The funny thing about the new National Curriculum, published today, is that after all the fuss of the past few months, particularly over the history curriculum, it’s probably the last ever national plan from the government. As more and more schools convert to academy status, and more free schools pop up to compete with poorly-performing schools, there will be fewer and fewer who must conform to this: the rest have been given freedom to teach what they judge is best for their pupils. Michael Gove’s critics like to argue that he is a great centraliser, dictating the curriculum from Westminster while claiming to give schools freedom. But he only remains a centraliser where schools remain subject to centralisation and local authority control.
But today’s announcement gives the Conservatives a number of attack lines. The first is the inevitable ‘global race’ line, with the curriculum being sold as an attempt to bring this country’s school system into line with the best-performers in the world.
The second is that Michael Gove can argue that he is the parents’ champion, offering their children a rigorous education in the state system, with fractions being taught to five-year-olds. The contrast is Labour as the teachers’ champion. Stephen Twigg has said all schools would receive curriculum freedoms, which is all very well if all those schools ready for those freedoms. But it also means he doesn’t have to make the difficult decisions over what should be included, and he wouldn’t need to decide whether to change the history curriculum to cheer up the unions if Labour made it into government in 2015.
So it’s another example of weakness at the top of the Labour party: and one which the gleefully pugnacious Gove will almost certainly exploit.
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