ABSTRACT
The surveys of secondary and primary education conducted by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate (HMI) and published in 1978 and 1979 (HMI, 1978, 1979) respectively, signalled a major concern. The curricula of both primary and secondary schools were too varied and lacked breadth and balance. In the case of primary schools too much time was spent on English and mathematics to the detriment of what we now call the foundation subjects. HMI reported an absence of history and geography and rather scant attention to science and art and music. Topic or thematic work was done in most schools but this was often poorly planned, repetitive and lacked rigour. In brief, although most primary schools did some topic work and many teachers espoused a belief in independent and exploratory learning, primary schools were still in the grip of the ‘elementary curriculum’. These studies can be seen as marking the beginning of an educational debate that eventually led to the introduction of the National Curriculum by the 1988 Education Reform Act (ERA). HMI were influential in promoting this debate and published from 1984 onwards a series of pamphlets entitled ‘Curriculum Matters’ which sketched out the range of subjects that were to become the National Curriculum.
