1. Research and the Secondary School Curriculum = La Recherche et le Programme d'Enseignement Secondaire.
- Author
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Council for Cultural Cooperation, Strasbourg (France). and Ruddock, Jean
- Abstract
This paper outlines the diversity of support for educational research and the relatively little influence that educational research has had on recent United Kingdom policy for the secondary school curriculum. The document goes on to describe the major change facing U.K. secondary schools: the introduction of the national curriculum and a related program of assessment. The change, carried in the Education Reform Act of 1988, can be understood only in terms of the broader policy for education that the current Conservative government has in mind. School increasingly is conceived within the framework of a market economy. The dominant system of comprehensive schooling is being diversified to provide choice for parents, and choice is made possible by the provision of public information about the achievement of individual pupils and schools. Traditional local control has given way to centralized control, while "accountability" and "consumerism" distinguish the new system. At the same time, the national curriculum offers teachers freedom to determine their own strategies for teaching and learning, design their own work schemes, and choose their own curriculum materials. The paper indicates some reactions to the reforms and summarizes research resulting from the introduction of the new curriculum and, in conclusion, areas research not so directly linked to the recent reforms. (SG)
- Published
- 1992