6. The curriculum

‘The curriculum’ argues that the generally accepted feeling is that the curriculum has been the jealously guarded province of teachers and education professionals, never to be penetrated by the common sense of politicians or public. This led to the establishment of the National Curriculum in the UK and a clutch of other European countries in the 1980s. Recent moves in the USA have aimed to introduce similar conformity, including the Common Core State Standards Initiative in 2010. This subject can't ignore the influence of ancient curricula and Jerome Bruner’s spiral model of the curriculum. What are the effects also of the hidden curriculum and the proliferation of tests on the curriculum?