ABSTRACT
In a survey of the curriculum in English schools over the last century, it may seem appropriate that a major review of this area came into effect in the year 2000. As we shall see later, the first National Curriculum, introduced between 1988 and 1992, was heavily criticized as being overloaded and too prescriptive. A review of the curriculum carried out by Sir Ron (now Lord) Dearing in 1993-4 attempted to tackle some of the more immediate problems: many teachers found that they had to reinvent the wheel by preparing personal teaching plans based on the curriculum, and that the National Curriculum was failing to engage a significant minority of 14-year-olds who were as a consequence becoming disaffected with learning. Another serious aspect was that over a third of pupils were leaving primary schools without reaching the expected level of achievement in English and a similar proportion were not meeting adequate standards in mathematics.1
