Blog 2.1 The Sandford Award and the impact of the National Curriculum on Heritage Education

The Sandford Award has always recognised those who offered heritage education of an excellent calibre. In the aftermath of several changes to education legislation, while educators all across the country adapted to the new curriculum, the recipients of the Sandford Award both old and new truly demonstrated this brilliance as they came to the fore of heritage education reform and reinvention. In 1988, the Education Reform Act was passed and significantly reshaped the education system of both England and Wales. One of the most notable changes was the introduction of the National Curriculum, which included core subjects such as English, Mathematics, and Science, but also foundation subjects such as History, Technology, and Art. In navigating the shifts brought by the changes to education legislation, Sandford Award-winning properties not only upheld their outstanding educational standards but also pioneered innovative approaches, cementing their role as leaders in adapting to educational reform.

For those in heritage education, there were several fears linked to the introduction of the 1988 Act. Firstly, the national curriculum’s emphasis on core subjects would limit the attention paid to humanity subjects. Henry Pluckrose, attached to the education department of the Royal Opera House, raised such fears in the 1988 edition of Nimrod: ‘In schools, curriculum guidelines which increasingly focus upon the three Rs and technical and science subjects have led to many teachers devoting less and less time to arts and humanities’.

Secondly, some were concerned that any attention paid to these subjects was now affected by guidelines that many feared to be highly prescriptive, leaving limited flexibility for teachers to incorporate local or less mainstream heritage topics. This could, in turn, lead to many historic properties being visited less frequently by school groups.

Judy Walker, writing in the  September 1990 edition of Nimrod, also highlighted further impacts of the Education Reform Act of 1988 as well as DES (Department of Education and Science) Circular 2/89 on school visits to heritage properties and museums. She noted a significant decline in school visits, attributing this not only to financial restrictions for parents but also to changes in teaching methods and the introduction of the National Curriculum. Teachers now had to demonstrate how these visits supported classroom work and specific syllabus goals or how they were educationally relevant to the much more structured approach of the National Curriculum.