ABSTRACT

A decade ago, hopes were high. At least, they were so among those interested in the promotion of primary–secondary curricular continuity in science. The Department of Education and Science had introduced Education Reform in England and Wales with the assertion: ‘A National Curriculum will … help children’s progression within and between primary and secondary education and will help to secure the continuity and coherence which is too often lacking in what they are taught’ (DES 1987: 4). Similarly the Department of Education Northern Ireland, while somehow managing to omit mention of children at all, declared ‘… the new common curriculum (will) guarantee a continuity of curriculum content throughout primary and secondary education’ (DENI 1988: 13). In Scotland, the document launching the 5–14 Development Programme (Scottish Education Department 1987: 7) indicated it would address ‘… curricular discontinuity, especially in the four years between P6 and S2’.