So has anyone else heard the rumour about the govt's plans for the National Curriculum

[oneofsuesylvesterscheerios]

No more levels.
No APPs.
No National Curriculum full stop.
Freedom for each Head to decide on the KS3 curriculum, rather like the private sector.
No more SIP (those in the know will know what this is)
No more SEF (ditto)

oh and the probable end to PGCEs as we know them.

amongst other things...

We'll get it confirmed next week if it's all true.

As far as I can gather, the comparisons between schools will now be made on some sort of standardised accreditation at the end of KS3 (the diploma idea) which is set by exam boards. I can't see how you would be able to compare schools using data unless this was done. Of course the other way to compare schools would be the non-statistical route: how happy, healthy, independent, challenged, etc students seem to be... which is much more subjective.

For the time being, schools will stick to NC levels until the changes at KS3 have been confirmed, discussed and schools have made the rearrangements, consultations and training needed, which will take a year or two at least.

The way I see it, Gove is making every school a 'free' school, whether they have opted to do so or not. The 'debate' is now redundant: it's happening, and parents and their dcs are at the mercy of the leadership of individual heads and their governing bodies.

I'm lucky: my Head is great and he has turned the school around in the 7 years he's been there. My dds will go there when they are old enough if things continue in this vein. But we are all very much aware that should he get knocked down by the proverbial bus tomorrow, the whole thing could go down the pan within a matter of months with a less effective leader.

The thing that gets me is that they always quote Sweden as a shining example of these wonderful new free schools. Yet Sweden has gone shooting down the international league tables since the free schools were introduced and every Swedish parent or teacher I have spoken too is devastated at the way the education system has been wrecked. And the newspapers are full of stories of disaffected young people and disruption at school. I am reading the same kind of stories there that you read about English sink schools in the 70s.

The country that has stayed at the top of the league tables is Finland where they have a more traditional standardised system of teaching.

But the Tories don't tell you this, do they?

It is purely about money. Successive govts haven't funded a decent education system for a very long time (if ever in some areas/schools).

gaelic, yes I am in scotland.

The Curriculum for Excellence isn't even a curriculum. Mike Russell admitted it recently when he said iy should have been called a 'methodology' not a 'curriculum'.

Less prescription will be a good thing, I think. Scotland has no national curriculum and IMO the system there is stronger, having taught in both countries. I haven't properly delivered Curriculum for Excellence, mind you, though I was trained in it and (barring administration and other issues) it always seemed like a very positive move to me.

However, no levels is a bit odd and schools will probably still use the old ones anyway. What a waste of money on APP, eh? I was just getting used to it, too.

I know what you mean, freerange. I've spent much of the last 6 months creating a way to use APP in a way that actually cuts down our marking but covers the AFs.

But the thought I had was that we just use the broader aspects of the focuses (which actually make sense) and just get rid of the AF numbers. Even if you get rid of the levels in number and you move to a system of, say, A-E, like in the old days, we teachers will know what the grades relate to as far as levels go!!

interesting isn't it. Will we go back to the days where schools cater for the community they are in, so primarily secondary moderns teaching hairdressing and mechanics to the poorer kids and academic schools catering for future IT consultants or accountants in the richer areas. how will kids be able to move outside of their social setting. It's a little worrying especially with the Academies idea where schools are supported by local partners, who will further influence the direction of the curriculum to suit their own local needs. Whilst clearly not all children need to learn German or art history, there is a richness in allowing kids the chance to glimpse a subject that they might have no other access to and which could spark a whole new direction for them. we need to go back to the fundamentals of why we put children in schools at all, is it prepare them as a future work force, open their minds to the possibilities within the world, or simply keep them entertained enough that they don't want to hang around the streets. It all relies in the quality of the head teachers