The national curriculum works against teachers, it denies them the freedom to teach their pupils what would actually benefit them. The national curriculum is not decided by teachers, it is part of the Education Act, which our government enforces.
The “GCSE machine” you are talking about is also the fault of the government. Introducing league tables for schools based on what exams the pupil’s achieve, and designating school funding in correspondence to this table. The higher results you get, the more funding you receive. The lower, the less. Hence the worst school are essentially fucked, which puts a straitjacket on the teachers in these schools, and effectively chucking the kids on a scrapheap before they’ve even started. It’s a sign that New Labour truly is hardly better than the Tories.
