ABSTRACT

The question of what to teach in schools is surprising in its controversy. Maya Angelou has written than she first imagined Shakespeare as ‘a black woman’ because his works were so easy to relate to. The other difficulty with what to teach is that some children arrive at secondary school very far behind their peers. Of late, there has been a great deal of curriculum change in England, partially brought about by this new understanding of what people need to the teach. To teach a subject is to introduce pupils to a community and its world, and gradually to fulfil the glorious promise that they, too, can be part of that community and its practices, if they so wish. Teach children the stuff they need to know to do well in intellectual circles. And also teach them to love learning.