All teachers and many parents in England and Wales are familiar with the broad outlines and terminology of the National Curriculum, produced as the result of the 1988 Education Reform Act. In Scotland, the "National Guidelines on Curriculum and Assessment in Scotland" (1993) is equally familiar, with its 5-14 curriculum outline, as are the Northern Ireland Curriculum Council’s "Guidance Materials" (1994) for Northern Ireland.

Although Bahá’ís should be wary of adopting the practices of the outside world just because they are available, it seems sensible, if not advisable, in this case, to make use of a system of terminology which is recognisable to such a large number of people, particularly those in mainstream education. If we wish to have credibility as a community, if we wish to communicate with those involved in the wider educational world in language they can readily appreciate, then we should speak to them in their own language, as long as it makes sense and does the job. Why go to the trouble of inventing a whole new set of terms that most Bahá’ís will have to learn from scratch anyway, and that only Bahá’ís will know what they mean, when there is one already in existence that is understood and used on a daily basis by hundreds of thousands.

Before we can get into the details of a National Bahá’í Curriculum, we must establish our goals, our aims, the broad features of what we wish our children and youth to have attained by the time they complete their eleven or so years of systematic Bahá’í education. These goals or aims are described as ATTAINMENT TARGETS, or targets we wish our children and youth to attain.

To derive the attainment targets for the U.K. National Bahá’í Curriculum, we simply have to refer back to the questions posed in the previous section, i.e.: what kind of adults to we want our children to be?

i) Affective learning is to learn new attitudes, new ways of thinking and behaving, and, in many ways, this is what lies at the heart of being, or becoming, a Bahá’í. In an increasingly material world it is more difficult to acquire and sustain a spiritual and moral lifestyle. Everyone is encouraged to be selfish and demand instant gratification. Profit has replaced service as the main motivation in human affairs. We must be in the world but apart from it, and therein lies the struggle. A greater degree of misery and suffering would be ameliorated if our lives were infused with a higher level of spiritual and moral awareness. It is the essence of religious teaching to impart this awareness to humanity. Therefore this is the first Attainment Target.

The Acquisition of a Spiritual and Moral Character devoted to Sacrifice and Service.

This, then, is a statement of intention that we wish our children and youth to attain to a virtuous character that will encourage selflessness and a striving to assist others before themselves.

ii) Many educationalists would hold that everything starts with knowledge and understanding. Until we have knowledge and understanding of something, it is said, we cannot progress to doing something about it. Learning new knowledge is what most people first associate with education and it is probably what most of our Bahá’í education consists of at present. It is not, however, the first of our Attainment Targets, because of the primacy of spirituality and morality in the Bahá’í teachings.

The Acquisition of Knowledge and Understanding of the Laws, Teachings, History and Key Figures, Covenant and Administration, and Sacred Scriptures, of the Bahá’í Faith and other Divinely Revealed Religions.

This, then, is a statement of intention that we wish our children and youth to attain to a knowledge and understanding of the various aspects of the Bahá’í Faith.

iii) To function effectively as a member of the Bahá’í community we need to make use of a wide range of skills. These can be learned best when we are young, indeed, must be learned, if we are to play our part competently in the various roles we have in our lives. Much unnecessary personal and collective frustration and suffering could be ameliorated if our community members were more highly skilled in ways which allowed them to live more meaningful and fulfilled lives.

The Acquisition of Skills appropriate to the Individual, Family, Social and Administrative Life of a Bahá’í.

This, then, is a statement of intention that we wish our children and youth to attain the various skills they will need to function effectively in each aspect of their lives as Bahá’ís.

These are the three Attainment Targets in brief. Together they encompass all Bahá’í education. Later sections will show how we break them down further and how they relate to each other. What is also important to remember is that everything in a curriculum, a syllabus, a set of lesson plans should be informed by the Bahá’í Writings and Pronouncements. What is interesting to observe is that the Scottish Curriculum 5-14 has four aims, of which three are: "Acquisition of knowledge and understanding", "Development of learning skills", and "Personal and social development"!