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have the names of the different government organisations regulating national policy.
Only a generation ago, teachers were broadly at liberty to make their own decisions about
what to teach and how to teach it. In fact, the freedom that teachers enjoyed to organise
learning in a way that suited the classroom circumstances was considered to be an
essential element of their professional autonomy. Since 1989, the National Curriculum
(NC) has operated in all state-maintained schools and many private ones in England,
Wales and Northern Ireland (through the Department of Education in Northern Ireland,
DENI).
In Scotland there are national, non-statutory guidelines for Scottish local authorities
and schools. They cover the structure, content and assessment of the curriculum in
primary schools and in the first two years of secondary education (ages 5 to 14 years).
The curriculum is divided into five broad areas: language, mathematics, environmental
studies, expressive arts, and religious and moral education. For each curricular area there
are broad attainment outcomes, each with a number of strands or aspects of learning that
pupils experience. The aim of the 5 14 programme is to promote the teaching of a broad,
coherent and balanced curriculum that offers all pupils continuity and progression as they
move through school. The curriculum in Scotland is not set by law. It is a flexible system
that places responsibility on individual education authorities and schools. National
guidelines direct teachers by describing the subject areas which are to be covered but they
do not give detailed instructions about exactly what and how these areas are to be taught
to pupils.
The reason for the introduction of national curricula is three-fold. First, to ensure that
learning is systematically structured and not randomly designed. Second, to ensure that
those children who move school are able to continue their education without repeating
work they have already covered. Third, to ensure that children s progress can be closely
monitored through national tests. There have been a number of versions of the NC for
England, Wales and Northern Ireland since 1989 and the present edition is referred to as
NC2000 to signify the year of its adoption. In particular, there has been considerable
emphasis upon the teaching of English (through literacy) and mathematics (through
numeracy). In 1999 a Foundation Stage curriculum was published for children aged 4
and 5 in nursery and reception classes.
Mathematics in the NC2000 has three elements for pupils aged 5 to 7 years: (1) using
and applying mathematics, (2) number and algebra, and (3) shape, space and measures. In
addition, children aged 7 to 11 have to study a fourth element: handling data. There are
also four elements in science: scientific enquiry, life processes and living things,
materials and their properties, and physical processes. All other (non-core) subjects have
a single element. Guidelines about personal, social and health education, and about
citizenship, are also provided in the NC document. At Key Stages 1 and 2 the
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knowledge, skills and understanding that all children should gain include developing
confidence and responsibility and making the most of their abilities, preparing an active
role as citizens, developing a healthy, safer lifestyle, good relationships and respecting
the differences between people.
National curricula are explicit about the overall aims and values of primary education
in that the school curriculum should aim to provide opportunities for all pupils to learn
and to achieve, promote pupils spiritual, moral, social and cultural development, and
prepare all pupils for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of life. In the UK
(with the exception of Scotland) the curriculum contains a common structure and design
for all subjects divided into Key Stages, for which there is a programme of study. This
programme sets out what has to be taught in the subject to equip children with the
necessary knowledge, skills and understanding and the context, activities, areas of study
and range of experiences through which learning should take place.
Together with the programmes of study, notes of guidance, definitions and links with
ICT and with other subject areas are appended. In addition there are attainment targets
for each subject, setting out all that pupils of different abilities and maturity are expected
to have gained by the end of each Key Stage. At the primary phase, each attainment
target consists of six level descriptions of increasing difficulty; at secondary school level
the number increases to eight. English has three attainment targets for children at Key
Stages 1 and 2: speaking and listening, reading and writing. Each level description
describes the types and range of understanding that pupils working at that level should
demonstrate. On the basis of children s attainments, teachers have to decide which
description best fits their performance. It is anticipated that the majority of children aged
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