ABSTRACT
The introduction of the Key Stage 3 English strand could be an important, but burdensome, time for an English department, as it gives a rare opportunity for the English team to reconsider and possibly change planning procedures to outline more focused learning intentions. A department will of course make what modifications it deems necessary, depending on how effectively it currently sets about planning. The NLS directors responsible for the Key Stage 3 programme claim that they do not want teachers to rewrite all their planning documentation:
Many schools will wish to adapt their existing format, bearing in mind the requirements . . . Although the Framework implies new emphases, it is expected that much of the existing Schemes of Work will be easily adapted. Most important is the need to organise teaching around specific objectives in the Framework; simply touching on them is not enough. Therefore, the job of measuring up existing Schemes of Work to the Framework is more than a tick-list activity: it is a matter of re-orientating what is done, rather than adding in extra topics.
(DfEE 2001a: 19)