Balances in National Curriculum and National Strategies When Lesson Planning - Essay Example

Introduction The essay shall look at challenges in balancing national literacy strategies and curriculum content in light of assessments and timetables. Additionally, the issue of flexibility within curriculum implementation shall also be examined and the education reform act's challenges. Finally, a conclusion will be made on the root causes of these tensions. Balances in lesson planning One of the most prominent features of the national strategy is the issue of literacy. Since mid nineteen nineties, the government decided to implement a literacy hour in all primary schools within the United Kingdom. The strategy required that students be given one hour of literacy classes on a daily basis. In other words, they were supposed to engage in reading and writing classed at any one time. (The BBC, 2009) While the latter strategy may seem like a good thing, there are certain concerns that have been raised about this issue with regard to the curriculum and lesson planning issues. However, before looking into some of these arguments it is essential to understand that there have been some positive outcomes in this regard. First of all, the literacy national strategy has led to better teaching of literacy skills through incorporation into the curriculum. Many experts argue that this may be one of the most important skills to be learnt from school by students. Additionally, the process of balancing the national curriculum with the national strategy is that it necessitated a massive training program for teachers consequently, leading to better knowledge with regard to the process of reading and writing. Through the national literacy strategy, there was a need to change the curriculum so as to incorporate new teaching aspects. For example, it has been found that aspects such as grammar and phonics (which had been previously left out) are now being put into consideration. It should also be noted that through the process of balancing the national curriculum with the national strategy, there have been greater amounts of resources that have been dedicated to primary education in the United Kingdom. In fact, experts assert that numerous schools within the region have restored their libraries and now boast of plenty of books which are now at teachers' and children's disposal. On top of the latter, there are many situations in which teachers have had to include activities and games in the lesson planning process thus making education more colourful and interesting for children. (DFES, 2006) However, it is not just these positive outcomes that have emanated from the latter strategy. In fact, it is a proven fact that whenever there is a government led project within the education sector, certain unintended consequences must emanate from it. For instance it is a big challenge for teachers to balance between three of the following aspects School league tables Targets Tests In the process of balancing between the national curriculum and national strategies, teachers have found that most of their time and attention has been driven towards the issue of tests instead of other learning issues. This matter is further compounded by the fact that there are high stakes in those tests. Most of the time, parents want to find out how their children performed and they usually use this issue as a criterion for success. In the end, the individual who suffers is the child who finds that their mind must always be on the tests. Learning then becomes a boring process for them. It can therefore be asserted that the aims for which these two aspects i.e. the national curriculum and the national strategy were intended in accomplishing actually end being sidelined. (Department for Schools, children and families, 2008) Most of the time, curriculum implementation needs to be done in such a manner that it allows for greater flexibility in the teaching and the learning process. However, the literacy national strategy eliminated this aspect through its rigorous and one size fits all strategy. The taskforce appointed to implement this aspect were very prescriptive in their approach. They gave specific directions on how teachers should teach the literacy hour through the issuance of the "Framework for teaching" guideline. In the latter guideline, teachers were given term to term directions and rules that needed to be adhered to so as to ensure that there was utmost success in the process. The overall outcome of such an approach was that lesson planning was no longer flexible. It had now been boiled down to a step by step adherence of rule implementation. This led to rising tensions in the implementation process because the basic premise in implementation of curriculum guidelines is that teachers need to work out solutions to meet the needs of their specific classes. Nonetheless, such an allowance was not made in the national strategy for literacy. However, it should not be assumed that the government did not respond to this rigidity after hearing of complaints from teachers. In fact, it introduced a new dimension known as the excellence and enjoyment package. The purpose of this package was to ensure that there were elements of creativity and fun in the teaching process. Additionally, the government issued a new framework for teaching literacy that was less prescriptive than the former approach and one that could eventually lead to greater control in the process of understanding the what's, when's and how's of the teaching process. The latter guide also added certain dimensions that had not been found in the original piece such as the matter of vocabulary and speech development. On top of these, it also included issues such as reading for pleasure for children. (DFES, 2006) Irrespective of these recommendations one cannot ignore the fact that there is still a lot of pressure on those respective individuals to ensure that they have adhered to test results and that they have passed them. Also, the issue of targets and league tables has also been eliminated. Consequently, the previous problems associated with this strategy are still existent. Besides this, it has also been found that the latter framework has increased a lot of expectations on the learning process. This is largely because the bar has been raised for under six children in terms of their reading and writing abilities. Experts assert that such an approach could bring out potentially negative effects owing to the fact that it could cause greater tension for boys who have been found to be much slower than girls in the acquisition of these literacy skills. Besides the latter mentioned issues, it should be noted that parents are also not playing their part in adding elements of fun to the learning process. In fact, it has shown that if children are encouraged to read for real purposes such as for sending letters, post cards, shopping lists and holiday diaries, then chances are that their literacy skills will be greater improved. However, with the onset of technology and increased use of the internet, most children may not be in need of improving their reading and writing skills because the internet allows them to communicate with others irrespective of their literacy levels. Matters are further compounded by a lack of commitment from parents to ensure that a reading culture is promoted among their children. This eventually leads to a lot of complications. (Palmer, 2006) Another important dimension in the national strategy for education can be seen through the Educational Reform Act that was passed in the year 1988. Educational