ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors suggest ways that the manner in which the National Curriculum is taught is being influenced and manipulated. They highlight implications of both a curricular and pedagogical nature for educationalists and teachers of Key Stage 1 pupils in particular. Despite the rhetoric that the National Curriculum was about what to teach rather than how to teach there were pedagogical issues that arose from it. K. Tyler reports that some of the guidelines suggest the use of curriculum specialists. The presentation of the curriculum as discrete subject packages appeared to conflict with the thematic and cross-curricular approaches beloved of the primary practitioner and advanced by such initiatives as the Technical and Vocational Education Initiative. The statements of competences included in the 1993 proposals for initial teacher training require the new teachers to demonstrate relevant knowledge and understanding of the National Curriculum.
