The Cambridge Primary Review is confronted by a dauntingly large canvas. It is national, so it raises questions about national values and priorities, national identity, and the condition of England and the lives of those who live there. It investigates a complete system of education, so there are questions about policy, structure, organisation, finance and governance to consider. Then there are the more obviously educational questions: about the children whose needs the system claims to address, and about schools and what goes on in them.
So breadth of coverage in a national educational review is essential. At the same time, we can't cover everything, and choices have to be made. The coverage of the Cambridge Primary Review is therefore expressed as a hierarchy of ‘perspectives’, ‘themes’ and ‘questions’.
We start with three broad perspectives: children, the world in which they are growing up, and the education which mediates that world and prepares them for it. These are the Review’s core concerns and together they provide the framework for its more specific themes and questions.
Next, ten themes attend to those particular matters on which it has been agreed that the Review should concentrate. To underline the importance of maintaining focus, these are subdivided into core and contingent themes.
Finally, for every theme and perspective there is a set of questions. These indicate in more direct terms what we need to investigate, and what we need to encourage those providing evidence to comment on.
