On The National Curriculum

Discussing the changing map of the National Curriculum was, in many respects, a microcosm for the larger issues of teaching discussed throughout the week.  Our subject specialist made a point of drawing our attention to the fact that college lecturers are not supposed to make political statements before beginning the discussion. However, the political nature of the National Curriculum is innate to its construction. Politicians have traditionally manipulated education as a political tool and the radical changes that have happened since the last change in political administration in Britain are indicative of that fact. Look at the justification for the changes, learners are to be market place ready. This is, in itself, a deeply political statement. One cannot understand its meaning without understanding a broader political context of its creation.  Furthermore, the way in which party politics manipulates the National Curriculum creates a direct political dialogue between government and student.  The politics of education are played out in Westminster but their impact is in the lives of students throughout the country.

Discussing the National Curriculum brought me to reflect on a discussion we had earlier in the week about teaching literature within the context of varying economic backgrounds and the manner in which academy ideas of great literature are applied without regard to those contexts.  The poet Billy Childish might be a more accessible poet to some students than is William Wordsworth but the demands of the curriculum are set by a group of individuals that is entirely disparate from any given student group.  Therefore, in order to teach William Wordsworth to a class that is cultural disparate from his ideas a socio-political understanding of the class can only be a useful tool.  In teaching, like any form of communication, an awareness of the audience is vital.   Perhaps even more so, given the limited experiences of school age students.

Teaching gives students access to knowledge and creative thought, this in itself is a political act.  Knowing that the audience is a class full of developing minds, the political structure of a lesson should be implicit within the lesson structure rather than an overt statement.  Every lesson should have democratic aims of generating empowerment, knowledge and creative thought.