researchers claim that this was one of the most comprehensive schemes that had been implemented by education stakeholders. This is largely because it affected the national curriculum is very many dimensions. The first dimension under consideration is the issue of leadership. Prior to the latter reform, central government had a very small part to play with regard to control of the education system. However, after the strategy's implementation, this matter changed dramatically. These days, the local government has been given lesser control in this regard. On top of the latter, it should also be noted that the national curriculum was also designed in such a manner that there were few experts involved in the process. Consequently, this led to difficulties in lesson planning for educators because they had to adhere to reforms that were made in a non professional manner. The Educational reform Act of 1988 also led to differences between the roles of head teachers and teachers themselves. Consequently, implementation of the national curriculum needed to be done in such a manner that it embraced these issues. Researches conducted in various schools within England have shown positive responses from teachers about the effects of the latter implementations in school. Most of the teachers consulted claimed that this particular national strategy has in fact led to greater cooperation between staff members within these schools. It is also particularly interesting to note that communication in most schools has adversely improved. This is a pathway to successful curriculum implementation. Besides this, it should also be noted that the latter strategy has caused a change in classroom teaching. Here, teachers have raised the concern that the issue of curriculum integration has been put under threat. This is largely because most of the following issues Standard assessment Planning Scheduling Class size The national curriculum directly affects all the latter issues and has led to some unforeseen consequences in the education sector due to these implementations. The last and most important theme that one cannot ignore when discussing the latter reform act is the effect that it poses on teachers with regard to the needs of this partciualr profession. It can be argued that certain teachers were not well trained to implement some of these recommendations in the Act and it has therefore been particularly difficult for most of them to balance both curriculum concerns and national strategy concerns in a similar manner. (Palmer, 2006) The National curriculum tests have been an increasingly important aspect of discussion for stakeholders within the education environment. This is largely because it affects most children in the various key stages. In the year 2005, a task force known as the National Assessment Agency was chosen in order to look into these matters. The latter groups were supposed to evaluate some of the national curriculum objectives in the key stages 1, 2, 3. In this research, they looked into the views of about six hundred schools that implemented the strategy. Schools were expected to give their take on a number of issues within the research. First of all, they were required to comment about the level of difficulty within these assessments. Additionally, they were required to give their take on the level of accuracy during the marking process. Besides these, teachers were also expected to talk about the content in these assessments. In other words, they were required to discuss whether the questions were actually deemed as relevant. Because the success of the assessment process can also be treated as a form of service delivery, it was essential to look into some of the issues that were related to this matter. For example, teachers also had to comment about the process of ordering for the tests, the process of script reception and materials for marking as well as the support required from the National Assessment Agency. (Palmer, 2006) The research found that teachers were content with the results that the test was producing in relation to the national curriculum. It can therefore be said that the process of balancing this national strategy (of testing children) and the national curriculum in terms of test relevance has been rather accurate and hence positive. Teachers asserted that pupils were engaged in a manner that was appropriate enough for them and that what they were taught in the national curriculum fell in line with what they were being taught. It was also interesting to note that schools were in fact very positive about the services provided by the national assessment agency. In other words, they felt supported and that the implementation process of their curriculum would also fall in line with these dimensions. However, it should be noted that not all the results were positive. Certain schools felt that there was still a need for the National assessment agency to step up their service delivery roles and provide them with a stable background for achieving these kinds of measures. Part of the national strategy for primary schools is improvement of numeracy skills. The latter issue has been a centre of concern for many schools given the fact that national averages in the field of mathematics had been problematic before the reform. Surveys have shown that numeracy levels within various schools have tremendously improved. It can therefore be said that these targets have been attained. (Department for Schools, children and families, 2008) However, before one can fully ascertain the national strategies on literacy and numeracy have been attained and that all is well within this field, it is essential to understand that English and Mathematics are not the only subjects covered in schools. M any institutions that have fewer resources tend to concentrate their efforts on these core subjects and leave less time to the other subjects which may be just as important. For instance, it has been shown that schools with fewer resources tend to allocate most of their time to the core subjects and ignore subjects such as religious studies. Conversely, some schools may allocate time within their timetables to these non-core subjects but it is common to find that most of them rarely implement them in reality. It is also common to find time located for subjects such as religious studies being dedicated to mathematics just so that national strategies can be achieved. It is therefore difficult for poorly endowed schools to balance between national strategies and the curriculum in this regard. Conclusion National strategies on numeracy and literacy have been very elaborate and diverse. This has exerted a lot of pressure on teachers and students alike with great concern being given on the issue of balancing the needs laid out in national strategies with needs put out in the curriculum. Usually, these discrepancies arise out of a shortage of resources in some schools while others emanate from conflicting obligations to parents, teachers and local educations agencies. References The BBC (2009): The national curriculum for five to eleven year olds, retrieved from http://www.direct.gov.uk/examstestsandthecurriculum accessed on 13 January 2008 Department for Schools, children and families (2008): Primary framework for literacy and mathematics, TES report DFES (2006): The National Literacy Strategy, retrieved from http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/primary/literacy accessed on 13 January 2008 Palmer, S. (2006): Ofsted evaluation research on the National Literacy Strategy, Select Committee report on teaching children to read Read More