Last updated: 05 Feb 2007

The proposed programmes of study will give teachers a more flexible, less prescriptive framework for teaching, creating more scope to tailor the curriculum to meet the needs of each individual student. The change of focus within the curriculum will provide a firm foundation for education post -14, and includes specific transitional material to ensure smooth progress to key stage 4 and beyond.

Ken Boston, Chief Executive of QCA said:

"The National Curriculum has been a feature of education in England since the late 1980s and it is vital that it develops over time. This review is an important step in modernising the curriculum for children aged 11 and above. This online consultation provides an opportunity for everyone to participate in shaping this new curriculum.

"Whilst the content and core values of the programmes of study remain at the heart of the curriculum, we want to examine the aims as well - why a subject matters as well as learning about it. We are seeking to make learning an active rather than passive event, encouraging field trips and study outside classrooms in an effort to get pupils to understand how these subjects are related to the outside world.

"We also want to encourage schools to be innovative in the way that they plan the school timetable. Teaching subjects together, group projects or school visits can all help to make pupils more enthusiastic about learning. Through creating this kind of curriculum, we will achieve our objective of producing successful learners, confident individuals and responsible citizens."

John Dunford, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said:

"This review will offer schools the prospect of opening up the curriculum in a way that has not happened since the national curriculum came into being in 1988."

Notes to editors

• The consultation on the revised programmes of study and supporting materials can be found at www.qca.org.uk/secondarycurriculumreview/.
• Further information on the secondary curriculum review can be found at http://www.qca.org.uk/11717/aspx.
• The formal consultation period will run from 5 February 2007 to 30 April 2007. Schools will receive the final statutory programmes of study in autumn 2007 for teaching from autumn 2008. There will then be a three-year period from 2008-2010 for schools to implement the revised programmes of study.
• For further information, please call the QCA press office newsdesk on 020 7509 6789.
• Members of the general public requiring further information should contact the QCA customer helpline 020 7509 5556 or for queries on the secondary curriculum review, please contact curriculumreview@qca.org.uk.