Critical Review of the Edexcel Curriculum for Functional Skills English?
Critical review of the Edexcel Curriculum for Functional Skills English?
Introduction
In this report I will be critiquing the Edexcel functional skills English Curriculum specifications in an attempt to understand its structure and purpose.
With all aspects of learning it is important to understand what we are actually looking at. Therefore the initial question to ask is. What is a Curriculum?
The Infed website Curriculum theory and practice the encyclopaedia of informal education, offers Vic Kelly’s theory on what a Curriculum is.
Kerr defines Curriculum as, 'All the learning which is planned and guided by the school, whether it is carried on in groups or individually, inside or outside the school. (Also quoted in Kelly 1983: 10; see also, Kelly 1999). (P1).
It is interesting to see that in 1983 Kelly suggests that learning is guided by the school; this could suggest that a Curriculum is produced by the school without any other influence. However, this is not the case. Since the 1970’s there had been increasing concern regarding the education system and its apparent failure to educate the students of the time, this influenced the Prime Minister, James Callaghan (Labour) claiming the right of Government to influence education. Within six years the National Curriculum had been born and successive Governments claimed a firm interest in what was being taught within the education system. It is important to note that ‘an interest’ is not necessarily and educated view, as highlighted by Rhys Griffith when he quotes the views of Professor Brian Cox, the chair of the Working Group tasked with proposing the nature of English in the National Curriculum to Mr Kenneth Baker MP.
‘When my Report was submitted [to Mr Baker] he so much disliked it that he insisted it should be printed back to front. … neither Mr Baker nor Mrs Rumbold [a Minister in the DES] knew very much about the complex debate that has been going on at least since Rousseau
Introduction
In this report I will be critiquing the Edexcel functional skills English Curriculum specifications in an attempt to understand its structure and purpose.
With all aspects of learning it is important to understand what we are actually looking at. Therefore the initial question to ask is. What is a Curriculum?
The Infed website Curriculum theory and practice the encyclopaedia of informal education, offers Vic Kelly’s theory on what a Curriculum is.
Kerr defines Curriculum as, 'All the learning which is planned and guided by the school, whether it is carried on in groups or individually, inside or outside the school. (Also quoted in Kelly 1983: 10; see also, Kelly 1999). (P1).
It is interesting to see that in 1983 Kelly suggests that learning is guided by the school; this could suggest that a Curriculum is produced by the school without any other influence. However, this is not the case. Since the 1970’s there had been increasing concern regarding the education system and its apparent failure to educate the students of the time, this influenced the Prime Minister, James Callaghan (Labour) claiming the right of Government to influence education. Within six years the National Curriculum had been born and successive Governments claimed a firm interest in what was being taught within the education system. It is important to note that ‘an interest’ is not necessarily and educated view, as highlighted by Rhys Griffith when he quotes the views of Professor Brian Cox, the chair of the Working Group tasked with proposing the nature of English in the National Curriculum to Mr Kenneth Baker MP.
‘When my Report was submitted [to Mr Baker] he so much disliked it that he insisted it should be printed back to front. … neither Mr Baker nor Mrs Rumbold [a Minister in the DES] knew very much about the complex debate that has been going on at least since Rousseau