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About us > Homepage Children ... their world ... their education
The education children receive during their primary years is crucial for both their personal development and the country as a whole. But times are changing fast. We know that we must ask whether today's education is fit for tomorrow's world. We might also ask, no less insistently, whether tomorrow's world will be fit for today's children.
Meanwhile, our primary schools have experienced two decades of reform but much remains unchanged, and there are questions to ask about the reforms themselves. What has been their impact? Is the balance of change and continuity as it should be? What is England's system of primary education trying to achieve? How well is it doing? How can it be improved?
The Cambridge Primary Review drew on a wide range of evidence in order to answer these and many other questions in its final report. It combined analysis of current practice with a vision for the future. The Cambridge Primary Review was fully independent.
England's system of primary education is publicly funded. It belongs to all of us. We invite you to engage with the first comprehensive review of English primary education for 40 years.
This leaflet summarises the Cambridge Primary Review's remit and background.
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The Cambridge Primary Review is a wide-ranging and independent enquiry into the condition and future of primary education in England. It was supported by Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and based at the Faculty of Education at the University of Cambridge. It has been perhaps the most comprehensive such investigation since the publication of the Plowden Report in 1967.
Following extensive professional, political, academic and lay consultations going back to 2004, we decided to concentrate on ten broad themes, central to which are questions of value, purpose, process, content and quality in England’s primary schools. The Review combines analysis of the current system with exploration of the national and global challenges which lie ahead; and it considers how, in the interests of both children and society, primary education should respond to these.
The Review was firmly grounded in both national and international evidence. There were four evidential strands:
- submissions, written and electronic, which were open to all who wished to contribute,
- oral soundings taken from identified individuals and groups, including parents and children,
- systematic searches of official data, and
- comprehensive surveys, commissioned from leading national experts, of published research relating to the Review’s ten themes.
This range of evidence enables the Review to be authoritative, balanced, responsive and visionary.
The Review ran for three years from 1st October 2006, and has culminated in a report containing recommendations for future policy and practice. Interim reports and briefings were published along the way in order to stimulate debate.
The Review was directed by Professor Robin Alexander, Fellow of Wolfson College, University of Cambridge, Professor of Education Emeritus at the University of Warwick, and past member of CATE, QCA and other public bodies, and of the ‘three wise men’ primary enquiry of 1991-2.
The work of the Review’s Cambridge-based central team was supported by about 60 research consultants, an Advisory Committee chaired by Dame Gillian Pugh, a Management Group led by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, and a Director of Communications, Richard Margrave. In recognition of the importance of locating questions about primary education in their wider social, cultural and economic context, the Advisory Committee contained 21 distinguished members drawn from varied walks of life both inside and outside education.
See the sidebar for answers to frequently-asked questions about the Cambridge Primary Review.
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THE CAMBRIDGE PRIMARY REVIEW REPORT ON THE CURRICULUM
‘This readable, humane and rational report ... is one of those rare documents which one reads and then says: yes, that’s exactly how it is, that’s what is wrong with the way things are being done and, yes, that’s the way a better system ought to be run ... a report that ought to define the collective approach to primary education for a generation’
The Guardian, 21 February 2009, referring to The Cambridge Primary Review's special report on the primary curriculum (released 20 February, 2009)
Click here for the curriculum report and briefing.
What the papers said: click here for part of the extensive media coverage.
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INTERIM REPORTS
The Review published 31 interim reports and held meetings with organisations and practitioners to discuss their implications.
Download copies of the report briefings and press releases from this page.
Read them. Join the discussion.
The interim reports provoked considerable media, public and political interest, and provided the top UK news story on several occasions.
Read media coverage of the Cambridge Primary Review interim reports here.
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About us > Why do we need the Review? Many reasons, but here are some of them:
- Despite social and economic changes, there has been no comprehensive investigation of English primary education since the Plowden enquiry of 1967. There have been a number of much smaller enquiries, reports and initiatives, but none has had the broad scope or visionary aspirations of Plowden, or its independence.
- Primary schools have been subject to two decades of continuous yet piecemeal reform – national curriculum, national testing, a new national inspection system, national strategies for literacy, numeracy and the primary phase as a whole, workforce reform, targets, centralisation, delegation, inclusion, personalised learning, and much more. Big claims have been made for these initiatives by the reformers themselves, but these claims are not universally accepted, and objective evidence may tell another story. The relevance and impact of all this activity need to be carefully assessed.
- Primary schools are now part of a complex structure linking education with provision in health, welfare and childcare, and children’s primary schooling with what precedes and follows it. Or, at least, that’s the intention: but how coherent is the system really?
- Primary education suffers more than its fair share of claim, counter claim and mythology. Standards are rising/standards are falling ... Today’s teachers are the best ever/teachers merely follow the latest gimmick ... The 3Rs are being neglected/schools are concentrating on the 3Rs to the neglect of everything else ... Children’s behaviour is deteriorating/today’s children are better motivated than ever... And so on. What is the truth?
- Our system of primary education was created on the basis of a particular view of society and people’s place within it. But today’s Britain is diverse, divided and unsure of itself. Some commentators argue the virtues of a pluralist multi-culture. Others deplore the loss of shared identity and social cohesion. It’s time to revisit the vital debate about the relationship between education and society.
