13 June 2012

Gove's New Curriculum 'Fatally Flawed'

A member of the expert panel involved in advising on national curriculum reforms has described Michael Goves’s proposed changes as "fatally flawed".

Academic Andrew Pollard, one of a team of four involved in the review, said the published proposals, which include officially mandated spelling lists, were so prescriptive they denied teachers the scope to exercise their professional judgment. He described Gove's initial instructions to the head of the review team as "crude".

Teachers will be presented with "extremely detailed" year-on-year specifications in English, maths and science that risk wrecking "breadth, balance and quality" in children's school experience, and fail to acknowledge that children learn at different speeds, he said.

Speaking to the Guardian, Pollard said there were two key problems with the proposed changes.

"It is overly prescriptive in two ways. One is that it is extremely detailed, and the other is the emphasis on linearity – it implies that children learn 'first this, then that'. Actually, people learn in a variety of different ways, and for that you need flexibility – for teachers to pick up on that and vary things accordingly.

"The government is keen to have high expectations, but they have to be pitched at a level which is realistic. If they are pitched too high, they will generate widespread failure."

The reforms will be opened to consultation and are due to be introduced in September 2014.

(H)