US idea of 'cultural literacy' and key facts a child should know arrives in UK
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The philosophy of American education guru ED Hirsch could be coming to a primary school near you
US professor ED Hirsch argued that having a body of common knowledge would enable children to function as fully rounded citizens
Hirschism, if there is such a thing, is spreading fast through the English school system. Two proposed new primary free schools – the West London free school, backed by journalist Toby Young, and the Pimlico Academy primary – are planning to base their lessons on it. A new curriculum centre is devoting its efforts to promoting it, and a right-leaning thinktank is publishing a series of how-to guides on it for teachers.
Moreover, a new primary curriculum – due to be implemented in 2014 – has Hirsch at its heart. Both Michael Gove, the education secretary, and Nick Gibb, until recently his schools minister, and architect of a major review of the curriculum, have been profoundly impressed by his ideas.
So who is ED Hirsch? What does he believe? And how on earth did he manage to influence the way children across England will learn – without even being aware he was doing so?
Eric Donald Hirsch Junior is an 84-year-old retired professor – originally of English literature – from Virginia. He began his career as a professor at Yale, specialising in the Romantic poets. But by the 1970s, he was teaching at the University of Virginia, conducting research on reading with young people at local community colleges. He was shocked to discover those from poorer backgrounds struggled to read a passage on the surrender of General Robert E Lee near their home town of Richmond – because they lacked the necessary background knowledge of the American Civil War.
The result was a hugely influential book, first published in 1983, on what he calls Cultural Literacy. In it Hirsch argued that all American children needed a body of "core knowledge" which would allow them to function as fully rounded citizens – and that, as some were not absorbing this knowledge at home, they needed to be taught it at school. He even added an appendix, with long lists of facts, words and phrases whose significance every US child should know: the Adirondack Mountains; the Alamo; Alaska; the Founding Fathers.
In the ensuing years – during which Hirsch was greeted by the American right as a prophet and a saviour, and by the left as a scion of the empire of evil – these ideas solidified. Hirsch published a series of further works, which argued that children not only needed a clear body of factual knowledge but that they should also learn that knowledge in a very highly structured way – starting with basics and building up, rather than taking a more thematic approach.
Hirsch's position as an influential figure in American education has long been established – he set up a body called the Core Knowledge Foundation, which has spread his philosophy across the States – but how did he come to be influential here?
Several years ago, Nick Gibb – then shadow minister for schools – came across Hirsch and began reading his books. As long ago as 2008 he told fellow MPs they should read Hirsch for insight into an "anti-knowledge ideology" which, he said, was rife in American and English schools. The problem, he said, was that the education establishment had its roots in a romantic ideology that said skills, rather than knowledge, were the key to learning.
Michael Gove, too, has spoken of his admiration for Hirsch, citing him in 2009 in a speech to the Royal Society of Arts. "A society in which there is a widespread understanding of the nation's past, a shared appreciation of cultural reference points, a common stock of knowledge on which all can draw, and trade, is a society in which we all understand each other better," he added.
Soon afterwards the thinktank Civitas began translating Hirsch's views into practical guides for English schools: What Your Year 1 Child Needs to Know, for instance, provides a comprehensive guide for teachers. Its index reads very much like an English version of Hirsch's lists of what American children should learn, with Hans Christian Anderson, the Angel of the North and the English Civil War replacing the basic touchstones of US "cultural literacy".
Since Civitas took up the cause, two proposed free schools have announced they plan to teach using Hirsch's methods. And a new curriculum centre has been set up, using funds from wealthy benefactors, to spread the ideas further.
Toby Young, who is planning to follow such a knowledge-based curriculum at his new primary free school in west London, wrote on the Guardian's Teacher Network recently that more subjects would be taught by specialists and the aim was to raise attainment "particularly among children from deprived backgrounds".
When the government announced the initial outcome of its curriculum review – designed to overhaul and slim down what schools must teach – at the end of last year, Hirsch was writ large across it. "The new national curriculum will set out only the essential knowledge that all children should acquire," runs the Department for Education website introduction to new draft programmes of study for primary maths, English and science. The drafts are "very specific about the content to be covered, given the fundamental importance of these subjects as a foundation for further study and as the basis for our system of school accountability," it adds.
Perhaps it was hardly surprising that some members of the expert panel set up to advise on the new curriculum were less than pleased. The panel had proposed broad, two-year blocks of learning which would give teachers freedom to decide what to teach and when. But the published programmes were detailed and far more prescriptive. Professor Andrew Pollard, who was a member of the panel, stepped down as a result.
Ministers have shown "a cavalier disregard" for research evidence from the UK and elsewhere, he says. All the best evidence shows that it is excellent teaching rather than curriculum reform that raises standards, he points out. Countries such as Singapore and Finland – often cited by ministers as beacons of excellence – recruit the most able graduates as teachers and give them time and freedom to develop their skills.
"Ministers have a responsibility to do no harm and there is some risk that what they're proposing will actually reduce the quality of learning and reduce the breadth of education that's available in primary schools," he says. "Despite the rhetoric about opportunities, it's quite possible that what is proposed will increase inequality and the disadvantaged will become more disadvantaged."
Gibb, who arrives for an interview on the subject bearing a little pile of Hirsch's works adorned with yellow Post-it notes, is unrepentant. "All the evidence from around the world is that the more autonomy professionals have, the higher the standards. But, in order to do that, you have to have a curriculum that sets out the key things, the core academic knowledge in those core academic subjects – maths, English, science in particular – that children need to learn," he says.
He is confident his Hirschian curriculum will survive his departure from office in the September reshuffle: "The work has been done. It's out for consultation. I know the secretary of state is pleased with the product. I think he broadly accepts this approach, so I think that will remain," he says.
"At every stage, as we've drafted the primary curriculum, he [Gove] has been deeply engaged in it. He has his own views and they have not differed from my view."
Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, the man himself seems blissfully aware of the waves he has been making.
"Oh, I did not know that. How interesting!" he exclaims after being told education ministers in the UK have seized on his idea of "cultural literacy". He had a brief email exchange with Gibb a few years ago but apart from that there has been no contact between them, he says. But he is delighted to learn his ideas have spread across the Atlantic.
"I'm very gratified, particularly if in fact it has some positive effect in England. That would be terrific. I'm surprised and I'm gratified."
Fran Abrams will discuss the influence of ED Hirsch on BBC Radio 4's Analysis programme at 8.30pm on Monday 22 October
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