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.