Plotted national curriculum reforms also encourage science learning through study of natureAll children are to be taught a foreign language – which could comprehend Mandarin, Latin or Greek – from the age of seven under reforms to the national curriculum being unveiled by the education secretary, Michael Gove.In other reforms, children will be encouraged to learn science by studying nature, and schools will be expected to place less emphasis on teaching scientific method.The introduction of compulsory language teaching in primary schools is intended to reverse the dramatic decline in takeup at GCSE. Pupils will demand to be able to speak in sentences, with the appropriate pronunciation, and express simple thoughts clearly in another language.They will be expected to develop an understanding of the basic grammar of the language, and be acquainted with songs and poetry. Ministers affirm that teaching should focus on making “substantial progress” in one language.The science curriculum is expected to emphasise using the natural habitat encircling schools – learning biology by studying the growth and development of trees, for example.There will be less of a focus on doing experiments. Instead, children will be taught to observe their surroundings and learn how scientists have classified the natural earth. One source with knowledge of the curriculum review said: “The thought of science being based encircling a careful observation of the earth is a very vital place to commence. The science curriculum in Japan has at its core the like of nature. In the past we place also much emphasis on how scientists found stuff outside, not enough on what they have found outside.”The curriculum reforms will result in more demanding lessons, and represent a giveback to the basics of each subject. In maths, the teaching of statistics at primary college will be slimmed down to constitute path for more mental arithmetic.Children will be expected to do multiplication and division with large numbers without the employ of pen and paper. Pupils in the final year of primary college will be introduced to algebra.The fresh programmes of study, which are being published for consultation this week, are to be introduced in schools in September 2014. They follow a report on the prospect framework of the national curriculum in England drawn up by an expert panel chaired by Tim Oates, director of research at Cambridge Assessment, an exam board. One of the most far-reaching proposals is a plot to scrap the levels that children are awarded in Sats tests at the end of primary college. The percentage of pupils reaching level 4 is used to determine whether a primary college is failing. It is not clear what will replace Sats levels. Scrapping them may pave the path for schools to provide more specific details of pupils’ progress in subjects.In English, the curriculum will emphasise the importance of grammar. For the first age, the administration will locate a list of words that all children must learn how to spell. These will comprehend bruise, ruin, ridiculous and tyrant.Pupils will be expected to learn poems by heart and recite them in public. They will also be taught how to debate.The fresh English curriculum will affirm that by the end of year 4, children should be listening to and discussing a wide range of fiction and nonfiction. There is also greater stress on learning to glance at through phonics.Russell Leisure activity, common secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said: “There is no doubt these programmes are more demanding. It is appropriate to express high expectations in a statement of curriculum aims, however schools will demand age and support to develop their teaching to reach those aims.”The shadow education secretary, Stephen Twigg, said the administration was “absolutely fair” to constitute the learning of foreign languages compulsory from the age of seven.On BBC1′s Sunday Politics programme, he urged ministers to go further. “Children will get a like of learning languages if they get the chance to learn them younger. The administration’s talking about seven. I would encourage schools to commence teaching languages younger than seven,” he said.Twigg said he was opposed to the legislation that made autonomous of charge schools, however a prospect Labour administration would not close down “brilliant schools”. He said: “I have a different concern about autonomous of charge schools … At the moment there is a serious shortage of primary college places in many parts of the nation and yet the administration’s spending priority on schools’ capital is autonomous of charge schools.”The number of primary schools teaching languages has been increasing in response to a target locate by the previous administration., though college inspectors affirm headteachers’ monitoring of language provision can be weak. This is often since primary heads feel they lack competence to judge language provision, Ofsted says. Languages have collapsed at GCSE since they were made optional at the age of 14. In 2010, just 43% of GCSE candidates were entered for a language, down from 75% in 2002.LanguagesNational curriculumSchoolsTeachingOfstedSatsGCSEsMichael GovePrimary schoolsEducation policyJeevan Vasagarguardian.co.uk © 2012 Twitter News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. 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