Michael Gove, the UK Education Secretary, said that a panel reviewing the national curriculum will determine what specific content should be included. He criticized the current curriculum for only mentioning two historical figures and no countries, continents, rivers or cities in geography other than the UK. The review panel will examine what subjects should be compulsory at different ages and the content to be taught in each subject. Mr. Gove said the new curriculum should embody the cultural and scientific inheritance of England and introduce students to the best of human thought and writing.

1. Speaking on the BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Gove
said it would be for the panel leading the review to determine
what content should be specified in the new curriculum.
"I'm not going to be coming up with any prescriptive lists, I just
think there should be facts," he said.
"One of the problems that we have at the moment is that in the
history curriculum we only have two names [of historical
figures], in the geography curriculum the only country we
mention is the UK - we don't mention a single other country,
continent, river or city."
The education secretary has in the past been vocal about the lack
of a "connected narrative" in the teaching of British history.
Writing in the Daily Telegraph on Thursday, he lamented the
absence in the curriculum of figures such as Winston Churchill,
Florence Nightingale and Horatio Nelson.
The current curriculum specifies what students should study in
some subjects, such as maths, but outlines only broad areas in
others, such as history, leaving teachers to decide on content.
Mr Gove said the new national curriculum should "embody for
all children in England their cultural and scientific inheritance,
enhance their understanding of the world around them and
introduce them to the best that has been thought and written".
He said it should be informed by the best international practice.
The review panel has been asked to look at what subjects should
be compulsory for pupils of different ages, as well as the content
that should be taught in them.
The government has said that English, maths, science and PE
must remain compulsory for children of all ages.

2. The review will then decide on whether other subjects should
also be required study for different age groups.
Currently schools must teach 13 compulsory subjects to children
aged 5-7, rising to 14 for pupils aged 7-14 and then dropping to
eight for 14-16-year-olds.
The fourteen subjects are art and design, citizenship, design and
technology, English, geography, history, ICT, mathematics,
modern foreign languages, music, physical education, science,
PSHE (personal, social, health and economic education) and
religious education.
Mr Gove said religious education would remain a statutory
requirement at all ages (although parents can choose to stop
their children from attending classes), but no programme of
study would be prescribed.