A member of the expert panel that advised the government's national curriculum review has criticised draft proposals for new primary programmes of study.
Education secretary Michael Gove this week invited a “public debate" over a new look core primary curriculum as he published draft programmes of study for English, maths and science.
The programmes include detailed age-related goals and specific content and knowledge across all three subjects.
However, Andrew Pollard, professor of education at the Institute of Education in London, has labelled the draft programmes as “overly detailed" and said that they “neglect the way real children learn". Prof Pollard was one of four academics appointed 18 months ago to the expert panel that has been advising the government on its review of the national curriculum.
The DfE has said it will listen to the public debate on the draft proposals before redrafting the plans and publishing them for a formal consultation later this year.
Among the draft programme for maths, pupils will be expected to add, subtract, multiply, divide and use fractions. Also:
• By age seven, pupils should know “number bonds" up to 20 (simple addition and subtraction facts such as 9+9 = 18).
• By age nine, pupils should know their times tables up to 12x12 (instead of the current 10x10 target).
In English, the programme includes the use of systematic phonics and an emphasis on reading for pleasure. Also:
• There will be a focus on spelling, including a list of words that all children should be able to spell by the end of primary.
• There will be a focus on grammar, including how to use the subjunctive and apostrophes.
In science, there will be:
• A “greater focus on the acquisition of scientific knowledge" with new content on the solar system, speed and evolution.
• An increased focus on practical scientific experiments and demonstrations.
The importance of spoken English is also included in the draft programmes after a recommendation by the government's expert advisory panel on the national curriculum.
Writing on the IoE London blog, Prof Pollard said it is essential that teachers "scrutinise and refine" the draft curriculum. He warned: “The constraining effects on the primary curriculum as a whole are likely to be profound and the preservation of breadth, balance and quality of experience will test even the most committed of teachers."
He argued that while there are provisions to help high achievers get ahead, “there is no comparable provision for those who find learning particularly difficult".
Prof Pollard highlights that in the expert panel's report in December 2011, it recommended that programmes of study be organised in two-year blocks to give teachers scope to use their professional judgement and to take account of children's varied development. However, he says that the detailed year-on-year model developed by American academic ED Hirsch has instead been favoured by the government.
He writes: “This was one of the main issues which caused the expert panel as a whole to withdraw from the development of programmes of study. In the interests of transparency, the DfE should identify those who have been particularly influential in preparing the draft programmes of study."
In a letter to Tim Oates, the director of research and assessment at Cambridge Assessment – who chaired the expert panel – education minister Michael Gove said that a “clarity over content" will give parents assurances that their children are making progress.
He said: “I want schools to have high expectations for all subjects – regardless of whether they are tested nationally – and set these high expectations out in their own school curricula, which, from September, must be published online and lay out what is taught year-by-year."
He added: “It will be for each school to specify in its own way the year-by-year detail of its own curriculum in every subject."
But Prof Pollard argues that while it is attractive to parents to “sort out" knowledge in the primary curriculum, such as with spelling lists, the approach is “fatally flawed without parallel consideration of the needs of learners".
He added: “Primary teachers consider the overall experiences of each child, and try to provide a broad and balanced curriculum as is required by law. The skill and expertise of the teacher lies in building on each pupil's existing understanding and capabilities, and in matching tasks to extend attainment. To do these things, they need scope to exercise professional judgement.
“However, on the basis of the new national curriculum proposals, they are to be faced by extremely detailed year-on-year specifications in mathematics, science and most of English."
Elsewhere, the DfE has also been confirmed that the requirement to teach art and design, design and technology, geography, history, ICT, music, and PE across all primary years will be retained. Draft programmes of study for these subjects are also expected later this year.
Also confirmed are plans to scrap the existing system of levels and level descriptors in primary schools.
Meanwhile, another consultation is also planned later in the summer over proposals to introduce foreign languages from the age of seven. In his letter to Mr Oates, Mr Gove said that schools would be expected to teach a balance of spoken and written language, with pupils learning to speak in sentences and express simple ideas, with appropriate pronunciation.
Among the reaction this week, the National Union of Teachers stressed that that much of what is in the new programmes of study is already found in schools.
General secretary Christine Blower said: “Children learn poems, do mental arithmetic and learn grammar. By making this prescriptive along with a whole raft of other requirements, Michael Gove's cries for 'freedom' and 'choice' in the way teachers teach are ringing increasingly hollow."
On the issue of languages, she added: “Languages have been in and out of the primary curriculum over the past ten years. As a consequence there is a significant shortage of qualified teachers in this area. For languages to be taught successfully in primary schools we need to see proper investment in training and support both in schools and initial teacher training."
The new primary curriculum is due to be implemented in 2014.
• Read Prof Pollard's blog in full.
• For more primary education news from Headteacher Update, click here.