ABSTRACT
Recent years have seen the introduction of a National Curriculum for state schools in England and Wales. There is already a considerable body of literature on the subject (I include some details of this literature in the references following this chapter). The curriculum proposals have been introduced in stages for different age groups of children and for different subjects of the curriculum. Their introduction has been complicated by a continuing series of revisions and amendments made by successive Secretaries of State for Education during the 1990s. The most recent version of the proposals went through Parliament ('the new orders') in January, 1995, and came into effect from September 1995 for pupils in Key Stages 1 to 3 (pupils of 5 years of age to pupils of 14 years of age). The new orders for pupils in Key Stage 4 (14-16year-olds) come into effect a year later, that is in September 1996. The National Curriculum proposals have entailed considerable changes both to the curriculum which is to be taught in schools and to the methods of assessment schools must use to monitor that curriculum.
