Schools told to avoid cutting curriculum for their own convenience

‘Schools have got some tough decisions but those should be made in the interests of each individual child’

THE head of Ofsted has given schools permission to cut back the curriculum but warned that teachers should not do so just because it is “convenient”.

Amanda Spielman, the chief inspector of schools in England, acknowledged that head teachers have some “tough decisions” to make about the curriculum when pupils return fulltime in September.

But she cautioned that decisions should be made with children’s best interests at heart and said that “big chunks” should not just be cut out of the syllabus in a “blanket way”.

“I very much hope that no one will be jumping to decisions to stop any subject across the board for all children,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “What’s important is that schools concentrate on doing as much as they can.

“No two ways about it, a lot of teaching time has been lost for some children so schools have got some tough decisions to make, but those should be made in the interests of each individual child, not in a blanket way to do what is convenient for the school.”

Her remarks come after the Department

for Education issued guidance, which said that schools must ensure that any gaps in children’s “core knowledge” are filled when they reopen in September.

This could mean making “substantial modifications” to the curriculum at the beginning of the academic year, the guidance said.

For some pupils, entire subjects could be suspended to free space in the timetable for extra English and maths lessons. Such a move should be made in “exceptional circumstances”, following discussions with parents, and the full curriculum should be restored no later than the summer term.

Pupils in their first year of secondary school may need to be retaught the Year Six syllabus for English and maths, and GCSE pupils may be asked to drop subjects so they can concentrate on good grades in those two subjects.

Experts have previously warned that such a move could lead to a “cultural apartheid” with middle-class children receiving an education in subjects such as music and art while their peers from poorer backgrounds are made to focus on English and maths. But Ms Spielman backed the Government’s plans, saying: “It may make sense for a small minority of children to perhaps drop a subject that they might otherwise have been doing.

“Or for some schools to decide that they will provide a curriculum with slightly less scope in some subjects in primary school to make sure that the core English and maths do get fully back on track. But that’s very different to wholesale slicing-out of big chunks of the curriculum”.

Yesterday, Ofsted announced that inspectors will resume their work in schools from September but will not “pass judgment” on whether pupils are catching up with the learning they missed during lockdown.

Inspectors will make “visits” rather than inspections, and schools will not be graded. Instead, the inspectors will hold “collaborative conversations” with head teachers, and the outcome of these discussions will be summarised in a letter to parents.

Head teachers criticised the plans, saying they are unconvinced that the “visits’ will have any real value.

Ofsted said that full inspections are due to start from January.