Mr Gove wants more emphasis on key facts and course content The number of compulsory subjects in England’s national school curriculum is to be cut to four from September by Education Secretary Michael Gove.
All schools will have to teach English, maths, science and PE with experts to advise on what should be focused on.
Mr Gove also wants to set out the “essential knowledge” children should have – including a “connected narrative” of British history.
Head teachers hope there will be “less prescription” in the new curriculum.
At the moment, the government in England sets out which subjects children have to learn at various stages and says what should be covered in them.
There are five subjects which are compulsory under the national curriculum for all age groups – English, ICT, mathematics, PE and science.
In the early years of secondary school, 13 subjects are statutory and this drops to seven for pupils aged between 14 to 16.
This last group is made up of: English, maths, citizenship, PE, ICT, science and Religious Education (schools have to teach RE but parents have the right to withdraw their children from the lessons).
The new government believes the current national curriculum is over-prescriptive, includes material that is not essential, and specifies teaching methods rather than content.
It says there should be more emphasis on what facts are taught, arguing that there should be a core knowledge that pupils should have to take their place as “educated members of society”.
The government will give more details about the shake-up of the curriculum later when Mr Gove visits a school in west London with members the expert panel, which includes head teachers.
The panel is being asked to advise on what the key components of the compulsory subjects should be – and what should be taught under the other, non-compulsory subjects.
They might also advise on whether any other subjects should become compulsory.
At the Conservative Party Conference, Mr Gove said it was a “tragedy of our time” that children were growing up ignorant of the history of the United Kingdom.
“Heads are hoping for a significant reduction in the depth and breadth of prescription”
Russell Hobby National Association of Head Teachers
“Children are given a mix of topics at primary, a cursory run through Henry VIII and Hitler at secondary and many give up the subject at 14, without knowing how the vivid episodes of our past became a connected narrative,” he said.
Mr Gove has already asked the historian Simon Schama to advise on how British history could be “put at the heart of a revised national curriculum”.
He hopes top British authors and poets will contribute to the debate about which books and poetry should be studied.
Mr Gove is expected to say: “The coalition will restore academic rigour to the curriculum to ensure that our pupils can compete with the world’s best.”
Head teachers are keen to have less laid down in the national curriculum.
Russell Hobby, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers (which represents most primary school heads), said: “Heads are hoping for a significant reduction in the depth and breadth of prescription: a curriculum that covers the basics while leaving room for creativity, culture and excitement, enabling each school to design an offer that suits their children.”
Brian Lightman, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said it was important that the government looked at the whole curriculum in a “holistic way” and recognised that it was not just about the transfer of knowledge but about the skills and range of experiences children received in school.
Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said: “Ministers’ desire to return to the public school curriculum they were taught over 25 years ago is not in the best interests of today’s young people.
“Teachers should be allowed to decide the specifics of what is taught, in partnership with employers and the local community, within a broad and balanced centrally agreed framework curriculum.”
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