Children's Attitudes to the National Curriculum at Key Stage 1

Abstract

An investigation of the attitudes of children aged 6‐7 (Year 2) from a variety of different backgrounds towards specific curricular areas is reported. The quantitative analysis revealed that using the computer was the most positively rated of all the activities examined. It was also found that girls had more positive attitudes than boys in a number of areas, particularly in relation to English and ‘coming to school’. Children from ethnic minority groups and those with English as a second language also had more positive attitudes in some areas. The qualitative findings indicate that three key dimensions can be used heuristically to conceptualise children's attitudes towards school activities — interest versus boredom, the level of difficulty, and success versus failure. The results are discussed in terms of current psychological perspectives on children's motivation and of the policy implications of the findings.