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The National Curriculum thingy.....do all kids REALLY learn the same?

32 replies

SlightlyMadSecretSoundWinner · 15/02/2008 23:12

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pointydog · 16/02/2008 17:17

Agree with gladbag that there should really be a fair amount of choice and decision that lies with the schol about what topics to study. There are so many topics that to stick to such a very small number seems very restrictive.

I would find it depressing if everyone were doing the same as it would leave little opportunity to introduce a different topic that seemed more relevant at the time, for whatever reason.

gladbag · 16/02/2008 19:03

Yes, a lot of KS1 children are likely to have covered those topics, but not all and it's not compulsory.

So, for example, when I taught Y2 in a London school we did The Great Fire of London, because it was geographically relevant to the children, and it is an interesting topic. Likewise we always did Houses and Homes as we had the Geffrye Museum near by (which is a fantastic resource for homes through the ages). But for a famous person from history we did Neil Armstrong and the first moon landing (not Florence) as we'd chosen to do a topic on 'space', which the children loved, and so it was a better fit and more relevant.

Similarly whilst teaching Y2 in Somerset we choose not to do the Fire of London as an historical event, but did the first (modern) Olympic Games as the Olympic games were on that year, and as a whole school we were focusing on sports and 'healthy pursuits'.

As for the rest of the curriculum, the vast majority of schools follow the Literacy and Numeracy Strategy, (although again, it isn't statutory) so in those subjects there will be specific coverage of stuff by each individual year group. In Science the vast majority of schools use the QCA schemes of work (see here) which are by year group, so again, although they aren't statutory most children will cover the learning by year group as laid out there.

The subjects where there will be most variation from school to school are History, Geography, Art, D&T, and RE because these are generally used as the basis for 'topics' and schools may well choose to do different things. In fact there has been a big push recently for schools to move away from the rather dry schemes of work that everyone uses, and customise their own curriculum in more creative ways. So the variation should be happening more and more. HTH

smartiejake · 16/02/2008 19:11

Sorry but those questions they ask on "Are you smarter than a 10 year old" are often NOT very well aligned to the National Curiculum and what children learn at certain ages.

A question yesterday I saw related to the mode/ mean/ range in maths claiming it to be a question for an 8 year old. This does not come into the numeracy strategy until LEVEL 4/ year 5 at least. ( 10 year olds) Loads of other questions I have noticed are the same and only the very brightest child in alot of cases of those ages would be able to answer the questions.

Some aspects of the National curriculum will match year by year for core subjects but as far as foundation subjects are concerned there is some choice as to which areas teachers can choose from to teach.

cat64 · 16/02/2008 19:33

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DualCycloneCod · 16/02/2008 19:34

THEY GIVE thoe kids the answer first

DualCycloneCod · 16/02/2008 19:35

I READ IT IN THE PAPER oops

SlightlyMadSecretSoundWinner · 17/02/2008 10:14

TY Gladbag for that link.

I can see the whole of the DTDs curriculum to date on those lists - although as you say in a slightly different order.

It is a very useful link as I can see exxactly what they are likely to be learning next term and help reinforce their learning.

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