Cribsheet daily 20.01.11

Facts and figures, dates and drills: a new school curriculum is on its way

"I like Gove's new syllabus: algebra, divinity, rhetoric, sewing for the girls and a school trip to the workhouse. Great."

That's the Twitter view of comedian @davidschneider on the morning the education secretary announces a review of national curriculum.

Gove says it'll be pared down to focus on core knowledge in traditional subjects, restoring a old-fashioned emphasis on facts and figures. He's concerned at the lack of historical figures mentioned in the present history curriculum – except for two associated with the abolition of slavery – and accuses Labour of ditching specific knowledge in favour of themes that cut across the curriculum.

Not that he's telling headteachers what to do or anything. Autonomy, that's what he wants in schools. Autonomy and a whole new curriculum.

Retired teacher Janet Downs has done a blog on whether he's a Stalinist or a libertarian.

Citizenship teachers fear their popular subject will cease to be compulsory in the new curriuculum and warn that England will become politically illiterate as a consequence.

The DfE is canvassing opinion on the curriculum on its Facebook page, @SchoolDuggery points out. It also tweets:

"Lots of headteachers and ex-headteachers on the advisory committee, but no class teachers. Expert panel is all academics."

Inspired no doubt by Gove's call for facts and figures, the Telegraph has drawn up a timeline of key dates in the evolution of the national curriculum.

And the education secretary has himself put pen to paper for the Telegraph. Most of his piece blames Labour for … oh, you know, all the usual.

More education news from the Guardian

• MPs hammered the final nail into the coffin of the Education Maintenance Allowance yesterday, voting against Labour's bid for its reprieve by 317 votes to 258, a government majority of 59. The defeat follows a passionate campaign by teenagers, many of whom say losing the grant will put an end to their studies.

• The Refugee Council has stepped into the row over Palingswick House currently housing organisations working with refugee groups and other vulnerable people, but earmarked by Toby Young as a prospective home for his new "free school".

Young himself heaped scorn on his critics yesterday:

"I know education is a political football, but is it too much to hope for a bit more accuracy and balance in the coverage of free schools?"

Education news from around the web

• MPs say school science is being "undermined by poor teachers and laboratories", the Telegraph reports. The Commons public accounts committee said reforms introduced by the last government had led to a rise in the status of school science but there were too few science teachers and facilities were "unsatisfactory and even unsafe" in a quarter of secondary schools.

• The Independent reports that despite the coalition's insistence that spending on schools will increase, headteachers are preparing to make big cuts to their staff. Class sizes are likely to rise, and subjects to disappear.

• The University and College Union, which has about 65,000 higher education members, will hold a series of ballots for industrial action next month, potentially leading to strikes in March, over jobs, pay and pensions, reports the THE.

Two views of the English bac

SecEd doesn't beat about the bush when it comes to the English baccalaureate:

"Education minister Michael Gove's assertion that the five A* to C GCSE including English and maths benchmark is still the "key performance measure" is a joke.

All you need do is peruse the newspapers and you will see that from now on, the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) is all that matters in the eyes of journalists, parents, and indeed to Mr Gove. This is a landmark moment in his ongoing battle to truly undermine the standing of vocational education in this country.

By forcing schools to promote geography and history above ICT and the arts, he is sending a clear message that only the academic matters to him. By refusing to allow applied sciences or languages to be counted as part of the EBacc, he again makes clear that he considers these courses not to be worth anything.

His policies refuse to recognise that practical education in the context of academic rigour is exactly what this country needs."

But Roy Blatchford, director of the National Education Trust, gives the Ebacc a cautious two cheers:

"Mr Gove and Ms Teather – joined at the policy hip – are both passionate about making a difference to the least advantaged students in society. They say so on every platform, from Question Time to Any Questions to the Today Programme. The pupil premium may be one manifestation, but the deep desire to give all students, wherever they are schooled, access to the 'great core subjects' is deep-rooted, traceable of course back to Keith Joseph and Kenneth Baker.

So Teather-Gove can be forgiven, in an English sort of way, for seizing upon English, mathematics and science (certainly yes), history or geography (probably yes) and a modern foreign language (probably not) to make up the magic quintet."

Competition

Children aged between seven and 14 can now enter the Young Human Rights reporter of the year competition, run by learnnewsdesk, the Guardian's online news service for schools, and Amnesty International. A winner and two runners-up in the primary and secondary school categories will win a trip to Amnesty International and the Guardian headquarters in London as well as an MP3 recorder. The closing date for entries is 14 February.