National curriculum being ´dumbed down´

4-1-2010

National curriculum being 'dumbed down'

The drive to make subjects more "relevant" – combined with the introduction of increasing numbers of practical courses – meant many pupils were unable to "access the world of high culture, which could transform their lives", it was claimed.

A generation of schoolchildren is being failed because of the steady destruction of the traditional curriculum, according to research.

The drive to make subjects more "relevant" – combined with the introduction of increasing numbers of practical courses – meant many pupils were unable to "access the world of high culture, which could transform their lives", it was claimed.

Prof David Conway, senior research fellow at the think-tank Civitas, said the trend had been fuelled by a rise in high-stakes tests, an overly-bureaucratic inspection regime and excessively prescriptive syllabuses in English schools.

He said repeated attempts to "weaken the academic basis of the curriculum" – a backbone of the education system since the mid-1800s – had widened the gap between rich and poor pupils.

"All these changes to the national curriculum are progressively making it ever less academic," said the Civitas report.

The comments follow the publication of a major review of primary schools by Cambridge University that found key subjects had been "squeezed out" of the curriculum by a focus on testing.

In the latest study, Prof Conway, emeritus professor of philosophy at Middlesex University, tracked the development of the curriculum over the last 140 years.

He said there had been agreement among educationists for more than a century that all children – not just elite grammar and independent school pupils – should learn a core curriculum. This includes subjects such as English, mathematics, science, geography, history and foreign languages.

But he said that in recent years the accepted curriculum had come under sustained attack from the Government, academics and teaching unions.

His study – Liberal Education and the National Curriculum – said: “In an endeavour to make schooling of greater interest and appeal to less academically inclined schoolchildren, several changes have been or are about to be made to the national curriculum. These are all steadily undermining its previously academic subject-based character.”

He cited the introduction of citizenship as a compulsory subject in 2000. It is intended to teach children about their rights and responsibilities, immigration, British identity, the justice system and modern democracy.

From September 2011, schools in England will also have to teach personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE) which will include lessons about the dangers of drugs, managing money and sex education.

Prof Conway said the drive for “relevance” had also led to a significant increase in the number of skills-based courses. This includes a new wave of Government-backed diplomas in subjects such as hair and beauty, media, engineering and health. Ministers have said that diplomas for 14- to 19-year-olds could eventually replace GCSEs and A-levels.

In a further development, Labour has announced a new curriculum will be introduced in English primary schools this year that will remove traditional subject headings to allow staff to teach by "theme".

Civitas said the retreat from traditional subjects was leading to a decline in social mobility.

“These children will be unable to access the world of high culture, which could transform their lives, because teachers have decided that they should not be challenged by anything beyond the scope of their immediate experience,” the study said.

Prof Conway added: “State schools only need freeing from excessive testing, an overly bureaucratised regime of inspection, and excessively prescriptive programmes of study, to be able once again to make provision of liberal education their central purpose.”

But a spokesman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families said: “Children sit just one set of national tests between starting primary school and taking their GCSEs, and we simply don’t agree that this amounts to ‘excessive testing’.

"It’s absolutely right that children get a broad education and our brand new primary curriculum – with overwhelming support from teachers – will not only teach pupils subjects like art, science and history, but will also help them develop the essential literacy, numeracy and social skills they will need for life.” (Education News)