Policy and Politics
Plans for primary curriculum change fail to pass
Reform of primary school education has been abandoned, following the failure of proposals for curriculum changes to make it through the final stages of the Children, Schools and Families Bill before Parliament was dissolved last week.
The measure was taken out of the Bill, along with other key education policies, because no agreement could be reached between the Government and opposition parties.
Reforms to the curriculum followed recommendations made by the Government-commissioned review by Sir Jim Rose, which advocated extending the play-based approach to learning from the EYFS into Key Stage 1 and a primary curriculum based on six areas of learning (News, 28 October 2009).
Dame Gillian Pugh, chair of the Cambridge Primary Review Advisory Committee, the major independent primary review conducted in parallel to the Rose review, (Analysis, 4 March and 28 October 2009), said, 'Although the Rose proposals will not now become law, some schools have begun to think about the broader issues of what primary education is for, what is an appropriate curriculum, what is effective teaching, and how learning should be assessed.
'These questions, which go further than the requirements of Rose, were central to the Cambridge Review and we know many schools are finding the detailed discussion of principles, aims, values, curriculum and assessment in the final report very helpful as they rethink their own curriculum.
'Of greater interest to those working in early years is what is to become of the EYFS, which all three parties have said that they will review, but only the Liberal Democrats have supported the Cambridge Review proposals to extend it up into KS1.'
Early years expert Wendy Scott said, 'This block was predictable - the Tories' understanding of early and primary education is very limited.
She added, 'The Cambridge Review provides a wealth of evidence and piercing questions about the purposes of primary education. It has a lot in common with the Rose recommendations for extending the EYFS approach into Year 1 and beyond, so there are powerful and well-grounded arguments to inform the debate.
'I sincerely hope that whoever is in power after 6 May, we will be able to rely on evidence rather than ideology.'
