Nuffield Curriculum Centre

Our history

Nuffield Chemistry in action in the 1960s
Innovation on a large scale
The Nuffield Foundation has supported innovations 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
In this section of the Curriculum Centre web site we outline some of the more influential projects that Nuffield has supported.

Leon Chen, Nuffield Science Bursary student 2005The projects are grouped into four main phases:

• The glory days - when the optimistic era of comprehensivisation threw up many new challenges
  
• The Chelsea College phase - including the work of the Nuffield Chelseas Curriculum Trust
  
• Back to the Nuffield Foundation - and the birth of the Nuffield Curriculum Centre
  
• Our current work - described in the main part of this web site

>> Download a 1960s/70s Nuffield Science Teaching Project bibliography. We are grateful to Professor Arthur Lucas, former Professor of Science Curriculum Studies, later Principal of King's College London, for providing this.

Here is a summary of courses and examinations in England and Wales from 1951 onwards.