The document discusses the UK government's three-pronged approach to implementing the new national curriculum: system leadership, teaching materials, and communications. It focuses on expanding leadership roles for effective schools, developing new teaching resources in priority subjects through expert groups, and raising awareness of curriculum reforms and available support through various channels. Implementation will be school-led with flexibility, while maintaining high standards outlined in the reformed programmes of study across subjects.

1. Delivering the new national
curriculum
BETT Leaders Summit, 23 January
Jim Magee, Assistant Director, DfE
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2. Aims
To discuss the three strands of the government’s approach to
delivery within a school-led system:
 system leadership
 teaching materials
 communications – raising awareness
…providing a sense of what’s being done by government,
and what by others

3. Overall approach
“…But what really matters is that this is a new approach to
education, one that gives head teachers and schools far
greater freedom. How they implement the national
curriculum is down to them.
There will be no new statutory document telling teachers
how to do their job. No national strategies telling teachers
everything that they have to do. No national roll-out. This is
a huge cultural shift.”
Elizabeth Truss, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (education
and childcare) Speech at: http://www.education.gov.uk/inthenews/speeches/a00222888/felcom
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4. Recap on the review
 new national curriculum sees government setting
out the ‘what’ (at a high level) – making sure that
pupils grasp the concepts – and not the ‘how’
 shorter programmes of study setting out core
content – especially in foundation subjects and key
stage 3
 fuller for key stage 1-2 maths and English, but so
important

5. 1. System leadership
 Moving to a school-led system a key feature of the
government’s policy – less well reported
 real expansion of system leaders across England:
• 355 teaching schools, 299 alliances, with c.20
schools per alliance
• over 800 national support schools (NLEs)
• Over 2000 LLEs
 Schools Direct – major shift in delivering ITE

8.  announced £2m to help teaching schools to support
schools in their alliance and beyond to plan for
change
 aiming for geographical coverage, some proposals
working with hundreds of schools
 focus on primary, mathematics, English, science,
computing and languages
 supporting change management – auditing
strengths, identifying materials
Supporting the new curriculum

9. 2. Teaching resources
 This curriculum makes new demands of teachers’ subject
knowledge
 schools’ needs will differ and it is for them to identify their areas
for development
 government is focussing investment in priority areas – maths,
science, computing
 ‘expert groups’ have been looking at the challenges of the new
curriculum for ITE and serving teachers and how they might be
addressed
 subject associations and publishers developing new materials:
http://www.besa.org.uk/home, http://www.publishers.org.uk/;
 Good CPD guide: http://goodcpdguide.com/

10. Curriculum change
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National college have developed online resources to help
schools plan curriculum change:
http://www.education.gov.uk/nationalcollege/leadingcurricu
lumdevelopmentresource
o how good is your current curriculum?
o what makes a great curriculum?
o how can learning be organised?
 Reena Keeble on leading change in her school:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trfAzeifaIY

11. Mathematics
 high expectations consistent with age-related expectation in high performing
jurisdictions e.g. Singapore and Massachusetts
 multiplication tables – up to 12x12 by end of year 4
 fractions – harder content on calculations, including multiplication and
division, by end KS2
 formal written methods e.g. long division
 NCETM new micro-site: https://www.ncetm.org.uk/resources/40851
 Mathematics Education Strategic Hubs (MESH) – 30 teaching school led hubs,
supporting others in their area
 Debbie Morgan (NCETM): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4aDZEZaF_A
 Andrew Carter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSMkgNu3ptw
 Helen Drury:
http://community.tes.co.uk/national_curriculum_2014/b/mathematics1/archive/2013/1
2/13/secondary-maths-in-the-national-curriculum-by-dr-helen-drury.aspx

12. English
 Greater emphasis on grammar, spelling and punctuation and higher
expectations of spelling at an earlier age
 Focus on fundamentals of spoken and written word and reading and
understanding a wide range of books and poetry
 Expert group: National Literacy Trust hosting a free planning tool:
http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/schools_teaching/curriculum
 Phonics programmes and resources
http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/teachingandlearning/pedagogy/phonic
s/b00198579
http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/teachingandlearning/pedagogy/a0019
1791/match-funding-for-systematic-synthetic-phonics-products-and-training
 article from James Clements:
http://community.tes.co.uk/national_curriculum_2014/b/english/archive/2013
/12/05/english-in-the-national-curriculum-by-james-clements.aspx

13. Science
 more precision, introduced in line with high performing
jurisdictions
 focus on core fundamentals of science
 coherence in working scientifically from key stage 1 to 4
 STEM centre: www.nationalstemcentre.org.uk/primaryscience
 Expert group materials: http://www.nationalstemcentre.org.uk/stem-
in-context/support-for-science-ITE
 Pauline Hoyle podcast:
http://community.tes.co.uk/national_curriculum_2014/b/science/archi
ve/2013/12/05/watch-pauline-hoyle-on-the-science-curriculum.aspx

