The Education Act (2002) requires that all maintained schools provide a
balanced and broadly based curriculum that:
- promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development
of learners at the school and within society
- prepares learners at the school for the opportunities, responsibilities
and experiences of adult life.
The purposes of the national curriculum, therefore, are to:
- raise attainment, particularly in English, mathematics, science and
ICT
- ensure entitlement for all learners to a broad, balanced and relevant
curriculum that offers continuity and coherence and secures high standards
- induct learners into the essential knowledge, skills and discourse of
subject disciplines and to develop specialisms appropriate to aptitude
- prepare young people for the world of employment and further and higher
education
- make learners more aware of, and engaged with, their local, national
and international communities
- encourage learners to take responsibility for their own health and safety,
and appreciate the benefits and risks of the choices they make
- contribute to community cohesion
- acknowledge, promote and pass on the core knowledge and skills valued
by society to the next generation.
