National Curriculum (England)

Michael Gove Excerpts

Thursday 20th January 2011 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for Education (Michael Gove)]

I am today announcing the Government’s intention to review the national curriculum for both primary and secondary pupils in England.

It is my ambition to reduce unnecessary prescription, bureaucracy and central control throughout the education system. That means taking a new approach to the curriculum.

The Government believe that it is teachers, not Ministers and civil servants, who know best how to teach. We must give our teachers more time and space to create lessons that engage their pupils and enable students to fulfil their potential. The national curriculum will be slimmed down so that it properly reflects the body of essential knowledge which children should learn. Individual schools should have greater freedom to construct their own programmes of study and develop approaches to learning and study which help us to catch up with high-performing education nations.

It is important to distinguish between the national curriculum and the wider school curriculum. The national curriculum was originally envisaged as a guide to study in key subjects which would give parents and teachers confidence that students were acquiring the knowledge necessary at every level to make appropriate progress. But as it has developed, the national curriculum has come to cover more subjects, prescribe more outcomes and take up more school time than originally intended. Reforms to the national curriculum that have been introduced in recent years, such as the inclusion of skills development and the promotion of generic dispositions, have also distorted the core function of the national curriculum and diluted the importance of subject knowledge. International surveys of educational achievement show that in the same period our standing has declined.

The review will therefore revise the national curriculum in line with the best international practice so that it sets out clearly the essential knowledge that all children should be expected to acquire in key subjects during the course of their school career. The new national curriculum should embody for all children in England their cultural and scientific inheritance, enhance their understanding of the world around them and introduce them to the best that has been thought and written. I intend to ensure that our national curriculum is informed by the best international practice, as well as evidence about the knowledge children need to deepen their understanding at each stage of their education.

The Government recognise that there are a number of important components of a broad and balanced education for which it would be inappropriate to prescribe national programmes of study. This applies, for example, in the case of religious education, where what is taught needs to reflect local circumstances. Religious education will not, therefore, be considered as part of the review of the national curriculum. The Government do not intend to make any changes to the statutory basis for religious education.

Similar considerations apply to PSHE (personal, social, health and economic) education. The Government recognise however that good PSHE education supports individual young people to make safe and informed choices but that often schools need more support and help in the way that they cover the important topics that are dealt within PSHE education, including sex and relationships education. We will therefore conduct a separate internal review to determine how we can support schools to improve the quality of all PSHE teaching, so that teachers are in a stronger position to deliver appropriate PSHE education.

The new national curriculum will represent a standard against which all schools can be judged. It will be a national benchmark, to provide parents with an understanding of what progress they should expect. It will inform the content of core qualifications, and it will inform the new basis of assessment in primary schools. Academies will retain the freedom to disapply the national curriculum, but it is crucial that we have a national curriculum against which all schools can measure themselves

The new national curriculum will begin to be taught in maintained schools from September 2013. In order to allow schools time to manage the transition to the new curriculum effectively, the new programmes of study for English, mathematics, science, and physical education will be introduced from 2013, with programmes of study for other subjects coming into force the following year. The review will also advise on how the new curriculum should be phased in for each key stage.

The review will be led by my Department, supported by an advisory committee of respected and successful head teachers and employer and higher education representatives. The review will be informed by an expert panel of academics who will construct an evidence base and ensure that the new curriculum is based upon the best international practice. The review will also be shaped by the views of teachers, subject communities, academics, employers, higher education institutions, parents and other interested parties as it develops its proposals. As a first step my Department has today launched a call for evidence. I would invite all interested parties to contribute to the review and the development of the new national curriculum.

I have today placed a copy of the remit for the national curriculum review in the Library of the House.