National curriculum on its way : report of the national steering committee on the implementation of the national minimum curriculum

Abstract

The first of the three Parts of this document is a report on the activities of the National Steering Committee on the Implementation of the National Minimum Curriculum in relation to the terms of reference set for it by the Minister of Education in January 2000. In accordance with these terms of reference, the report is addressed to the Minister. The second Part contains the Strategic Plan for the implementation of the National Minimum Curriculum, a Plan created by the Steering Committee with the aid of specialised action groups, a national conference, and a questionnaire sent to schools. The Strategic Plan is an instrument for the steering and the self-steering of the Curriculum implementation process at school and central levels. A number of Targets are given in the Plan. These must be carried out by schools and others before the end of June 2005; they represent minimal requirements that are being made legally obligatory on all state and non-state schools in the interests of implementing the National Minimum Curriculum. The Strategic Plan is not a substitute for the National Minimum Curriculum, nor is it a substitute for the creativity and autonomy of schools. Schools should follow the National Minimum Curriculum in other ways besides reaching the Targets listed in this Plan. The Targets allow and encourage a great deal of initiative and policy-making at school-level. For work outside these Targets, the Strategic Goals outlined in the present Plan, as well as the NMC itself, will provide the required guidance. The third Part of this document contains a description of central-level bodies, especially the National Curriculum Council, that are to be set up to guide and stimulate the Plan implementation process. They include a number of themebased Focus Groups that may be used by schools as resource persons in connection with the schools' own needs in curriculum implementation, and that will operate according to specific terms of reference.