Echoing the calls of a Civitas publication, The Corruption of the Curriculum, the chairman of the Independent Association of Prep Schools, Michael Spinney, has launched an offensive against the teaching of “fashionable causes” enshrined in the National Curriculum: ‘Increasingly, we live in an era where teaching and learning are sacrificed in favour of fashionable causes, often with disastrous effects upon standards of learning.’
In response, independent schools are introducing their own curriculum, which focuses on the no-frills basics such as spelling in English, times tables in maths and dates in history.
The Times Education Supplement outlines Spinney’s speech to the Girls’ School Association, citing examples of the way in which the schools’ curriculum has been “hijacked”, such as through lessons on the slave trade as a platform for pushing multiculturalism.
The sad thing is that whilst the independent sector is able to opt out of an over-stretched and poorly formulated curriculum, the state sector cannot. With the basics scantily addressed as the National Curriculum stands crammed, the likely outcome will be a further widening of the learning gap between the private and state sector. What is particularly maddening about the government’s inclusion of “causes” in the National Curriculum is the shortsightedness of the strategy, on top of the distraction. It should be obvious, as it appears to be to those determining the direction of the independent sector, that the best way to instil values from equality to right and wrong to taking care of your health, is to enable pupils to access and process information – predominantly through the 3 Rs. An abridged notion about a medley of half-grasped concerns which pupils can neither articulate, write about, nor calculate the consequences of, is not going to achieve the government’s desired results of tolerance and personal responsibility.
Comments (1)
Dear Anastasia,
My son attends a prep school and I was dismayed to discover a page in his history exercise book entitled 'Why there aren't many women in history' which proceeded to bang on about Hilary Clinton and how she might become the first female president of the USA. It was not relevant to any work that my son had been doing and was completely meaningless to him. Similarly in his RE book along with the crusades was a piece on 'What the Muslims have done for us' - no mention there of stoning women to death!!!
I was delighted to read that the independent schools plan to reassert themselves. It can't come too soon. No doubt the govt will find some way of punishing them for their insolence, like threatening their charitable status for a change.
Posted by Jacqui Davies | November 21, 2007 5:38 PM
Posted on November 21, 2007 17:38