History of the Curriculum Programme

The Nuffield Foundation has supported innovation in teaching and learning for over 40 years. 

The international reputation of Nuffield projects is built on the science projects of the 1960s which went round the world and were translated into many languages. At the same time there were big projects in languages, classics and the humanities.

Priorities
Subsequently the main focus has been on science, maths and technology. However the open door policy means that the Foundation has continued to support imaginative initiatives funded by creative people in other fields.

Projects
This section of the website outlines the history of some our particularly influential projects. We have grouped these into four main phases:

• The glory days (1960s - 70s) - when the optimistic era of comprehensive education threw up many new challenges
• Chelsea College phase (1980s) - including the work of the Nuffield Chelsea Curriculum Trust
• The Nuffield Foundation (1990s) - and the birth of the Nuffield Curriculum Centre
• Our current work - for details of current projects.

See also other projects 2000 onwards.

1960s/1970s Nuffield Science Teaching Project bibliography
Professor Arthur Lucas, former Professor of Science Curriculum Studies, later Principal of King's College London has provided a Nuffield Science Teaching Project bibliography, which is available to download below:

Download 1960s/1970s Nuffield Science Teaching Project bibliography