ABSTRACT
The pursuit of curriculum continuity in the compulsory phases of education has been the goal of educationalists, policy makers and various other interested bodies for many years. The Hadow Report (1931), for example, considered that there should be no sharp divisions: compulsory education provision should be a ‘coherent whole’. The equally famous Plowden Report, charged with examining the ‘transition to secondary education’, recognized that many secondary teachers ‘involuntarily or deliberately repeat work that has already been attempted’ (1967: para. 446). Other official reports followed suit (e.g. Bullock 1975) and in 1982 Cockcroft, in considering mathematics education, took the view that:
the greatest problems exist on transfer to secondary school…. These schools often receive pupils from a large number of contributory schools…the spread in mathematical attainment of these pupils can be very great and…it is not very easy to make sure that pupils continue their mathematical education at a level and speed which is appropriate.
