Cross-curricularity, literacy and critical literacy are currently promoted as components of a curriculum appropriate for the twenty-first century. The first two, in particular, are prescribed elements of classroom experience in Northern Ireland, which is the immediate context of this article, but also more widely in the UK. Teachers are…

Using longitudinal curriculum data which they have collected over a ten year period from a nationally representative sample of primary schools (funded by grants from the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority), the authors report on evidence of changing models of subject provision within the primary curriculum. The period 1997-2007 has evidenced…