Schemes of work

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Schemes of work covering Key Stages 1, 2 and 3 of the revised national curriculum have been designed by panels of subject specialists from the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) and practising teachers. They are designed to be used flexibly and QCA will be responsive to feedback from teachers in planning further developments or revisions.

Head teachers should:

make sure staff know that schemes of work are available
make sure that staff know that schemes of work are not compulsory, but might be a valuable resource for lesson planning
inform all staff that there are teachers' guides for each scheme
encourage development meetings for staff to discuss how they might use the schemes.

Using schemes of work

The schemes of work are non-statutory and are designed to relieve teachers of some of the pressures of planning. It is not compulsory to use all or any of them. They are intended to help teachers to turn the new programmes of study into what the national curriculum handbook calls 'practical and manageable teaching programmes'. At the same time, they will provide challenging materials which will raise expectations and standards at all levels. Teachers select elements they think would work well with their pupils.

Each scheme of work is accompanied by a teacher's guide. These guides highlight:

links within key stages across subjects and between different key stages within the same subject, showing ways in which units can build with preceding work and how they link to other units
ways in which out-of-school activities can enhance learning in school and develop breadth of study across the whole of the school curriculum
how units can link with and support literacy, numeracy, thinking skills and key skills.

It is important that teachers know these resources are available to support them.

Main text
Key documents
Further information