The Common Core Curriculum: Reflections on the Current Debate

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Abstract
The current quest for a common core arises ostensibly out of the expansion and diversification of the curriculum in recent years. Some hundred years ago, schools in London followed the London Board syllabus drawn up by a committee chaired by Professor T. H. Huxley. This laid down a compulsory and a voluntary curriculum; the former had to be covered in all schools, the latter was pursued at the direction of school managers. Little chance of the ‘unacceptable variety’ or ‘patchwork curriculum’ noted by HMI in their working papers Curriculum 11‐16 (DES, 1977(a)). In this paper we first examine some of the concepts associated with, and questions arising from, the phrase ‘common core curriculum’, and then consider the present practice of schools, particularly in the two years immediately preceding statutory leaving age when a range of options is commonly provided as well as a compulsory ‘core’ curriculum. The paper concludes that a question of major importance in the present system concerns the procedures schools employ to guide pupils to courses which, on the one hand, provide for individual interests and abilities, and, on the other, provide an adequate range of educational experiences.

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