New National Curriculum documents released...



It's been a while coming, but there were new curriculum documents released today, as well as some feedback on the consultation process, that involved a range of organisations and individuals, and you can download the document as a PDF here....

Here's the responses for Geography....

Question 9: Do you have any comments on the revised draft programmes of study or attainment targets for geography? 

There were 302 responses to this question.

114 (38%) Yes

188 (62%) No


29 respondents (25%) welcomed the revised geography programmes of study, in particular the greater demand in relation to a pupils’ acquisition of geographical knowledge, understanding and skills; the reduced repetition of content across the key stages; and the rebalancing of human and physical geography.

29 respondents (25%) viewed the strengthening of climate change as a significant improvement in the revised curriculum. 14 respondents (12%) welcomed the increased profile of environmental geography
throughout the key stages.

31 respondents (27%) were concerned that the programmes of study did not make sufficient reference to the need for all pupils to develop relevant geographical enquiry skills, which limited the ambition for pupils in this area.2

29 respondents (25%) were unhappy with the lack of reference to sustainability and globalisation. Some of these respondents felt that there was a need for pupils to learn about global economies and called for coverage of the ‘big debates’ at key stage 2 when pupils’ views and attitudes are formed.

17 respondents (15%) felt that key stage 2 was too occidental, limited to teaching about the United Kingdom, Europe, and North and South America. Some of these respondents felt that key stage 2 should allow teachers to teach pupils about other cultures which were not well represented in the community.

16 respondents (14%) felt that the proposed curriculum content was too narrow and called for greater breadth and detail.

14 respondents (12%) welcomed retention of fieldwork and outdoor study in the curriculum. Some of these respondents believed that the curriculum should include an explicit reference to the amount and type of fieldwork which should be covered at key stage 3, whilst others believed that time outside the classroom was difficult to organise due to increasing costs.

Comments