ABSTRACT
The National Curriculum is part of the most far-reaching change in education in England and Wales for the past two decades, affecting all state schooling for 5 to 16 year olds. The National Curriculum in mathematics has reversed this trend, and negated the gains since Cockcroft. In Summer 1987, a Mathematics Working Group for the National Curriculum was constituted. It was made up of nine mathematics educationists, three head teachers, four educational administrators, two academics, one industrialist and one member of the New Right, although not all served for the full. Over the period of time considered, official publications on the mathematics curriculum shifted from the hierarchical content-driven view of the old humanist and utilitarian ideologies towards the progressive educator emphasis on the nature of the learner’s mathematical experience. The only concession is that the curriculum model admits more sophisticated content than the industrial trainer minimum basic skills view.
