ABSTRACT

We want to argue in this chapter that the educational ‘reforms’ of the 1980s and 1990s largely ignored pupil experience, the issue of motivation and even learning itself. We would suggest that the period was dominated by a mind-set which prioritized curriculum specification, its delivery through instructional teaching, and the measurement of results. Whilst this may seem to represent the gradual achievement of a more ‘efficient’ system, we fear that it could actually undermine children’s dispositions to learn and thus have unintended consequences in terms of ‘lifelong learning’.