Best Practice

Getting to grips with the new primary programmes of study

Curriculum
The publication of the new primary national curriculum gives schools a great opportunity to make a gradual transition to the new programmes of study. Catherine Kirkup offers some pointers

Following two and a half years of review and consultation, and a flurry of minor tweaks over the summer, the final version of the primary national curriculum was published on September 11, 2013. Teachers and schools, reluctant to act too hastily in case of last-minute changes, are now having to get to grips with the new programmes of study and attainment targets: what is in, what is out, and which elements, if any, must be taught earlier or later than before.

The new curriculum comes into force in September 2014, so teachers have a year to plan how they will teach it. No school will have to change its curriculum in 2013/14, but can choose to introduce some parts of the new one earlier if they wish (see implementation timetable, below). The programmes of study for each national curriculum subject set out the content, skills and processes to be taught at each key stage. For the core subjects, the statutory requirements are accompanied by non-statutory notes. This guidance helps in the interpretation of the curriculum content and often suggests implicit teaching and learning that will help to bridge gaps between the different year groups. 

Although presented in yearly (or for key stage 2 English two-yearly) blocks, schools may choose to introduce content earlier or later than set out in the programme of study. All schools must publish their curriculum for each subject by academic year online. 

Academies have slightly more flexibility about what they choose to teach, as they do not have to follow the national curriculum. However, they must teach a “broad and balanced” curriculum, they have to take part in the same national tests and they will be inspected by Ofsted in the same way as maintained schools. So academies may opt to include the majority of the new national curriculum within their school provision. 

Although the new curriculum shows what has to be taught, schools have the opportunity to decide when and how to teach it. They also need to plan how they will integrate assessment within their teaching and learning plans. 

For many schools, teaching the new curriculum will be a process of evolution rather than revolution – building on what they already do well and modifying their curriculum and teaching plans. In preparing for the change, headteachers may wish to think about the following issues:

  • How familiar are your middle leaders, subject/phase co-ordinators and class teachers with the fine detail of the new programmes of study in the core subjects? How can they be supported in getting to grips with the changes and redesigning their teaching to cover the new content?
  • Have your subject co-ordinators identified the main areas of change in the foundation subjects? Can existing topics be adapted to meet the new requirements? What opportunities will there be to develop spoken language, vocabulary, literacy and numeracy across the curriculum?
  • What aspects of the new curriculum, if any, can be introduced in 2013/14 to achieve a smoother transition in 2014? 
  • How will the introduction of the new curriculum affect decisions about the allocation of human resources in your school? In which year groups will you place your specialist or most experienced teachers?
  • What additional teaching resources, if any, will you need to purchase? What training (internal/external) will be required and how will you evaluate its success?

There will also be greater flexibility in the way schools are required to assess attainment and progress. The government is removing the system of national curriculum levels, and has stated that it does not intend to replace them. A public consultation on primary assessment and accountability was carried out earlier this term and contained the following proposals:

  • National curriculum tests will remain as a benchmark of performance at the end of key stage 2.
  • Tests introduced in 2016 to assess the new curriculum will be more demanding with a requirement for 85 per cent of pupils to reach a “secondary ready” standard.
  • Key stage 2 results will be reported using scaled scores and deciles. 

It is also proposed that the Department for Education will work with teaching associations and other professional organisations to provide examples of good practice and different assessment approaches which schools may wish to adopt. For example, the National Association of Head Teachers has set up a commission of practitioners to develop a set of evidence-based principles for high-quality assessment. Similarly, once final decisions about assessment arrangements are confirmed by the government, the NFER will be adapting its assessment products and providing information on its website to help schools navigate these changes.

Although the exact details of the key stage 1 and 2 benchmarking measures need to be clarified further, schools will have the opportunity to use whatever on-going assessment system they prefer in order to track that pupils are making satisfactory progress and will meet the required standard at the end of the relevant key stage. 

At the present time, many schools are continuing to use national curriculum levels, adapting them as necessary to fit the new curriculum. Other schools are creating their own systems, underpinned by their well-established Assessment for Learning practice. Schools will have the responsibility for establishing clear learning objectives to match what has been taught, reaching consensus about what will count as success and deciding how and when progress will be recorded. 

The challenge both within and across schools will be to establish a shared language and understanding of assessment standards that will provide some common reference points and prevent localisation of standards (Brill and Twist, 2013). 

Now that the final version of the national curriculum is available, schools can make a more gradual transition to the new programmes of study, including taking this year as a chance to ensure that they retain what is effective in their current practice and work out what will benefit from review and revision.

  • Catherine Kirkup is a research director in the Centre for Assessment at NFER. She is also a governor of a Buckinghamshire primary school.

Getting to grips with the changes

In reviewing current teaching provision and what needs to change, one of the most obvious places to start is to carry out a direct comparison of the old and new programmes of study. 

A side-by-side comparison of the statutory requirements of the old and new curricula allows you to identify and highlight what has been removed and what has been added. 

Comparisons across year groups (eg key stage 1, lower key stage 2 and upper key stage 2) also allow you to see the progression in subject content, knowledge and skills.

The NFER’s curriculum experts have been scanning the framework documents for the core subjects with a fine tooth-comb to identify not only the obvious changes but also some more subtle changes in emphasis. 

Details about the full range of NFER Curriculum Guides can be found online. Visit: www.nfer.ac.uk/schools/national-curriculum-guides

Implementation Timetable

In 2013/14 and 2014/15 the key stage 1 and 2 national tests will reflect the old (pre-2014) national curriculum. In 2015/16 the national tests will assess against the new national curriculum. The list below provides implementation guidance for teaching the core subjects for years 1 to 6. For non-core subjects the new curriculum must be taught from September 2014 but schools are free to choose whether to teach either the old or new programmes of study in 2013/14.

Which national curriculum to teach in the core subjects

  • 2013/14: Year 1 (OLD), Year 2 (OLD), Year 3 (OLD or NEW), Year 4 (OLD or NEW), Year 5 (OLD), Year 6 (OLD)
  • 2014/15: Year 1 (NEW), Year 2 (OLD), Year 3 (NEW), Year 4 (NEW), Year 5 (NEW), Year 6 (OLD)
  • 2015/16: Year 1 (NEW), Year 2 (NEW), Year 3 (NEW), Year 4 (NEW), Year 5 (NEW), Year 6 (NEW)

Further reading