Independent Review of the Primary Currriculum: Final Report

Independent Review of the Primary Curriculum: Final Report

Introduction 2 3

Dear Secretary of State

This is the final report of the independent review of the primary curriculum which you invited me to undertake in January 2008. It follows the interim report that was published in December of that year. The interim report drew a wide range of responses which, together with further information gathered from visits to schools, consultation conferences, evidence of international best practice and meetings with expert groups, have been used extensively in forming the final recommendations of the review.

The central questions for the review have been: what should the curriculum contain and how should the content and the teaching of it change to foster children's different and developing abilities during primary years?

In looking to build a curriculum that answers these questions and is fit for primary children's education now and in the future, excellent teaching of communication skills, leading to the achievement of high standards of literacy and numeracy, must remain a priority. So must the achievement of high standards of behaviour and other vital aspects of `personal development'. In this day and age, the primary curriculum also needs to give serious attention to building children's capability with information technology.

Our best primary schools already demonstrate that, far from narrowing learning, these priorities ? literacy, numeracy, ICT skills and personal development ? are crucial for enabling children to access a broad and balanced curriculum. Excellence in the basics supports the achievement of breadth and balance in primary education.

Our primary schools also show that high standards are best secured when essential knowledge and skills are learned both through direct, high-quality subject teaching and also through this content being applied and used in cross-curricular studies. Primary schools have long organised and taught much of the curriculum as a blend of discrete subjects and cross-curricular studies in this way. It is the best of this work that

has informed the recommendations of the review.

The proposal in my interim report to bring aspects of subject content together within areas of learning to facilitate cross-curricular studies was reported in some circles as `abolishing subjects' such as history and geography. The reverse is true: subject disciplines remain vital in their own right, and cross-curricular studies strengthen the learning of the subjects which make up its content. From the standpoint of young learners, making links between subjects enriches and enlivens them, especially history and geography.

Discussion with parents and others showed that the descriptions of some areas of learning, as set out in the interim report, needed clarification. In consequence, the headings of three of the areas of learning have been simplified while retaining the content that they are intended to cover.

The remit required the review to tackle several stubborn obstacles in the way of securing the best curriculum for primary children. One such obstacle is the fact that there is too much prescribed content in the current curriculum. The trend ? usually motivated by the desire to strengthen particular aspects of learning ? has been to add more and more content with too little regard for the practicalities and expertise needed to teach it effectively.

Our primary teachers have coped amazingly well with this state of affairs and the best schools do use their current flexibilities effectively. However, many look to this review to reduce prescription and curriculum overload so that they can serve the needs of children even better. Every effort has been made to meet these expectations. The public consultation on the proposed six `areas of learning' is a vitally important three month period during which all interested parties should be invited to consider whether the draft programmes of learning have struck the right balance between prescription of essential content and manageability for the primary teacher and school.

The review is about the curriculum rather than the whole of primary education. However, there are points where important aspects, such as pedagogy and assessment, intersect with the curriculum. This was well understood by the many respondents whose insightful contributions to the calls for evidence and to the interim report have been invaluable in helping to frame the recommendations. While my review was not remitted to consider all of these issues I have not felt constrained in commenting on them in my final report.

I wish to thank all those who have contributed to the review, especially the schools we visited. They demonstrated the best of primary education and provided us with what one head so rightly described as `the reality check that is essential for keeping feet on the ground'.

Mick Waters, Sue Horner and their colleagues in the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority's team deserve a special vote of thanks, especially in leading the work to develop the draft programmes of learning. I am also grateful to my secretariat for their unstinting commitment and hard work throughout the review.

I hope the review will help our primary schools to build on their success so that all our children benefit from a curriculum which is challenging, fires their enthusiasm, enriches and constantly enlarges their knowledge, skills and understanding and, above all, instils in them a lifelong love of learning.

Yours sincerely

Sir Jim Rose, CBE

Introduction 4 5

Contents

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