Curriculum policy driven more by ideology than an attempt to meet learning needs

20 December 2011

Commenting on the initial findings of the Review of the National Curriculum in England, Chris Keates, General Secretary of the NASUWT, the largest teachers' union, said:

"The National Curriculum should be seen as a common learning entitlement for all pupils, regardless of the type of school they attend.

"Notwithstanding the analysis of the Expert Panel commissioned to review the curriculum, the Coalition Government's grounds in initiating the Review in the first place have been somewhat suspect, to say the least.

"A new secondary curriculum was introduced in 2008 following extensive consultation with the profession and other stakeholders. However, before the impact of this new curriculum could be evaluated, it was dismissed as inadequate by the Secretary of State and earmarked for replacement.

"In the primary phase, a revised curriculum had been developed and was ready for implementation from September 2011, following the recommendations of the Review conducted by Sir Jim Rose which were, again, developed on the basis of extended consultation and engagement. However, the Coalition Government decided that, despite the wide-ranging and evidence-based nature of the Rose Review, the curriculum based on his model should be discarded.

"All of this indicates that the Coalition Government's curriculum policy is driven more by ideology and less by an attempt to meet the genuine learning needs of pupils.

"Indeed, the Secretary of State pre-empted his own review by announcing the E-Bacc and incorporating it into performance league tables.

"A common feature of announcements by the Secretary of State is the peddling of the myth that standards are declining. This announcement is no different.

"Almost every education policy statement is premised on misinformation designed to mislead parents and the public, in order to justify the changes proposed.

"By now it is hard to imagine that there is anyone left who takes seriously the Secretary of State's use of international data.

“It is now well understood that instead of using the information systematically and objectively to support developments in education, the Coalition Government continues its undignified scouring of the globe, cherry-picking parts of other countries education systems to justify the reforms it has already decided to introduce.

"There is one lesson, however, that the Secretary of State may wish to take from all the education systems he has identified today as examples of good practice: not one of them has undertaken any reform of the system based on the partial and ill-informed use of international data which he has turned into an art form.”

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