Perspectives on the National Curriculum in Primary and Secondary Schools

Data on responses to the National Curriculum were gathered from personal interviews with a sample of 50 primary school head teachers, 304 primary class teachers and 223 secondary heads of department. In the primary schools concern centred around an anticipated increase in the level of assessment and record‐keeping and curriculum documentation. Increased levels of science and technology in the curriculum were also anticipated and these were the areas in which primary teachers felt in greatest need of support. In secondary schools changes were anticipated in individual subject curricula, especially in the fields of science and modem languages. The results suggest that there is great concentration in schools on a few specific areas of concern and that this may be at the expense of wider issues involved in the National Curriculum.