"We need to trust schools and teachers more and empower teachers to do what they do best. There is a regrettable tendency for governments to make continual changes to the structure and framework of the curriculum. Ministerial meddling must stop."

So says the chairman of a cross-party group of MPs that has today called for the national curriculum to be dramatically simplified. Rejecting the Programmes of Study proposals made by Sir Jim Rose in his recent interim report, they see greater merit in stipulating a basic entitlement for literacy and numeracy and offering general guidelines on breadth and balance to be interpreted by schools and teachers themselves. They also dismiss the suggestion that children should move to reception class at age 4, noting that the low practitioner-to-child ratios of these settings means they cannot cater for the needs of very young children. While speaking more highly of the Cambridge Primary Review report and its extensive analysis of the problems, they also criticise it for not having enough to say about what might be done in practice to address the issues raised.

In its fourth report on the national curriculum, the Commons Children, Schools and Families Committee recommends that a cap is placed on the proportion of teaching time that the curriculum accounts for and that this cap should be less than half of teaching time. They further call for the freedoms enjoyed by Academies to be extended to all schools - this would mean schools would only have to follow the curriculum for the core subjects of English, maths, science, and ICT.

As a primary school governor, I am immensely encouraged by their emphasis on trusting schools, empowering teachers and curriculum coherence. It is clear that the Bible repeatedly maintains that the primary responsibility for education lies with families, with the support of their communities. Therefore, the less Government interferes in the local decisions taken by school communities - including teachers, governors, parents, and children themselves - the better it will be for social well-being.

If interested in knowing more, you can download the report from Parliamentary Reports online.

• 
• Share