Teachers 'should have more say'

The national curriculum was introduced in 1998

Teachers should decide what is taught in schools and not ministers or employers, academics argue.

Those in the classroom are best-placed to judge which topics will bring alive key subjects for the children of today, an Oxford University academic says.

They should act as mediators of the knowledge of previous generations for the youngsters of 2008, the Nuffield Review of 14-19 education says.

A centrally-prescribed, handed-down curriculum limits learning, it adds.

'Rethink'

Professor Richard Pring, who leads the review, says successful teaching depended on the teacher "knowing where young people were" in terms of their understanding and the social and cultural context in which they live.

But teachers should be careful not to focus too closely on the concerns of young people so that the value of what is to be learned is lost, he argues.

"We have to be responsive to young people but we have to have something to offer young people - otherwise teachers are reduced to some sort of childminder," he says.

He adds that given the massive changes to society and problems of youngsters disengaging with their education, there was now a need to review the very nature of the national curriculum.

The Nuffield Review suggested that the government's current overhaul of 14-19 education and the introduction of Diplomas provided a good opportunity for a rethink.

'Continual dialogue'

But Prof Pring warned that teachers must be central players in the Diplomas' development.

A Department for Children, Schools and Families spokesman said there had always been opportunities for teachers to contribute to the development of the National Curriculum, mainly through schools' ongoing contacts with the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA).

"The QCA is in continual dialogue with schools through its advisory groups, and through annual subject teacher questionnaires.

"It also has an ongoing relationship with a number of volunteer schools through its co-development network for curriculum innovation."