- This is the era of globalisation, and perhaps of unprecedented opportunity. But there are darker visions. The gap between the world’s rich and poor continues to grow. There is political and religious polarisation. Many people are daily denied their basic human rights and suffer violence and oppression. As if that were not enough, escalating climate change may well make this the make-or-break century for humanity as a whole. What are the implications for education of such scenarios? Carry on regardless? Make minor adjustments? Develop a radically different approach?
- As we say, these are some of the concerns which prompted this initiative. During 2004-6 we consulted widely about the idea of this review. We received overwhelming support for it and helpful suggestions about how it should be undertaken. People believe that the Cambridge Primary Review is needed.
About us > Background to the Cambridge Primary Review
Who set up the Cambridge Primary Review?
The idea for the Cambridge Primary Review goes back to discussions first initiated by Robin Alexander in 1998. During 2004-5 these discussions were firmed up into a detailed proposal and made the subject of consultations first with funding bodies and then with teachers, parents, LEAs, faith communities, national agencies, government and opposition. In 2005, the Trustees of Esmée Fairbairn Foundation approved funding for a two-year review of primary education in England, to begin in October 2006. The Review was extended to three years following the award of a further grant to cover dissemination in 2008-9.
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What will it achieve?
The Cambridge Review hopes to:
- Stimulate debate about the current condition and achievements of state primary education in England, and about its future purposes and character.
- Bring into that debate not just professionals and policy-makers but also parents, children and the wider public; and the work of experts outside as well as inside education.
- Link up with parallel debates and initiatives in other countries.
- Ask the questions about primary education that need to be asked, without fear or favour.
- Draw on a wide range of both national and international evidence.
- Disseminate findings as widely and quickly as possible while the Review is in progress.
- Produce a well-argued final report, backed by evidence, which contains recommendations for future policy and practice in English primary education.
- Generate ideas which, even if not implemented immediately or in their entirety, will remain influential and will continue to inform the educational debate.
- Begin to make a real difference to the character and quality of English primary education over the first decades of the 21st century, and to the contribution which that education makes to individual lives and the collective good, at a time of change, uncertainty and growing concern about the future.
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What was its remit?
The Cambridge Review’s approved terms of reference were:
- With respect to public provision in England, the Review will seek to identify the purposes which the primary phase of education should serve, the values which it should espouse, the curriculum and learning environment which it should provide, and the conditions which are necessary in order both that these are of the highest and most consistent quality possible, and that they address the needs of children and society over the coming decades.
- The Review will pay close regard to national and international evidence from research, inspection and other sources on the character and adequacy of current provision in respect of the above, on the prospects for recent initiatives, and on other available options. It will seek the advice of expert advisers and witnesses, and it will invite submissions and take soundings from a wide range of interested agencies and individuals, both statutory and non-statutory.
- The Review will publish both interim findings and a final report. The latter will combine evidence, analysis and conclusions together with recommendations for both national policy and the work of schools and other relevant agencies.
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Who undertook it?
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How independent is it?
As independent as we can make it. The Cambridge Primary Review is:
- politically independent – we are consulting all the main political parties, the statutory national agencies and the education unions, and hope to establish a constructive dialogue with them; but we are beholden to none of these bodies, and none of them is in any way involved in the commissioning, funding or oversight of the Cambridge Primary Review;
- financially independent – the Cambridge Review is funded by a major independent charitable foundation rather than a research council or government department and is therefore independent of the public purse;
- intellectually independent – the Cambridge Review is based in one of the world’s leading universities, with a strong commitment to the defence of academic freedom, and is undertaken and supported by people who share that principle.
- even-handed – it’s not enough to be independent; we also strive to be even-handed and objective in our consultations, evidence, analysis and conclusions, and to listen to the many different voices which on a matter of this importance have a right to be heard.
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When did it start, and when will it finish?
The Cambridge Primary Review formally began on 2 October 2006. Its implementation stage ends with the publication of the final report on October 16th 2009, and is followed during 2009-10 by a period of dissemination. Click here for more information about the dissemination conferences being held around the country.
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What will the Cambridge Primary Review produce?
The Cambridge Primary Review will disseminate its thinking and findings in various forms, for example:
Media
Information leaflets
Interim findings
Final report
The Cambridge Primary Review final report was published by Routledge on October 16, 2009. The report is entitled: Children, their World, their Education: final report and recommendations of the Cambridge Primary Review. This contains the report proper, presenting evidence and analysis together with conclusions and recommendations for policy and practice. More information on the final report is available on the Routledge website.
A complementary volume, The Cambridge Primary Review Research Surveys, contains revised and updated versions of the 28 research surveys which were published as interim reports between October 2007 and May 2008.
Related publications.
* Download the briefing to the final report here.
* Download the media release document to the final report here.
Dissemination events
Format
- Most published material from the Review has been placed on this website. Briefings will also be circulated in print versions. The final report has been published in hard copy by Routledge, and summaries can be downloaded above and will also be widely circulated in print.
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Please contact the Review Administrator with any queries.
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About us > How can I become involved?
You can become involved in the Review by:
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