The English National Curriculm

I want to begin by explaining why I chose this topic for my presentation. During research I’ve found that some teachers are opposed to the ‘rigid’ guidelines laid out in the NC – a particular gripe in various forums ie TES messageboards. They argue that the NC is too prescriptive and leaves them with no freedom of choice – as evidenced by handout.

To be fair and impartial I decided to give some consideration to their argument. They complain about the lack of choice in choosing authors saying that those selected are stilted, dry and in some cases inappropriate for the modern era. The current reading lists, long lists of long dead authors, could give credence to this claim but a cursory glance at the authors contained in these lists dispels this theory. The range of choice is vast – from Jane Austen to George Orwell. Each section that teachers have to choose from has a wide range of choice to satisfy everyone’s needs. I would conclude that a rich and varied choice is found throughout.

On the other end of the scale, I believe that complete autonomy would result in stu

So what are the positives? Due to time constraints I’ve only focused on two or three. At first reading my attention was immediately drawn to the speaking, listening and group discussion sections. To sum up, it details that pupils should be taught to speak clearly and effectively – using illustrations and examples to back up what they are saying as well as being able to listen in order to understand. I feel the next step to be one of the most important. Group discussions are to be encouraged so that pupils will be taught to listen to and accept other people points of view. These are skills that need to be developed and if the teacher is successful in teaching them then they have equipped the student with necessary life skills under the guise of teaching them English. Students will need to rely on their communication skills for the rest of their lives and it is the teachers duty to ensure that they develop these skills.

So now we’ve identified that the NC does contain variety, we need to consider whether it is balanced. I would argue that it appears so. As I’ve already mentioned, it strives to maintain a balance between canonical and non canonical works of literature. It also places the core skills that need to be developed – speaking, listening, reading, writing – on an equal footing. Admittedly it doesn’t detail how much time a teacher should spend on each one: it leaves the choice up to them.

Fortunately the NC has recognised that pupils don’t want to spend their academic careers only studying canonical works – traditionally white middle class authors. It recognises the potential of non canoni

Some topics in this essay:
West Islamic, George Orwell, , Giving NC, Jane Austen, English Students, Fortunately NC, Merchant Venice, Little Shakespeare’s, teaching english, own literary heritage, range choice, canonical literature, literary heritage, skills developed, jane austen, maintain balance, cursory glance, balanced argue, own writers,