Memorandum submitted by DEA
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
— There should be a flexible National
Curriculum to set the aims, minimum standards and to bring coherence.
— Government must value and support
teacher creativity.
— There should be a greater focus on
preparing young people to live in a fast changing and globalised
world.
— Government needs to stop micro-managing
schools. The National Curriculum is undermined by the constant
imposition of disparate, unconnected initiatives and by over-testing
to narrow targets.
DEA
1. DEA promotes "education for a
just and sustainable world" and sees this as implying "education
that puts learning in a global context, fostering critical and
creative thinking; self-awareness and open-mindedness towards
difference; understanding of global issues and power relationships;
and action and optimism for a better world". DEA is a charity
and has a network of member organisations working directly with
schools.
ANALYSIS AND
RECOMMENDATIONS
2. The recent Secondary National Curriculum
review has been positive, particularly because it has made the
curriculum more flexible with a stronger focus on the global dimension
and sustainable development. This new curriculum will be undermined
if the Government continues to impose disparate, unconnected initiatives
and narrow centralised targets (and corresponding centralised
managerialism) which do not complement the opportunities presented
by this curriculum.
3. The literacy and numeracy strategies
seem to override the National Curriculum when it comes to prioritising
within schools. In order to be effective, the National Curriculum
should provide a framework for other initiatives. There must be
space and support for literacy and numeracy to be taught in innovative
and flexible ways that contribute to the broader aims of education
and that engage children, rather than for them to crowd out such
broader aims.
4. We welcome the fact that the new secondary
curriculum is aims led. Consideration of what schools are for
is often lost in debates about "effectiveness" in education.
The purpose of the National Curriculum cannot be considered without
consideration of the purpose of schools. DEA promotes "education
for a just and sustainable world" which, in our view, implies
education that puts learning in a global context, fostering critical
and creative thinking; self-awareness and open-mindedness towards
difference; understanding of global issues and power relationships;
and action and optimism for a better world. Both the aims of the
new secondary curriculum and the Every Child Matters outcomes
are framed as aspirations for individual pupils. This is fine
for implementation purposes but we need to ensure that this individualistic
focus does not stifle debate about the relationship between education
and society.
5. We welcome the reducing of prescription
and promoting of creativity, as indicated by the new secondary
curriculum. However, such a big change requires flexible support
particularly for teachers and senior managers. Many teachers have
not taught without a narrow National Curriculum (in fact some
were not even pupils without the National Curriculum), They are
not, therefore, necessarily experienced in curriculum development.
They do not need a "one size fits all strategy" but
flexible continuing professional development that supports teachers
to work together and values teachers' own creativity.
6. We welcome Lord Goldsmith's recommendation
that Citizenship should be statutory in primary schools. It will
need considerable support in order to be implemented well. Support
should be integrated with other initiatives, for example, completion
of the Citizenship Continuing Professional Development programme
should contribute towards the proposed Masters in Teaching and
Learning.
7. We are concerned that the remit for Sir
Jim Rose's review of the primary curriculum explicitly rules out
consideration of the assessment and testing regime as these determine
the parts of the curriculum which are in practice focused upon.
8. When part of QCA becomes a development
agency rather than an authority, it is important that it should
not become any less independent from government. We are concerned
that government may want to use the splitting of QCA to have a
greater say in the detail of curriculum development and support.
QCA's current status recognises its educational expertise and
reduces constant change in the National Curriculum. QCA is better
placed than the Government for the important task of consulting
teachers and other educators on the development of the National
Curriculum.
9. There is often a lack of clarity amongst
teachers as to what is statutory and what is "guidance".
10. The DEA will be producing a Policy Manifesto
later in the year putting forward policy recommendations for education
for a just and sustainable world which will address these questions
in more detail.
March 2008
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