14. Computing
 much greater focus on practical experience of programming and
understanding the fundamental principles of computer science.
 From ages 11 to 14, pupils will be taught how to code and use a
range of programming languages to help solve computer
problems
 extended Master Computer Teachers programme
 Computing at school (CAS) network
http://www.computingatschool.org.uk/
 recently announced £1.1m scheme for
supporting primary teachers
 http://www.codecademy.com/schools/curriculum
 expert group resources:
– https://sites.google.com/site/primaryictitt/
– https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbW
FpbnxwcmltYXJ5aWN0aXR0fGd4OjE2ZTMyM2Y1NTM0ZjdiNTE
– https://sites.google.com/site/primaryictitt/home/research

15. History
 chronological approach across key stages 2 and 3
 new periods at key stage 2
 key skills to be developed within historical knowledge
 Free expert group materials to be available at: www.history.org.uk
 National Archives:
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/victorians/ViewSection.aspx
 Free school trips: http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/education
 First World War battlefield tours:
http://www.ioe.ac.uk/research/87073.html
 Holocaust programmes – two students from every school/sixth form
college in England to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau

16. Geography
 greater clarity on locational knowledge
 more content on human and physical geography
 greater emphasis on fieldwork
 expert group materials:
– range of overview pieces, on pedagogy and thinking
geographically
– guidance on locational, map work, fieldwork
 available at: http://geognc.wordpress.com

17. Languages
 new requirement to teach foreign languages in primary schools at
KS2
 new content on translation at KS3
 literature at KS3 – more explicit reference to reading literary texts
 grammar and vocabulary at KS3
 Linda Dupret: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKPcpJtfKhI
 Expert group overview of materials to be hosted at www.all-
languages.org.uk
 Free materials, e.g.
– Mandarin: http://ciforschools.wordpress.com/teaching-
materials/primary-materials/
– Japanese:
http://www.jpf.org.uk/language/primaryjapanesecampaign.php

18. Design and technology
 Pupils to be taught a variety of approaches to the design,
e.g. biomimicry
 increase in the level of sophistication in the use of
electronics
 cooking now compulsory at KS3, and wider range of
content
 DATA and expert group have produced:
– annotated guide to the KS 1-3 programmes of study
– and six principles for guiding and evaluating practice,
with examples and questions to prompt reflection
– both of these tools are available at
https://www.data.org.uk/for-education/curriculum/dt-
national-curriculum-for-england-2014/

19. Music
 Greater focus on music-making and for activities to be
undertaken musically
 Greater emphasis on encouraging pupils to progress to
the next level of musical excellence
 More emphasis on listening with discrimination to high
quality live and recorded music
 Music hubs
 http://www.musicmark.org.uk/about-our-members/music-
services-directory
 Expert group materials due to go live at:
www.teachingmusic.org.uk

20. PE/sport
 More emphasis on being physically active in PE and on competitive sport
 Dance introduced to key stage 3 for the first time
 Strengthening opportunities for activities outside of school, for example links
between school and community/club sports (supported by, for e.g. the
Satellite Clubs programme)
 Expert group materials on the AfPE website:
http://www.afpe.org.uk/advice-on-new-national-
curriculum
 Primary sport premium (information, examples and
useful links to organisations):
https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/getting-more-
people-playing-sport/supporting-pages/school-pe-and-
sport-funding

21. Art and Design
 stronger focus on the teaching of drawing from an early
age
 new emphasis on knowing about the historical
development of art through a greater emphasis on
teaching about great artists and designers
 new open-source expert group materials will be on the
subject association’s site: www.nsead.org

22. Citizenship
 Greater focus on political systems and UK government
 Requirement that all children should have the
opportunity to perform voluntary work in their community
 Personal financial education
 free materials at:
http://www.teachingcitizenship.org.uk/resources
 free personal financial education materials at:
http://www.pfeg.org/
 established an expert group on citizenship – more to
follow

23. 3. Raising awareness
We’re raising awareness of:
 the curriculum reforms themselves
 what’s already available to support teachers – there’s
quite a lot out there
 schools that have already introduced elements of the
new curriculum, such as those in the maths mastery
network
 we are going where teachers go – TESonline, Guardian,
SLT chat and through our media channels

24. REFERENCE LIBRARY: www.gov.uk/dfe/nationalcurriculum - final PoS and links to
funded resources
DIRECT
COMMS
SHOWCASE AND AMPLIFY OTHERS’ WORK
COMMERCIAL: publishers, conference organisers, membership orgs (e.g. Scholastic,
+ Flickr, Itunes,
Slideshare, Linked
In, media
FACILITATE / SUPPORT OTHERS TO
COMMUNICATE
Tweet-meets
Supersharers
Other
subject
communities
Expert groups
Public Twitter
lists
ASCL,
NAHT, NGA
Subject
associations
Bloggers
and
tweeters
Playlists
RTs
Reposts
+ NCTL channels
#NCready?
Aggregators

25. Looking ahead
 September 2014: first teaching of national curriculum,
except years 2 and 6 for English, mathematics and
science, and key stage 4 EMS
 May 2015: final key stage 2 tests based on previous
curriculum
 May 2016: first new key stage 2 tests and whatever
baseline assessment is decided after consultation
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26. Links and contact details
National curriculum contacts:
 Jim.magee@education.gsi.gov.uk
 Gillian.machin@education.gsi.gov.uk
 Vince.jubb@education.gsi.gov.uk
 National curriculum information sheet:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-
curriculum-and-assessment-information-for-schools
 DfE TES page:
http://community.tes.co.uk/national_curriculum_2014/b/default.
aspx
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