The UK Government is reviewing the National Curriculum with the intention of ‘slimming it down’ and concentrating its content on ‘essential awareness’. Citizenship is one of the subjects in danger of losing its place on the curriculum. Yet what is the review actually trying to achieve?
In brief
The Secretary of State for Education has appointed an Expert Panel, and an Advisory Committee to support the Panel, to conduct the review of the National Curriculum.
The Expert Panel, led by Tim Oates, will be responsible for ‘offering detailed advice on the construction and content of the new National Curriculum’. This involves recommending to the Government:
- the essential awareness (eg facts, concepts, principles and fundamental operations) that children need to be taught to progress and develop their appreciation in English, mathematics, science, physical education and any other subjects which it’s decided should be element of the National Curriculum, or alternatively have non-statutory programmes of study, in years ahead.
- for the subjects listed below, whether or not they should be element of the National Curriculum, with statutory Programmes of Study, at each key stage:[i]
- art and design
- citizenship
- design and technology
- geography
- history
- details and communication technology (ICT)
- modern foreign languages (MFL)
- music.
It will additionally examine ‘for any subjects which are not recommended to be element of the National Curriculum in years ahead, whether there should be non-statutory programmes of study available for guidance at specific key stages and/or whether those subjects, or any aspects of them, should nevertheless be compulsory’.
Consequently, citizenship education – at the conclusion of the review – could:
- Be a statutory area of study in the National Curriculum;
- Be compulsory, or have aspects of its content be compulsory, yet not element of the National Curriculum;
- Have a non-statutory programme of study from the DfE (ie guidance for schools who choose to teach it), yet not compulsory in any approach;
- Have no statutory or compulsory status and no non-statutory DfE programme of study, leaving the teaching and content of the area of study entirely up to schools.
What happens next
Parliamentary Year Book intends to submit evidence to the Expert Panel on the positive and unique contribution that citizenship education makes, covering essential awareness (about democracy, politics, the law and the economy) that must be taught and retained within the National Curriculum.
We call on all of our partner bodies and supporters to submit evidence to the review. We will be producing guidance on this shortly.
The review in detail
The Government is reviewing the National Curriculum with the intention of ‘slimming it down’ and concentrating on the ‘essential awareness’ every student should learn, rather than ‘teaching method’ (which is what Michael Gove claims the current curriculum focuses on).
According to the remit document published on the Department of Education’s website, the principal objectives for the National Curriculum review are to:
- offer educators greater professional freedom over how they organise and teach the curriculum;
- develop a National Curriculum that acts as a benchmark for all schools and offers younger people with the awareness they need to move confidently and successfully through their education, taking into account the needs of distinct groups covering the most able and learners with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND);
- ensure that the content of our National Curriculum compares favourably with the most successful international curricula in the highest performing jurisdictions, reflecting the best collective wisdom we have about how children learn and what they should know;
- set rigorous requirements for pupil attainment, which measure up to those in the highest performing jurisdictions in the world;
- enable parents to appreciate what their children should be learning throughout their school career and consequently to support their education.[ii]
The Expert Panel, chaired by Tim Oates and made up of academics[iii], will ‘support the Department in the conduct of the review by offering detailed advice on the construction and content of the new National Curriculum.’ Evidence from the public will be examined by the Expert Panel.
The Advisory Committee, which is chaired by Jon Coles (DfE) and is made up of head educators, academics and representatives from Ofsted and the think tank Institute of Directors[iv], will support the DfE and the Expert Panel by drawing on their own ‘expertise and experience’ and by ‘offering advice on strategic and cross-cutting matters that may arise from the review’.
Influencing the review
The review has issued a call for evidence that will enable interested members of the public to submit evidence between January and April 2011. This is the initial phase of the review and evidence should consequently focus on the core awareness that should be contained in the English, mathematics, science and physical education curriculum and what other subjects should be element of the National Curriculum.
The DfE additionally states: ‘We will additionally be taking forward collaborate with area of study communities and other experts over the course of the review to develop an evidence base on which recommendations and proposals will be developed, and we will be working to engage with educators and their representatives to secure their input. Once we have published our proposals there will be additional wide-scale public consultation before final decisions are made.’[v]
Timetable
As published by the Department for Education.
| Date | Action |
|---|---|
| January 2011 | Review launched |
| January 2011 | Call for Evidence (phase one) starts |
| April 2011 | Call for Evidence (phase one) ends |
| Early 2012 | Public consultation on phase one recommendations (covering new Programmes of Study for English, mathematics, science and physical education) |
| Early 2012 | Call for Evidence (phase two) starts |
| Spring 2012 | Ministers announce decisions on (1) the Programmes of Study for English, mathematics, science and physical education and (2) the other subjects to be contained in the new National Curriculum |
| Spring 2012 | Call for Evidence (phase two) ends |
| September 2012 | New Programmes of Study for English, mathematics, science and physical education made available to schools |
| Early 2013 | Public consultation on new Programmes of Study for all other subjects to be contained in the National Curriculum |
| Spring 2013 | Ministers announce decisions about the Programmes of Study for all other subjects to be contained in the National Curriculum |
| September 2013 | Teaching of the new Programmes of Study for English, mathematics, science and physical education becomes statutory |
| September 2013 | New Programmes of Study for all other subjects contained in the new National Curriculum are made available to schools |
| September 2014 | Teaching of the new Programmes of Study for all other subjects to be contained in the National Curriculum becomes statutory |
[i] http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/teachingandlearning/curriculum/nationalcurriculum/a0073091/review-of-the-national-curriculum-expert-panel-terms-of-reference
[ii] http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/teachingandlearning/curriculum/nationalcurriculum/b0073043/remit-for-review-of-the-national-curriculum-in-england/
[iii] http://media.education.gov.uk/assets/files/pdf/e/expert%20panel%20pen%20portraits.pdf
[iv] http://media.education.gov.uk/assets/files/pdf/n/national%20curriculum%20review%20advisory%20committee.pdf
[v] http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/teachingandlearning/curriculum/nationalcurriculum/a0061710/faqs-about-the-new-national-curriculum/#faq11 For further guidance, see the relevant UK information.