ABSTRACT
The school curriculum has been a topic of intense debate for many years; in the last 15 years, in England and Wales, the debate has firmly focused on the National Curriculum. In 1988, in over 20,000 UK schools the curriculum changed-this magnitude and type of state intervention in education is unprecedented. It is now 15 years since the Educational Reform Act (ERA) and during these years the curriculum has undergone both major and minor revisions. The implementation of the original proposals was swift: four years after the ERA most significant features were in place. In all state schools in England and Wales, for example, it was possible to identify the subjects and content that all pupils were entitled to receive (ages 5 to 16). Further modifications were made in 1995 and extensive consultation has led to the implementation of a revised National Curriculum and new GCSE syllabuses in 2000 and the introduction of Key Stage 3 strategies.
