The changing role of the primary school curriculum co‐ordinator

Abstract

The paper examines the changing role of primary school curriculum co‐ordinators following the implementation of the 1988 Education Reform Act and in the context of recent government and OFSTED exhortations for better subject teaching. Based upon qualitative data from a national sample of 50 schools in England and Wales, it argues that several factors have recently raised the status and influence of curriculum co‐ordinators in schools. They were playing a major role in whole‐school curriculum planning and policy‐making and were raising the collective confidence of staff in their subjects. However, co‐ordinators’ abilities to modify other teachers’ pedagogies were limited by their colleagues’ lack of subject knowledge. In addition, if co‐ordinators are to meet the new demands of their role and have more influence as change agents, they need courses and in‐school support to develop a range of skills, including people management, evaluation techniques and the provision of INSET. Co‐ordinators in some of the sample schools were involved in area networks for specific subjects; they met on a regular basis, rotating around each other's schools, to share initiatives and concerns. In only a few schools was supporting teachers in their classrooms a regular planned and timetabled activity. Lack of non‐contact time militated against such collaborative activities. So also did inter‐personal factors, such as differences in status and authority and feelings of insecurity on behalf of the co‐ordinator, and aspects of the traditional culture of primary schools, which respects class teacher individuality, privacy and autonomy. The paper argues that, because the introduction of the National Curriculum has greatly increased the planning, classroom preparation and assessment responsibilities of class teachers and brought an extended role to curriculum co‐ordinators, the funding disparities between primary and secondary school staffing are no longer justifiable.

KEYWORDS:

• primary
• co‐ordinator
• subject‐specialism
• education policy
• INSET