ABSTRACT

In 1987 the then Department of Education and Science published a consultative document (DES 1987c) in which the intention to establish a national curriculum in England and Wales was opened up for discussion by, amongst others, the teaching profession. In autumn 1989 the first statutory orders in mathematics and science applied at Key Stage 1 and, according to DES Circular 5/89 (DES 1989a), ‘reasonable time’ was expected to be given to all the nine foundation subjects of the national curriculum and Religious Education. In spring term 1990 Key Stage 1 teachers were involved in Teacher Assessment (TA), attempting to assess pupil performance during teaching time. In the school year 1990-91, the second year of the phasing in of the national curriculum, English, mathematics and science were in statutory orders, and in the summer term of 1991 the teachers were involved in the administration of the national tests, called Standard Assessment Tasks (SATs). In the spring term 1991 they had been required to use Teacher Assessment to establish the levels of performance of their pupils in the core subjects before the administration of the SATs. Teachers at Key Stage 1 became the first teachers to experience the process of implementing the National Curriculum, and this experience might, in principle, help us learn lessons about how to bring about nationwide change in the school curriculum. Equally it might help us understand the obstacles to such change.