'Problems' with 11-14 curriculum

The new curriculum is designed to be more flexible and engaging

The implementation of the new 11-14 curriculum in England is leading to "less rigour and challenge" in some schools, government inspectors say.

Ofsted's report says some schools have designed skills-based courses involving several subjects, and this can lead to the loss of subject content.

The new curriculum was designed to make more time for "personal" skills.

Ofsted, which visited 37 schools, found positive attitudes among teachers towards the flexibility it allows.

But some schools had made little progress towards implementing the curriculum, which was introduced in September last year.

Ofsted inspectors visited schools teaching Year 7 pupils with a mix of class sizes, in cities and rural areas.

They concluded the planning for and implementation of the new curriculum were outstanding in four of the schools visited, good in 21, satisfactory in eight and inadequate in one.

But another 84 schools were surveyed to assess the effect of the new curriculum on lesson planning.

The report found many teachers welcomed the opportunity to vary their approaches to teaching, make children more active in learning, and that children were also positive about these things.

'Rigour'

But inspectors found many schools were interested in skills-based courses, and found "emerging problems".

These included "the loss of subject content and subject skills development; lack of continuity from primary school experience; lack of rigour and challenge; uneven quality of teaching and artificial 'links' or themes".

The best schools brought cross-curricular skills into the whole curriculum and ensured all skills were sufficiently covered, the report said.

But most schools were less successful because they left subject leaders to interpret the curriculum as they wished.

Ofsted said this was a "lack of clear direction and vision" as senior leaders were not aware of how much weight was being given to personal and thinking skills and how much to subject content.

In some schools this had led to an over-emphasis on some skills and gaps in others.

Functional skills of maths and information and communication technology were poorly integrated into other subjects, the report said.

"In almost all schools, there was evidence that the new curriculum was having a positive impact on students' progress in lessons and their enjoyment of learning.

"However, it was too early to identify a significant impact on students' standards."

Standards

Chief inspector Christine Gilbert said: "It is still early days for the new Key Stage 3 curriculum but our inspectors found a generally optimistic picture with both teachers and pupils positive about the changes.

"Now the task is to ensure that this positive approach in lessons translates into improving standards for pupils in all schools."

When plans for the new curriculum were announced, Schools Secretary Ed Balls pledged to enhance teaching of "the three Rs" and said there would be "no dumbing down".

Children were to learn more general life skills such as cookery, without core subjects being diluted.

Schools Minister Diana Johnson said: "Ofsted tells us that it has freed up the way that teachers teach, and that pupils are enthusiastic about the way they learn.

"This is exactly what we intended it to do.

"We expect the new primary curriculum to have a similarly positive impact on our schools and will make sure that the transition from primary to secondary school is as good as it should be."