Why a balanced and broadly-based curriculum matters particularly for young children and those from disadvantaged backgrounds This article is a shortened version of the Christian Schiller Lecture, given during the NAPE Conference on March 8th 2021. The full text and other presentations are available on nape.org.uk/post-conference-slides Dr Tony Eaude
After a few words about Christian Schiller and some reflections on the last year, I discuss what a balanced and broadly-based curriculum looks like and make four interlinked arguments why this matters particularly for young children and those from disadvantaged backgrounds. I emphasize the ‘why’ because we too rarely explore or articulate why and how children benefit from some activities and experiences, notably those associated with the humanities and the arts. As a result, such areas of learning are often seen, including by many teachers, as frills - or in Robin Alexander’s words ‘desirable but inessential’(2016, p 2). After summarising these four arguments, I end by suggesting that an engaging, inclusive and humane education depends more on how teachers relate to, and interact with, children than the written curriculum. Schiller was an inspector in Liverpool in the 1920s, a role rather different from that of inspectors now – more to advise and encourage than to evaluate. His concern at the desperate
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squalor and poverty he witnessed - his humanity – and the narrow and inappropriate curriculum on offer comes through powerfully in what he said and wrote (Schiller, 1979). His main focus was on children’s basic needs - being properly fed, clothed and cared-for - being met; and he believed passionately that young children need a broader and richer range of experiences – particularly physical activity and the arts.
Reflections on the last year The last year has demonstrated even more clearly than previously the devastating impact of poverty and the importance of schools where children feel safe and interact with other people, not just where they learn. The pandemic has exposed starkly the extent to which children who are hungry, lack space and opportunities to play or have experienced or witnessed domestic violence and other difficulties are disproportionately those living in poverty. Children from disadvantaged
