How crowded is the curriculum?

Ministers say there is scope for greater flexibility in timetables

Is it realistic to expect England's schools to offer pupils five hours of high quality culture every week on top of everything else they have to do?

Schools are required to teach certain subjects but with certain exceptions - an hour of maths and of literacy every day - it is up to them how much time they devote to covering the prescribed curriculum.

Guidance for primary schools from the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), issued in 2002, put the emphasis on "sensible" time allocations and the effective use of time.

It said: "Too much time may produce too leisurely a pace of learning; too little time will make it impossible for a teacher to cover the programme of study.

"Different subjects require different amounts of time."

It added, rather obviously: "The challenge for each school is to decide how to give enough teaching time to the core subjects, while at the same time ensuring that children study a broad and balanced curriculum, in sufficient depth and to the expected standard."

Blurring

A typical junior school will have about 24 hours of teaching time each week.

Lessons and daily assemblies will vary in length between 20 minutes and 75 minutes.

It suggested that English should occupy between a fifth and a third of the timetable and maths another fifth.

Science would get about 9% and other subjects typically 4% to 5% only. They did not need to be taught every week or every term provided the curriculum was covered.

But the QCA's message is that there are no prescribed time allocations, it is up to schools to decide.

And just how much gets devoted to each subject is increasingly blurred because of modern thinking about the curriculum.

This emphasises the connections between what have traditionally been regarded as discrete subjects.

So "geography" might include maths and literacy but also art and elements of history, for example.

There is an emphasis on "overarching themes that have a significance for individuals and society and provide relevant learning contexts".

Changes

In secondary schools a new curriculum for the first few years - Key Stage 3 - comes into effect this autumn in England.

The nature of secondary schools, with largely specialist teachers, makes it harder to break down traditional subject boundaries.

But a "big picture" is being promoted - of schools that are aiming to produce confident individuals who are successful learners and responsible citizens.

There is supposed to be flexibility for schools to build a curriculum that reflects their local context and their learners' "needs, capabilities and aspirations".

Critics say the government constantly talks about giving schools flexibility - then tells them what to do with it.

But ministers argue that fitting in "high quality culture" is a realistic proposition - especially as they envisage some of the five hours a week being in the form of extra-curricular activities.

A spokeswoman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families said: "Schools are not being expected to squeeze this into the curriculum, and it is misleading to suggest that this is an extra burden for teachers to deliver.

"The offer of five hours relates to activities both inside and outside of school."

'Relevance'

The similar previous promise of five hours of PE and sport each week provides something of a model.

Schools are told to think about how the curriculum relates to pupils' lives outside.

"For example, if pupils are being taught balance activities in a PE lesson, they could be shown how these relate to improving their skateboarding skills out of school," the QCA says.

"This will help them to see the relevance of what they are learning and, as a result, they are likely to show greater commitment to PE."

Schools are also warned about where they put things in the day - which can send "a powerful message" about the value they place on different subjects.

"For example, primary schools that emphasise literacy and numeracy in the mornings and timetable PE in the afternoons are making a statement that learning in PE is less important.

"This has a negative effect on pupils' desire to learn and achieve in PE and can lead to pupils not fulfilling expectations."