| The current English National Curriculum,which began in 1988,is the first nationally consistent standard and system of primary and secondary education in the UK.Since its establishment and implementation,the National Curriculum has been reformed and adjusted by different governments in different contexts,reflecting the differences and coherence in the values of the curriculum,which can be broadly divided into three phases based on the rotation of parties in power: the Thatcherite period from1988 to 1997,The "Third Way" period from 1997 to 2010,and the coalition government period from 2010 to 2016.As the origin of two-party politics,the ideological consensus and differences are reflected in the broad framework of the national curriculum at all times.The main content of this study is therefore to analyses the context,manifestations and connotations of the value orientations of the National Curriculum in the different periods and to summarize the characteristics displayed throughout the process of change,which consists of the following three main parts.The first part is the introduction,which mainly clarifies the background of the study,including the two-party system of government in the UK and the two-track educational tradition that favours elite education;it also defines some of the concepts and the scope of this paper,as well as the reasons for choosing ideology and knowledge perspective as the dimensions of the value orientation of the curriculum to be summarized.The second part,chapters one,two and three,correspond to three different periods of national curriculum value orientations.The chapters in the respective periods first outline the governing philosophy of the political parties from an ideological perspective,and within this broad framework the policy texts are analyzed in order to draw out the characteristics of the national curriculum value orientations in the respective periods.The first chapter describes the neoliberal core of the governing philosophy of the Thatcher and Major governments and its manifestation in education policy.The ideology of the National Curriculum thus set the tone for a focus on diversity and market-based competition,and showed a different emphasis on the science curriculum in its view of knowledge from that of traditional British education.The second chapter illustrates how the Blair and Brown governments were characterised by a 'third way' approach to the Conservative Party,but with reservations.While many of the policies of the Thatcher years were criticised for their over-emphasis on centralisation,the National Curriculum in this period was able to adapt to further marketise education in pursuit of local and school flexibility.In addition,the National Curriculum of this period showed a clear emphasis on skills and everyday experiential knowledge in its view of knowledge.Chapter 3 illustrates the return to a neoliberal philosophy of governance exhibited by the Conservative-led Cameron coalition government that came to power,and the expansion of marketisation of education continued.The quality of education revealed by the long-standing National Curriculum had to be addressed,and the National Curriculum during this period was therefore characterised by a focus on academic knowledge,the 'robust knowledge' that Mike Young argued students should be given.The fourth section,Chapter 4 and Conclusion,summarises and concludes the changes in the values of the National Curriculum between the different periods.Within the scope of the study,the changes in the values of the national curriculum over the last thirty years can be characterised by a consistent neo-liberal tone,an insistence on the marketisation of the school system,and the differences between the two parties' politics on this basis.At the same time use the conclusion to education fair question,for example,has carried on a simple discussion: with consistency and difference related to National Curriculum value orientation change,and the British increasingly serious education fairness has inner link. |
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