Tory warns of curriculum takeover

A British MP says the debate will be hijacked by the Left.

A LEADING British Conservative Party thinker says the Abbott government will regret the introduction of a national curriculum, predicting it will inevitably fall into the hands of a radical and unrepresentative elite.

European Parliament MP Daniel Hannan, who will visit Australia this month, told The Weekend Australian experience in Britain had shown politicians on the Right were virtually powerless when pitted against "a permanent Left bureaucracy".

"We introduced our national curriculum in 1988 when Margaret Thatcher was prime minister, supposedly as a way of stopping loony Left teachers," Mr Hannan said.

"In fact it was immediately captured, totally predictably, by the very people it was supposed to deter. It was dragged, as these things always are when they get into the hands of the permanent bureaucracy, to the far left."

Education Minister Christopher Pyne has commissioned a review of the draft curriculum conducted by educational adviser Kevin Donnelly and academic Kenneth Wiltshire, which is due to report by the middle of the year.

However, Mr Hannan was sceptical of the government's ability to influence the debate.

"You have to have been in politics to see how powerless the elected representative is," he said. "Your ability, even as a national leader, to take on this powerful permanent apparatus, of this standing leftist bureaucracy, is remarkably limited."

The British national curriculum, in place for 25 years, has been widely criticised for its lack of rigour and indistinct priorities. It is currently under review, with Education Secretary Michael Gove intent on giving more power to independent charter schools to set their own agenda.

"Michael Gove has recognised that you cannot impose victory in a culture war upon the Left educational establishment," Mr Hannan said. "So you let schools opt out of it. You trust the parents to do the right thing."