Many thanks to Paul Springford for the following update of the Rose Review:
Would Queen Victoria be ousted by Twitter? This was not the question most Naace members were asking on the eve of publication last week, having already consigned the alarmist headlines from the previous month to their recycle bins. Even so, with the December 2008 proposals for ICT in Sir Jim’s interim report broadly in line with Naace’s submission to the Review, we were keen to see whether the final report and the detailed programmes of learning would carry these through and deliver something we could still support.
Naace has been responding to press enquiries by stating that the outcomes of the Review meet the key elements of our original submission:
- that ICT capability is an essential attribute for citizens in the 21st century and should be developed as part of the education of all children;
- that treating ICT as a subject in its own right has helped to provide a baseline entitlement for all children;
- that the study of other subjects can be improved through the use of ICT and it should be embedded in all areas of learning and teaching.
It’s fair to say that all these elements are embodied in the new primary curriculum which will be introduced in English schools in September 2011. The Review requires the teaching and learning of ICT to be strengthened “to enable children to be independent and confident users of technology by the end of primary education.” Revised level descriptions for ICT have been drafted to support this ambition and to reflect the importance of e-safety.
ICT retains its place within the core “Essentials for learning and life”, along with literacy, numeracy, learning and thinking skills, personal and emotional skills, and social skills. Naace members will be please to see that ICT capability rather than skills is the term used, and this encompasses learning how to:
- find and select information;
- create, manipulate and process information;
- collaborate, communicate, and share information;
- refine and improve their work.
Besides the core “essentials”, there are six statutory “programmes of learning:
- Understanding English, communication and languages;
- Mathematical understanding;
- Scientific and technological understanding;
- Historical, geographical and social understanding (a change from Human, social and environmental understanding in the Interim Report);
- Understanding physical development, health and wellbeing;
- Understanding the arts.
Each of these, and the non-statutory programme of learning for Religious Education, has the same structure, including an importance statement, essential knowledge, key skills and breadth of learning (i.e.”range of content”). In four of the six statutory key skills statements, and five of the breadth of learning statements, there are significant references to ICT. The programmes of learning then specify what children should be taught in the early, middle and later stages of the primary phase, and in each of the statutory areas ICT is substantially embedded. Members are recommended to look directly at the programmes of learning to see the extent of this. Links are provided below.
The final section of each programme includes a statement of the opportunities for children to “develop and apply” their literacy, numeracy and ICT skills in the particular area of learning. (In the R.E. programme, this is the only reference to ICT.)
While members may take issue with particular details in the programmes of learning, the expectation is clear that primary age children will be entitled to a rich diet of ICT. This will be a challenge to many schools and those who support them, as the report acknowledges in Recommendation 12:
“The DCSF, working with QCA and BECTA, should consider what additional support teachers will need to meet the raised expectations of children’s ICT capabilities and use of technology to enrich learning across the curriculum and set in train adequate support.”
This recommendation has been accepted unconditionally by Ed Balls in the written ministerial response. Naace members will doubtless be ready to advise!
Interestingly, Recommendation 8(ii) has also been fully accepted:
“Schools should continue to prioritise literacy, numeracy, ICT and personal development as the foundational knowledge, skills and understanding of the primary curriculum; the content of which should be clearly defined, taught discretely, and used and applied extensively in each area of learning (our italics).
In other words, ICT capability must be both taught in its own right and developed in cross-curricular contexts.”
Sir Jim refers only briefly to the recent report from the Children, Schools and Families Committee, saying merely that no respondents asked for the compulsory curriculum to be limited to English, maths, science and ICT, as is the case for academies. We might have hoped for more engagement with the arguments which Barry Sheerman and his MP colleagues developed. In line with the Committee, he does stray beyond his remit by commenting indirectly on assessment and testing, reporting the views of “many respondents” that “the current accountability arrangements are in urgent need of reform because schools and teachers may respond to them in ways which encourage pedestrian teaching”. Many Naace members would probably agree and use less diplomatic language.
For some reason Naace is not acknowledged in the organisations consulted. Rest assured that, in addition to our original submission to the review, Naace was consulted before the publication of the interim report and over the content of the programmes of learning. And while individual members are encouraged to contribute to the statutory consultation, Naace will be ready to assist the national agencies as they complete their work on the new curriculum. So it will be important that we continue to debate the issues within our usual channels.
Let’s finish with a few direct quotations from the report.
“… the increasing digitisation of information worldwide… will require digital literacy of all children for their full participation in society. Information required for leisure, work, finance, communication and citizenship will be mediated electronically. In all branches of knowledge, all professions and all vocations, the effective use of new technologies will be vital.”
“Children not only need to learn to use specific devices and applications, they also need to understand the fundamental concepts of safe and critical use.”
“The review has been careful to allow flexibility in the curriculum to take account of new developments in technology.”
“Good teaching will be needed to take these requirements forward and to ensure that technology is not used superficially…”
Naace members, of course, are particularly interested in the role of ICT within the new curriculum. But it is important that we remain aware of the wider context. How better to finish this report than by quoting Sir Jim’s final sentence in his letter to Ed Balls, presenting his report to the Secretary of State who commissioned it:
“I hope the review will help our primary schools to build on their success so that all our children benefit from a curriculum which is challenging, fires their enthusiasm, enriches and constantly enlarges their knowledge, skills and understanding and, above all, instils in them a lifelong love of learning.”
Links
Sir Jim’s full report, Ed Balls’ ministerial response, the draft programmes of learning, and Becta’s contribution to the Rose Review can all be downloaded from www.dcsf.gov.uk/primarycurriculumreview/
At www.naace.co.uk/673 you can read Naace’s original submission to the review;
www.qca.org.uk/qca_22256.aspx links to the QCA consultation on the changes being proposed to the primary curriculum, the teaching of PSHE education, subject level descriptions and the teaching of religious education.
Former Chair of Naace, Terry Freedman, has produced a briefing on the Rose Report, including a comparison of the current and proposed attainment levels. You can register to receive it at http://terry-freedman.org.uk/artman/publish/article_1510.php
Some of the initial press comment can be found at:
Sir Jim Rose should let the teachers get on with it
www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/5262859/Sir-Jim-Rose-should-let-the-teachers-get-on-with-it.html
Did the Rose review prune enough?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/8029929.stm
Bullet points for primary schools
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/8029201.stm
Computers enter learning ‘core’
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/8027271.stm
Digital Safety Conference 2009: 19 June, London
Naace continues to play an active part in the review of the Review. Our professional officer attended an important QCA event last week to launch the consultation, and two members of the board will participate in a Council for Subject Associations conference to respond to Sir Jim’s proposals.
‘Do Londoners care about the environment their children will inherit?’
