The substance of education is the curriculum. It makes no sense to think about education without it. Yet in recent years that substance has lost out to performance tables and data in the priorities of many in the sector. What is taught matters. It matters in early years, in schools and in further education, and all of us need to do more to return our focus to that real substance of education.
In early years, focusing on the substance means recognising the huge importance of early literacy, language and numeracy. In primary schools, it is about building that crucial foundation in English and mathematics, alongside a broad and balanced curriculum that imparts powerful knowledge across a range of subjects.
