ABSTRACT
As well as being a definition of the pupils' learning, 'the curriculum' is also a definition of the teachers' work. The other major criticism repeatedly made by teachers is that the competitive academic curriculum suits some kids, but alienates others-perhaps most. The connections are so close that streaming can virtually be regarded as the institutionalised form of the competitive academic curriculum. In the timetable are fragments of curricula organised in other ways. Their main home is in the ‘subjects’ which do much of their teaching outside conventional classrooms, such as physical education, manual arts art and music. In craft and art teaching this means producing pieces of work which have an intrinsic value for the student. Most of the time this is seen by the teachers as one of the great advantages of their subjects, a guarantee of student involvement; though it can also be felt as a constraint by teachers whose own enthusiasms do not coincide with their students’.
