HomeSchooler.org.uk

This relates to another issue - review of the primary curriculum, but shows that our issue is not unique!

"Do governments still know how to conduct thorough inquiries into education? Or are politicians today simply in too much of a hurry to hold genuine, evidence-based inquiries and too wary of asking open-ended questions in case they don't get the answers they want? I have just been comparing Sir Jim Rose's review of the primary curriculum with an illustrious predecessor, the Plowden report of 1967. The contrast is startling.

The schools secretary, Ed Balls, said the Rose review would be a "root and branch" review, comprising the "most fundamental" inquiry into the primary curriculum for a decade.

But Rose's remit was far narrower, his deadline much tighter, and his resources far fewer than those given to his predecessor, Lady Bridget Plowden.

Consider the differences. The Plowden committee was asked to "consider primary education in all its aspects". The Rose review was warned off trespassing on to assessment and testing."...more...