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The
Primary Review home > Purposes
The purposes of the Primary Review can be expressed both formally and informally.
First, its official terms of reference, as approved by the funding body:
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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. |
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| 2. |
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. |
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| 3. |
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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Apart from these formal terms of reference, we hope that the Review will:
- 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 ideas from 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, remain influential and the subject of discussion for many years.
- 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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