The warning signs for New Zealand in England’s ‘back to basics’ school reforms

The warning signs for New Zealand in England’s ‘back to basics’ school reforms

A newly released review of England’s decade-old curriculum shake-up, which inspired Erica Stanford here, finds many positives – but it also serves as a cautionary tale on the dangers of rigidity, writes Max Rashbrooke. New Zealand education minister Erica Stanford’s controversial curriculum reforms are not without precedent. Around a decade ago, a right-wing English education secretary, Michael Gove, instituted a sweeping set of changes designed…