A single idea nourished for years inside one Oxford-educated mind dominated the workload of a quarter of a million teachers for two years.
In 2014, the national curriculum was updated by the conservative government, spearheaded by the then Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove. The primary reason was rigour: there had been, for many years, a sense that the GCSEs were simply too easy. To overcome this, according to Michael Gove, a complete reworking of the curriculum was necessary:
This new national curriculum represents a clear step forward for schools, ensuring that all children have the opportunity to acquire a core of essential knowledge in key subjects. It embodies rigour, high standards and will create coherence in what is taught in schools. It sets out expectations for children that match the curricula used in the world’s most successful school systems.