ABSTRACT
This chapter examines some of the thinking which seems to be exemplified in the most 'revision' of the English proposals in the National Curriculum, and to indicate some of the ways in which the developments fail to relate to the nature of contemporary British society. That the curriculum in English which is being advanced through the revised National Curriculum proposals is lacking in coherence as well as in roundness. As a result of the complex developments which have taken place since 1989, when the Cox Committee first submitted its proposals, England is left with a curriculum for English which has signally failed to seize on the opportunities to review and plan for future educational and social needs. The chapter explores the possible longer-term developments in the subject and consider ways in which educational planning might in future be related to defining new literacies and to establishing a reformulated curriculum to take beyond the year 2000 with confidence.
