Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her policy is on promoting a cross-curriculum approach to teaching; and if she will make a statement.

The new National Curriculum, introduced from September 2014, sets out the essential knowledge in the key subjects that must be taught to children of compulsory school age in maintained schools in England. Academies and free schools are required to teach a balanced and broadly based curriculum and can use the National Curriculum as a benchmark, as it sets out a knowledge based, ambitious, academically rigorous curriculum.

The National Curriculum explicitly sets out this essential knowledge by subject rather than grouping it by broader cross-curricula topics. Securing a sound foundation of subject knowledge is essential to enabling pupils from all backgrounds to succeed in their education. Schools and teachers use their professional judgement about how this knowledge should be taught and what should be included in the wider curriculum to meet the needs of their pupils.