ABSTRACT
In July 1982, the Secretary of State for Education, Sir Keith Joseph, launched the Lower Attaining Pupils Programme, the first major national curriculum to be managed directly by the Department of Education and Science. The critical balance between behaviour and pupil achievement, where pupil energies are increasingly towards misbehaviour and away from success in curriculum matters for the disaffected pupil, is slowly re-adjusted as behavioural energies become focused on improvement in school work. The initial problem facing teachers in Oxfordshire schools was the critical one of how to plan and execute an effective curriculum for pupils of possibly low motivation, poor self-esteem, and whose expectations for gaining meaningful employment on leaving school were low. Oxfordshire teachers attempted to identify, through check–lists, discussions with pupils, teacher observations, test and examination results and discussion with parents, areas of difficulty in terms of motivation, behaviour, aptitude and performance.
