Commenting on the passing of Motion 9 at the Annual Conference of the National Education Union, Dr Mary Bousted, Joint General Secretary of the National Education Union, said:
“Teachers do not assume that there is a single, best way to teach. Each school and child is different; one size certainly does not fit all. Decades of research and experience support this view, but in England teachers are faced with being told the opposite.
“Central control deepens the crisis in our schools. Teachers do not seek the right to do as they please in the classroom, but they expect their professionalism to be valued, and their professional agency in matters of curriculum and pedagogy to be developed. NFER research confirmed last month that 'teacher autonomy is strongly associated with job satisfaction and retention'. In England that autonomy has been eroded, adding to the problems of recruitment and retention.
“Ofsted's curriculum research reviews are anonymous, not peer-reviewed and often of poor quality. Yet leaders in many schools feel they have no choice but to adopt Ofsted's conclusions. The Oak National Academy, the government's ‘arm’s length’ organisation, is developing a curriculum explicitly aligned with the narrow principles of its parent body, the Department for Education. The fact that Ofsted members sit on Oak's subject expert panels sends another message to schools that they should do things the government way.
“Added to the impact of end-of-course tests in both primary and secondary sectors, the centrally controlled curriculum is creating an education with which students are finding it increasingly hard to engage.
“NEU members will continue to advocate for a variety of engaging, creative and rigorous curriculum approaches which reflect the individual needs of the students they teach. They will oppose the strait-jacket that government initiatives are imposing on schools.”
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2023-047-NEU