Parents often profess to being bemused by the modern school curriculum particularly when their children come home talking about PSHE, DT and ICT.

Many children, however, say nothing at all about school or tell you they have been playing all day, so it can be quite a surprise for parents when a school report comes home listing all the different subjects taught during the year. This article covers three questions about the curriculum commonly asked by parents: Who decides what should be taught at school? What are the National Literacy and Numeracy strategies? Why does the curriculum vary in different schools?

Who decides what should be taught at school?
Until 1988 schools were free to decide what they taught their pupils, with religious education being the only compulsory subject. This obviously gave rise to great variation amongst schools so in order to ensure all pupils had access to a balanced education the National Curriculum was developed listing the subjects to be covered, detailing what should be taught and stating the standards or levels expected by pupils at age 7, 11 and 14.

For primary pupils, aged 5 – 11, other than those educated privately, the National Curriculum is a statutory requirement. It currently consists of three core subjects – English maths and science; and seven foundation subjects – design and technology (DT), information and communication technology (ICT), history, geography, art and design, music and physical education (PE). Additionally schools have to teach religious education (RE) according to a locally agreed syllabus, although parents may choose to withdraw their children from these sessions.

While many skills such as playing a musical instrument are subject specific, six skills are considered key to helping pupils improve their learning and performance in education, work and life. These six key skills of communication, application of number, information technology, working with others, improving own learning and performance and problem solving are embedded in the National Curriculum and taught across it.

Other statutory requirements are that the curriculum should promote spiritual, moral, social and cultural development across all the statutory subject areas. These may also be covered more specifically in your child’s school during religious education, collective worship, personal, social and health education (PSHE) and lessons in citizenship.

The Literacy and Numeracy Strategies
To assist teachers in delivering two of the core subjects, English and mathematics, two national strategies have been developed and although non-statutory the majority of schools in England deliver daily literacy hours and numeracy lessons. Both strategies are built around detailed frameworks of teaching objectives laying out term-by-term exactly what should be taught. There has also been a massive national training programme detailing how these two subjects should be delivered.

These two strategies have given rise to much of the ‘educational jargon’ your children may use. Whole class teaching is often delivered using an overhead projector (OHP), numeracy lessons begin with skill practice that is not written down (oral and mental starter), letter sounds are known as phonemes, reading may be shared, guided or independent and lessons conclude with plenaries. You may also hear about lesson objectives that outline exactly what is to be taught, and hopefully learnt, during a session.

Why does the curriculum vary in different schools?
Although the National Curriculum lays down what must be taught it is up to individual schools to decide how and when each subject is covered. Schools may also include additional subjects and experiences in order to reflect a their own aims and ethos and this is what makes every school unique.

Government guidelines suggest that about 60% of the total teaching week (minimum of 21 hours KS1; 23.5 hours in KS2) is spent on the core subjects and although your child will probably be taught English and maths every day, science might only be taught once a week. Schools may choose to deliver foundation subjects weekly or to block teaching time and perhaps cover history during one term and geography in another. Some schools prefer to link subjects through a topic so when teaching a unit such as The Vikings, aspects of history, geography, DT, art, music and ICT may all be covered.

The organisation of subject teaching may also vary greatly between schools. Children in one school may be taught by their class teacher all day for every subject while in another teachers with a specific area of expertise may teach one subject to several different classes in turn. In order to address the needs of all pupils, although every child will be studying the same subject areas, children with special needs or those who are very able may be taught separately for some of the time by another teacher or may be supported by a teaching assistant. Sometimes, particularly in larger schools, children may be organised into different ability sets for some or all of the core subjects.

Assemblies, playtimes, registration and lunchtimes, although not included as part of the teaching time each week, are often used by schools to enhance the curriculum. Chess clubs, football coaching, choirs and orchestras abound which together with theatre visits, school trips, visitors to the school and links with the local community create a richer curriculum for your child.

Schools may also choose to give extra teaching time to a particular curriculum area and offer pupils experiences beyond the requirements in the National Curriculum. Subjects traditionally introduced in secondary schools such as French or German may be included on the timetable. Many schools also take part in initiatives such as the National Healthy School Award where the promotion of a Walking Bus may not only cut down traffic pollution but give your child daily exercise that actually increases learning capacity.

To find out more
Most schools publish a prospectus that gives details of the school curriculum and the way it is taught but all schools will be happy to show interested parents a copy of the National Curriculum and discuss any further queries you may have.