What is the (British) National Curriculum?
Is the (British) National Curriculum (NC) a prescription or a method of teaching?
Prescription should mean here a fixed list of items to be taught to the children in a given time a long the lines of developing good memory.
A method, i.e. a dynamic process combining the content of what has to be taught with the process of using a range of ways to bring the subject to the heart and minds of the pupils. In this case the process of learning allows the children to build their own tools to acquire more and more knowledge. They will develop the ability to to grow and build more knowledge on the fundation good teaching will have given them.
If the BNC is a method the teacher has to be careful to balance content and the ways of transmitting it.
Especially in today's colourful multi-media world the presentation often takes over and any unproven or poor content could be made look "amazing". The limited knowledge a teacher might have could also be hidden behind colourful imagery.
Another problem could be too much formality and bureaucracy in planning the process of transmitting and in inventing new ways to tell an old story.
Additonal reading can be found: