongly increased the chances of girls and white young people staying in the educational pipeline, whereas applied subjects were particularly detrimental for girls. An EBacc-eligible curriculum at age 14–16 increased the chances of studying subjects preferred by Russell Group universities at A-level.     

Primary teachers’ self‐perceptions concerning implementation of the National Curriculum for science in the UK

This paper reports on selected aspects of data, with special reference to science, derived from a survey of primary school teachers as part of the Leverhulme Primary Project at the University of Exeter.

A national sample of teachers (N = 901) across 152 schools was surveyed in order to ascertain teachers’ perceptions of competence and needs with respect to the new National Curriculum in the UK. Initially, data were collected in relation to ten subject areas and generic teaching skills, with provision made for free‐form responses concerning National Curriculum implementation.

Selected aspects of these data, principally related to the National Curriculum core area of science, were subjected to detailed further analysis and are reported. Variables identified from the survey findings, and of concern to science educators, included early subject specialism, years of teaching and gender. These were probed for relationships and significance. The tension between competing National Curriculum requirements for specialist subject knowledge and generalist teaching skills was explored.

Findings have implications for innovation in approaches to staff development to cater for perceived needs, teacher educators and curriculum alignment.     

Whatever happened to entitlement in the National Curriculum?

ABSTRACT

In this article I recount the origins of the concept of entitlement in relation to the com‐ pulsory curriculum, particularly the government position (DES, 1987) as stated in the proposal for a National Curriculum. I suggest that the term ‘entitlement’ was then in clanger of being little more than a legitimating shibboleth, employed to lend authority to an educational programme that was substantially political rather than educational. With reference to my own doctoral research, and to subsequent National Curriculum developments, I observe that the passing of a decade has lent weight to this view, even as Sir Ron Dearing's major review (SCAA, 1994) continued to make various claims for entitlement being conveyed upon children.     

‘From OBE to C2005 to RNCS’: Are we still on track?

Abstract

There is a general lack of understanding about the interrelationship between outcomes-based education (OBE), Curriculum 2005 (C2005) and the revised National Curriculum Statement (RNCS). There is a tendency to perceive the three as different and distinct entities. This stems from the belief that the transformation of education in South Africa followed the pattern of ‘from OBE to C2005 to the RNCS’, and that this movement or shift is exclusive in the sense that each step in this chain or progression is totally new and independent of the previous one. Based on this, the author is apprehensive as to whether the RNCS will be implemented as envisaged. The fault may lie with the teachers themselves as a result of acquired prejudices and anxieties, the manner in which the Department of Education (DoE) conducts its advocacy campaigns or the teacher training institutions’ curricula.

This article looks at teachers’ understanding of this evolutionary sequence, ‘from OBE to C2005 to RNCS’; and relates it to the intention to stay on track for the purposes of educational transformation and the implementation of the RNCS.     

Factors Influencing the Delivery of information technology in the Secondary Curriculum: a case study

ABSTRACT

This is a report of a single school case study in the United Kingdom in which the entire staff contributed to the results. The study centres on a survey of staff attitudes towards information technology (IT). The study finds that the majority of staff accept the National Curriculum directives to teach information technology across the curriculum and acknowledge the value of information technology within the curriculum. However, many staff lack the confidence and skills to deliver information technology within their subjects. Training is seen to be a major requirement and in‐school training is highly valued and preferred.     

Universal themes

In this article, the author proposes a model for teaching Art across Key Stages 1 to 3, which takes the concept of ‘Universal Themes’ as its central focus. He welcomes the emphasis on ideas, meanings and communications contained within the new National Curriculum 2000 document for Art & Design. He also describes examples of how schools might develop their teaching of art through this approach in order to re-animate the practical curriculum.     

From teaching to learning

ABSTRACT

This paper looks at the idea of teacher assessment and its history in relation to the English and Welsh National Curriculum since 1987. The author argues that the way it has been understood and used is ‘almost infinitely flexible’. Furthermore, he suggests that government attempts to cement in place one accepted definition have simply caused confusion. In particular, he shows how some definitions conflate formative and summative purposes. As a result assessment which is central to teaching and learning has become a disputed area of classroom practice and teachers are therefore less positive about its usefulness.     

Boys and their reading: Conceptionsof young people about the successof the full on magazine

ABSTRACT

Design and technology is a relatively new subject in the National Curriculum for England and Wales. This paper presents a theoretical consideration of design and technology and argues that it has the potential to provide a classroom context which encourages critical thinking and analytical competence in pupils. This claim is based on the view that design and technology requires a type of classroom interaction that is different from that most commonly practised in our schools, both primary and secondary. Learning in design and technology depends upon collaboration between teacher and pupils, and between the pupils themselves, and as such is ideally suited to the development of collaborative learning, a method of learning which encourages decision making after a period of critical enquiry and experimentation. We further argue that the successful implementation of the design and technology curriculum hinges upon the development of classroom talk, because talk plays the central role in the development of critical thinking, reflection and evaluation, all important features of design and technology.     

Beyond Vocationalism: A new perspective on the relationship between work and education∗

Abstract

This paper attempts to show how recent developments in prevocational and vocational education can be brought together with some of the demands of the National Curriculum which concentrate on academic subjects. It proposes an integration of the expertise and understanding of work in the curriculum of all pupils by putting forward a new perspective: Vocational Aspects of Academic Learning (VAAL).

     

Community,culture and identity: geography,the National Curriculum and Wales

ABSTRACT

The 1988 Education Reform Act legislated for a National Curriculum not for one nation but for two, Wales and England. This article reviews the way in which attempts to develop a distinctive curriculum in Wales for one subject, geography, were thwarted by the dominance among key policy‐makers in England of views about the study of place which were unsympathetic to the idea of the school curriculum being a vehicle for the development of a sense of community and national identity. Drawing on evidence from a survey of secondary school geography teachers in Wales, it considers the extent to which the teaching of geography is seen by teachers as a means of achieving such educational goals.     

All the Nines: Creativity in English Curricula in England in 1919, 1989 and 2019 as a Reflection of Britain’s Place in Europe

ABSTRACT

Just after the First World War the English Association published The Teaching of English in Schools. It argues that developing children’s ‘creative spirit’ is fundamental to maintaining peace in Europe. Seventy years later, the first National Curriculum promotes a creative, unitary English appropriate for ‘a European context’.

In contrast, today’s national curriculum contains no reference to the role of English in international relations; simultaneously, all references to creativity have disappeared.

As Britain struggles to cope with the fallout from Brexit, this paper – written from a hermeneutic perspective – discusses the correlation between how each of the three documents positions English in an international context and how they value creativity. Without wishing to over–simplify complex issues, it questions how to what extent a curriculum might echo or shape national politics. It calls for a new curriculum that embraces a creative, internationalist view of English to inspire communities of the future.     

The role of powerful pedagogical strategies in curriculum development

Despite the frenetic pace of curriculum change in England and Wales it is highly questionable to what extent classrooms have changed since the inception of the National Curriculum, as little attention has been paid to teacher development. This article describes a human-scale approach to professional and curriculum development that relies upon powerful pedagogical strategies. The characteristics and popularity of these strategies are described. The model developed in the study of Effective Teachers of Numeracy (Askew et al., 1997) is used to explain how the use of the strategies can lead to professional and curriculum development. Particular attention is paid, through the reflective accounts of teachers who have used the strategies, to the role of pupil response in accelerating change. Finally the article discusses the way in which the strategies accord with much of what is known about how teachers plan.     

Beliefs and attitudes about assessment of a sample of student teachers in South Africa

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to take the first steps in a long-term approach to helping South African teachers understand and respond to government demands that they change their assessment practices. Specifically, it attempted to identify the beliefs, perceptions and attitudes about assessment that student teachers bring with them to courses that are designed to equip them to teach in ways that are consistent with current curriculum trends in South Africa. The study attempted to answer the following research questions: are student teachers’ beliefs about assessment consistent with the approaches to assessment advocated in the South African Revised National Curriculum Statement? Are student teachers’ beliefs about assessment consistent with the basic principles of outcomes-based education? The results indicated broad general agreement between student teachers’ beliefs about assessment and the principles of assessment espoused in the Revised National Curriculum Statement. However, there was evidence that the beliefs of some of the subjects were inconsistent with these principles.     

试论国家课程的作用与特点－－以英格兰国家课程为例

英格兰正在实施的新国家课程力求对国家课程自开始之日起就纠缠不清的几个问题进行梳理和明确，以使教育适应21世纪对自身提出的挑战。它给予我国正在进行的新一轮基础教育课程改革的启示在于：1.国家课程要想取得成功，必须使学校既能从长计议，形成和提升学生恒久性的价值观念，又能对现实中出现的经济和社会变迁积极应对；2.新的国家课程在形成过程中应有教师的高度参与，教师须持有清晰的课程理念；3.跨学科学习主题应在国家课程中有所体现。     

Editorial

The National Curriculum of primary schools in England and Wales sets out the statutory and non-statutory requirements for teachers. It describes the aims and goals it aspires to achieve and the content of its subjects. In this article I suggest that the statutory and non-statutory guidelines of the National Curriculum present conceptually different goals in relation to the holistic development of a student. The first section discusses the two basic aims of the curriculum, their recommended implementation and the implications they have upon the curriculum. I specifically emphasize that ‘statutory’ guidelines represent information-based knowledge and that the ‘nonstatutory’ guidelines treat value-based issues. This division of roles creates difficulties in implementing the non-statutory part of the curriculum. In the second section I demonstrate this division by using education for sustainable development as a focal point. I conclude by highlighting important issues for education and, more particularly, for education for sustainable development.