Friday, February 20, 2009
Formal Testing is “the elephant in the curriculum”.
The 29th report from the Cambridge Review of Primary Education in England has concluded that too much emphasis on the subjects which are formally tested is leading to an "impoverished" education for Primary school children.
The Cambridge Review of Primary Education is the largest independent review of Primary Education in England for forty years, led by Professor Robin Alexander at Cambridge University. This latest evidence focusing on the curriculum form the 28 and 29th interim reports with the Final Review due to be published later this year.
The report finds that many schools are focusing on the quality of their children's understanding and achievement in Numeracy and Literacy in isolation and not as part of the delivery of a broad and balanced curriculum. In the last year of Primary school the Cambridge Review concludes that areas of the curriculum which are not formally tested are being less well taught and given less time and space in the classroom. The consequence is a Primary school curriculum where "breadth competes with the much narrower scope of what is to be tested "often leading to a narrowing of the educational experience for children with subjects such as History, Art and Science being given a much lower priority.
Robin Alexander who leads the Cambridge Review maintains the impact of the importance placed on the formal tests is very significant, "our argument is that their [children's] education, and to some degree their lives, are impoverished if they have received an education that is so fundamentally deficient."
The report calls for a new approach to the Primary curriculum with the key competencies being taught and learned within 8 key learning domains, not in isolation. The report argues that a successful curriculum for the 21st century needs to give all 8 areas equal emphasis and value in the classroom.
"The domains should be seen neither as subjects to be timetabled as they stand nor as inviting low-grade topic work. Although time allocated to them will vary, all eight domains, not just some of them are treated as essential."
The proposed domains are:
Arts and creativity;
Citizenship and ethics;
Faith and belief;
Language, oracy and literacy;
Mathematics;
Physical and emotional health;
Place and time (geography and history);
Science and technology.
Proposed alongside these 8 domains are 12 specific aims of a new Primary curriculum, which the report divides into three groups.
The needs and capacities of the individual: wellbeing; engagement; empowerment; autonomy
The individual in relation to others and the wider world: encouraging respect and reciprocity; promoting interdependence and sustainability; empowering local, national and global citizenship; celebrating culture and community
Learning, knowing and doing: knowing, understanding, exploring and making sense; fostering skill; exciting the imagination; enacting dialogue.
Together the 12 aims delivered through the 8 domains are designed to provide a balanced and broad curriculum, which the report points out is every child's statutory right.
The government has commissioned its own review of Primary Education, conducted by Sir Jim Rose. Interim reports from the Rose Review have highlighted the need for a more flexible curriculum in Primary schools proposing six areas of learning.
Although the conclusions of the Cambridge Primary Review's interim reports call for a radical overhaul of the Primary curriculum based on a newly devised set of specific principles whilst the Rose Review's interim report focused on a reform of the curriculum to better meet existing principles, both identify the need for change, specifically in the areas of subject divisions and formal testing. Together they form an unprecedented bank of evidence to inform the decisions to be made about the future shape, structure and aims of Primary Education in England.
Both reviews publish their final reports later this year.
The Cambridge Independent Primary Review website.
We have reported on the previous interim reports in earlier newsletters, please see our Quick Links page for links to all previous articles.