ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at some subjects whose curriculum treatment shows marked variation, and in particular at three which the DES has recently suggested are cause for some concern in comprehesive schools; modern languages, mathematics and science. In mathematics teaching, the cardinal fact of life is that the response of each child to the range of mathematical activities is different. Children acquire an understanding of concepts and skills at different rates. Planning for the basic course should be much more searching than hitherto with regard to the philosophy of science and interrelationships between the separate subjects. The difficulties with foreign language teaching stem from three sources: conservatism and confusion among many language teachers; uncertainty regarding the aims and extent of such studies; and a failure to place language teaching and its pedagogy coherently in the context of the comprehensive school.
