Management Information Sheet

Where are we with the new curriculum and what does this mean for my school?

The revised National Curriculum - One year on

The review of the National Curriculum was announced by Michael Gove over a year ago in January 2011.

What were the original issues being investigated?

1.	Is the current National Curriculum too prescriptive, in relation to what is taught and how?
2.	Does the National curriculum encapsulate the essential knowledge and understanding that pupils should be expected to have?
3.	How well does our system compare with the best performing systems across the world?

So what, so far?

Following initial consultations about the nature of the curriculum and the core subjects, the DFE appointed an expert group to look at the evidence in relation to the initial questions (above).

Their thoughts were published in a document entitled 'The framework for the National Curriculum' (DFE December 2011). This report sets out a number of principles and recommendations, including the need for:

	Clarity about what purpose the new curriculum is intended to serve
	A clear distinction between the National Curriculum and the school curriculum.
	A consideration of the subjects included
	Changes to the structure of the key stages and the reorganisation of the programmes of study and attainment targets
	The assessment and reporting arrangements to be in line with the thinking on the National Curriculum
	The development of oracy

The risks of implementing a new curriculum at speed and without the clarity about the areas outlined above are set out in chapter 10. As a result, the Secretary of State has extended the deadline for schools to implement the new curriculum to September 2014. There remains a deadline to publish a draft of the proposals in time for the start of the autumn term 2013.

Timeline and implications

	2013 draft proposals for the National Curriculum published
	September 2014 - schools expected to implement the new curriculum. A timeline for the introduction of changes to GCSEs is available on the Ofqual website.

This could leave us with a slimmer but more focussed curriculum composed of core subjects (English, maths and science) and some foundation subjects (art/design, music, history, geography and MFL.) tailored to key stage/phase.

Subjects could be taught within re-defined key stages -

	key stage 2 possibly split into 2,
	key stage 3 potentially reduced to two years and
	key stage 4 potentially increased to three years.

And there will be changes to the current assessment arrangements where level descriptors are likely to be replaced.

No wonder more time is needed to complete things.

Alongside the review, there have also been changes to the Ofsted Framework for 2012. This has involved the curriculum being evaluated under leadership and management and requires schools to provide a ' broad and balanced curriculum that:

	meets the needs of all pupils; enables all pupils to achieve their full educational potential and make progress in their learning; and promotes their good behaviour and safety and their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.
	promotes a successful transition to the next stage of education, training or employment
	at Key Stage 4 is based on academic courses and supplemented, where relevant, by appropriate vocational courses.' (Ofsted January 2012)

So what does this mean for my school?

As is the case now, the National Curriculum is not the whole curriculum and the intention is that there will be less prescription. We would encourage curriculum leaders to take the view that the school curriculum is everything that is experienced by pupils in the school and to ensure that their planning reflects this and the need to promote the development of SMSC.

The current National Curriculum handbook (DfEE/QCA2000) provides a perfectly adequate base for planning the subject aspects of the curriculum, the links between them and cross curricular elements. The programmes of study for phase specific subjects are available on the DFE website at www.education.gov.uk

It should be clear how the curriculum takes account of the needs of different groups, including SEND and the most able.

Ofsted requires school leaders, including governors, to have a clear rationale for the curriculum they have developed (or are developing).

There is renewed interest in the teaching of reading, including phonics, in the new Ofsted framework. For high schools, this will mean that the leadership team need a clear strategy to promote the development of literacy (including reading and oracy) across the curriculum and across year groups.

Overall, we would encourage schools to be proactive in thinking about their curricula. It will be some time before the new National Curriculum is published and it is likely to be less prescriptive. Therefore, schools should be able to incorporate the new requirements into the plans they are developing. As always, plans covering literacy (including oracy) and numeracy should be rigorous and set out the progression that pupils are expected to make. The progression set out in the 2008 literacy and numeracy frameworks provide a challenging and robust progression and pace of learning within English and maths.