The National Curriculum is the source of what should be taught in English schools. It is a great fund of ideas, but an overloaded container. Too often, those who instigate new initiatives, and those who complain about existing conditions, find an answer in teaching something in schools. Thre is a real danger in adding more to the existing overflowing pot.

However, highlighting and enabling existing NC programmes of study may be seen as a benefit to teachers looking to fulfil as many NC targets as posible. Furthermore, if several targets can be hit with the same arrow then real progress can be made. In th example below if the English Department analysed the role of the moving image in texts, teachers of Citizenship could build on that with their discussion of the significance of the media in society. In this way a single topic could bind the National Curriculum together.