ABSTRACT
In many countries, a statutory subject-based curriculum for primary schools exists. The links that bind the strands of learning have been separated and have resulted in many schools adopting themes, in an attempt to contextualise the children’s learning. In order that children will avoid repetition during their primary years, these themes tend to be fixed, so that, for example, all primary 1 children might be faced with a whole term of ‘Myself and My Family’ or ‘Toys’. I can see the reasoning behind such a move, which encourages consistency across year bands and ensures that children don’t spend their entire primary education drawing pictures of dinosaurs, but I found that my creativity was stifled by such an imposed restraint. I was happy to work with the curricular requirements, but the way I did it needed to inspire me, otherwise I could not pass enthusiasm on to the children.
