{"id":568,"date":"2016-09-20T15:19:19","date_gmt":"2016-09-20T14:19:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/nisr\/?p=568"},"modified":"2016-09-20T15:19:58","modified_gmt":"2016-09-20T14:19:58","slug":"rethinking-a-national-curriculum-and-finding-space-for-the-local","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/nisr\/rethinking-a-national-curriculum-and-finding-space-for-the-local\/","title":{"rendered":"Rethinking a National Curriculum and finding space for the local"},"content":{"rendered":"

On 14 July 2016, the Prime Minister Theresa May announced her new Cabinet, following a significant reshuffle and re-structure of Government.\u00a0In this context,\u00a0researchers from all over Newcastle University\u00a0express their thoughts on the challenges and opportunities for the Government in the Ideas for May\u2019s Ministers blog series, considering how individuals, communities and societies can thrive in times of rapid, transformational change. Professor David Leat<\/a>\u00a0is Professor of Curriculum Innovation in Newcastle University, and he directs his Idea to Justine Greening.<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

From: Professor David Leat, Newcastle School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences
\nTo: Justine Greening, Secretary of State for Education<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the principles of a nation having a National Curriculum is that pupils can move from school to school with some continuity in their education. There is the added attraction to policy makers that they have more control over schools.\u00a0 However, the social and economic turmoil<\/strong> of the last ten years has moved the political goalposts as both radical right and left wing movements have proved attractive to many who feel that they have been left behind as social inequality<\/strong> grows.\u00a0 Political elites are rethinking and renegotiating the relationship between the nation and its component parts \u2013 regions, cities and communities.\u00a0 In England, we need our government to give the message to schools and teachers that they should be using \u2018the local\u2019<\/strong> as one of the building blocks of the curriculum to put meaning back into learning.<\/p>\n

\"Community<\/a><\/p>\n

Successive governments, however, have learned that exerting control by detailed specification of \u00a0curriculum content has a considerable downside.\u00a0 They are open to attack from many quarters about too much content or the wrong content. As a result, they have shifted from \u2018input regulation\u2019 or the specification of content as a means of control, to \u2018output regulation\u2019 or the setting of exam targets<\/strong> as a means of control. The targets-related data has had the added incentive of helping to marketise education as it provides a means of comparing schools and \u2018driving up standards\u2019.\u00a0 However, there are signs of considerable collateral damage<\/strong> from this policy fix:<\/p>\n