ABSTRACT
The National Curriculum (NC), as implemented in state maintained primary and secondary schools in England and Wales from September 1989, represented a bold step towards standardizing the school curriculum. Introduced as part of the Education Reform Act 1988 (ERA 1988) the National Curriculum has dominated state education in England and Wales in a way that contrasts sharply with earlier practice, for governments had previously made few interventions into the curriculum taught in schools. Indeed, up until the late 1980s, schools themselves largely determined what and how they taught – the only statutory requirement being that religious education was provided for children, as a consequence of the Education Act 1944. The ERA 1988 was therefore a very significant piece of legislation, the effects of which are seen in schools to this day. It paved the way for the publication of schools’ examination results, the creation of national ‘league tables’ based on schools’ performance, the greater availability of information on all pupils’ attainment, and the restructuring of the subject-based curriculum taught in all state schools.
