Lets firstly look at the message that this poll sends:
Firstly the question….”Do you think the current Primary Curriculum is fit for purpose?”
Its a straight forward and simple question – however it strikes right at the heart of the matter in its simplicity. It does NOT say….
- Are you enjoying the new curriculum?
- Are there any bits of the new curriculum that are not so good?
- Is there something you don’t like in the new curriculum?
or any of those sort of weak “we want to listen to teachers” type comments that emanate from Government Education Departments!
NO – the question strikes at the heart of the whole thing – basically is the new curriculum any good at all?
- Has it been designed with the children in mind?
- Is it applicable in content and age expectations?
- Is it balanced and appropriate for children’s ages?
- Have teachers workloads been adequately considered
- What are the ramifications of the new curriculum in for example, resources, testing, training for staff?
- What were the purposes behind implementing the new curriculum?
These are just a few of the questions that both myself and colleagues are asking, and to be honest, the more I look into this the more I see a complex picture which does NOT seem to have children’s best interests at its centre.
The answer just has to be – NO…as teachers working with this newly introduced curriculum we DO NOT think it is any use whatsoever. There can be no lower level than to say “It is not fit for purpose”….things cannot be any worse!!
Suffice to say, that at this point, it appears that OFSTED are driving the curriculum changes and not the other way around.
Once again we start to see “The Tail is wagging the dog!”
Ok so where do we go from here – well the next step is to look at the reasons we think the Curriculum is “not fit for purpose. It is not enough to say we don’t like something – we need to now state why we don’t think the Curriculum is any use. This will allow us to state that the current curriculum in its present form is “useless” for these reasons and this is how is needs either changing or replacing with…..
So what I propose to do is to have another poll which I will put on Facebook tomorrow which has various options / reasons why the curriculum is failing. You will be able to select any number of the options depending on your own point of view.
The results from this poll will then give a clear picture as to how “Teaching Professionals” are viewing the curriculum in practice. In other words aside from our learned colleagues that devised this new curriculum – how does it actually work in the classroom – for the children and also for the Teachers who are having to use it.
It is not good enough to devise a curriculum which affects all Primary teachers without also considering fully the ramifications of those changes. It is not good enough to force in a system that is now so plainly unsuitable for all concerned including the children and it WILL NOT be good enough NOT to listen when concerns are raised.
Let me tell you a true story which unfortunately illustrates how condescending committees and experts can be when considering these sorts of huge changes.
In Birmingham I worked at a very big Primary School and we had a 80 place Nursery and a 60 place Pre Nursery, so you can see the sort of size of the school. The head of the Early Years department was a highly regarded early years practitioner and was asked to be a member of the committee that was considering and drawing up a new curriculum and guidelines for Early years education.
After many visits to London to be part of this committee the brief came to an end. On finally returning I asked my colleague how it all went.
” There were a few of us “, she said, ” from different parts of the country and we took part in all the meetings and gave our input, experience and thoughts on all the areas concerned.” “So that should be a pretty comprehensive review and the input you gave should really influence things”, I said. “Oh no,” said my colleague; “they listened and then ignored everything we said!”
And that’s how things get messed up!
Hope you’re having a great day – soon be the weekend…keep smiling and I will look forward to your poll answers.
Charles