NEW SECONDARY CURRICULUM

11 July 2007

Commenting on the new secondary curriculum Steve Sinnott, General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers Britain’s largest teaching union said:

“I welcome the new national secondary curriculum. If teachers feel that they have far greater flexibility and creativity in teaching the curriculum then all young people will benefit from it.

“Although rightly English and mathematics retain greater detail than the other subjects, I would not want secondary teachers to get the message that what they are being asked to accept is a new narrower curriculum. Youngsters need to understand the world they are entering. The curriculum needs to reflect this.

“The new approaches to personal and economic well being, financial capability and cooking for example, are all non-statutory. Yet if these subjects are to flourish then teachers need the time and space to teach them. 

“Ed Balls was right to say in his House of Commons statement that he backed teachers. His proposal to expand personalised learning should lead to teachers feeling that they can be far more trusted in their professional judgements. That is the message that should go out to all secondary teachers with the launch of this new curriculum.

“I welcome the decision by Ed Balls to respond positively to the NUT’s request that an extra training day should be granted to all secondary teachers to consider these changes”.