Last week, Amanda Spielman published findings from recent research into the primary and secondary curriculum. 

She wrote: “What do we understand to be the real substance of education? When we think about what the core purpose of education is, what comes first to our minds?…At the very heart of education sits the vast accumulated wealth of human knowledge and what we choose to impart to the next generation: the curriculum. Without a curriculum, a building full of teachers, leaders and pupils is not a school. Without receiving knowledge, pupils have learned nothing and no progress has been made.”

This week, the Association of School and College Leaders, where I was previously the director of policy, and Parents and Teachers for Excellence will launch a pamphlet in the House of Commons called A Question of Knowledge. 

We think this evening marks the beginning of a journey: a journey that helps us to better understand what a powerful, knowledge-rich curriculum really looks like - the practice, not the theory. 

The collection of essays in this pamphlet offers some powerful reflections from school leaders on the question of knowledge. We distinguish political argument and appropriation of the topic from the fundamental question and principle of the curriculum itself. We attempt to reposition the question of knowledge away from the political space, firmly in the professional space. What is it that curriculum design ought to do, and what knowledge and skills, in what sequence, can young people be expected to learn?

In the preface to the wonderful book Knowledge and the Future School, Carolyn Roberts and Martin Roberts tell a story written from the perspective of a school leader - of a young man waiting vaguely by your door:

“His mum wants him to check his targets again, so you go over his last report for the third time. He seems satisfied with your explanation and conveys himself back to maths. When you asked him if he enjoyed maths he said he was doing better this term than last and is on target for a C, a relief to you both. But in your darker moments, you wonder what he actually knows, what will remain in his head of the next exam and what he will have made of his education once he moved on. Will he know enough to make a success of his life? What knowledge, you ponder, will help him to understand and make sense of the world? Does he know enough of science, poetry and human endeavour to encourage and sustain him? What have you actually done for him other than measure his ‘attainment’?”

When ASCL and PTE decided together that we wanted to commission and publish this pamphlet, our aim was to give a voice to the many educators who have attempted to answer these questions in their schools.

We hope the pamphlet is a useful contribution, particularly for those school leaders who are looking to explore the question of knowledge and the practicalities of a knowledge-based curriculum It really does matter what children and young people learn. 

The pamphlet can be downloaded here.  

Leora Cruddas is the chief executive officer at Freedom and Autonomy for Schools - National Association (FASNA). She tweets at @LeoraCruddas. Until the summer, she was ASCL’s head of policy

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