The Curriculum and Assessment Review: What this means for your child
Image: A teenage girl and her parents look at her exam results together.
Today the Curriculum and Assessment Review Final Report has been published
Over ten years on since the national curriculum was last reviewed, I have today published the Curriculum and Assessment Review Final Report.
Parents will be keen to understand what this means for their children’s learning and experience at school. The Review’s expert panel and I consider that much is going well presently. So there won’t be a disruptive upheaval. But some things do need to change.
Knowledge and skills for the future
Parents should be confident that the curriculum is preparing their children for life beyond school, providing the most crucial knowledge and skills they need to navigate the rapidly changing world in which they are growing up. We have heard from parents, carers, and young people that the areas most in need of greater emphasis within the curriculum to support this are:
- Financial education;
- Digital literacy;
- Media literacy (to help guard against misinformation);
- Climate education and sustainability; and
- Oracy
Therefore, we have recommended that the applied knowledge and skills required in these areas will be strengthened in different parts of the curriculum.
Updated curriculum content
Central to our Review was refreshing the curriculum to ensure that it is cutting edge and fit for purpose. A world leading curriculum must provide children with the essential knowledge they need to succeed, whilst also inspiring a love of learning through engaging, relevant, and relatable content. For this to be achieved, the curriculum must:
- Provide an aspirational entitlement for all to crucial knowledge and skills, providing the excellence our children deserve;
- Be well designed and sequenced;
- Be engaging, with all pupils able to see themselves reflected positively in it whilst broadening their horizons and improving understanding of the perspectives of others.
- Enable access to learning for all, and remove blocks to progress.
We have recommended improvements in every national curriculum subject area to support these aims.
Assessment
Assessment, including exams, is important for checking young people’s progress. GCSEs and other exams post-16 also help determine their future pathways. Whilst we are not recommending radical changes to the assessment landscape, we recognise the need for improvements. Including:
- Changes to the Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling (GPS) test at the end of Key Stage 2 to check children can use their knowledge in practice;
- ’Diagnostic’ tests for English and Maths in Year 8, so that teachers can check pupils’ learning and address any weaknesses before they begin their GCSE studies;
- Reduce overall GCSE exam time by at least 10%, reducing the unnecessarily long slog pupils presently endure (without reducing accuracy or standards); and
- Retain the requirement for all to study English and Maths if they did not achieve a grade 4 at GCSE, but reform the approach, to increase the proportion of students who achieve GCSE grade 4 or equivalent by age 19 in these important subjects.
High standards for all
Our recommendations aim to improve the curriculum for all young people but will particularly benefit those for whom the system is currently not working well, including pupils with SEND and those from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds. We have tried to address access issues in different subjects (such as ensuring all children have the chance to learn music, or take Triple Science). And we have recommended new ‘V Level’ vocational qualifications for young people who want a more applied, flexible route to work or further study at post-16.
Finally, we have recommended that time is allowed for schools to do all the important things they offer beyond the national curriculum — the performances, sports, work experiences and life skills that build children’s confidence and love of learning, and prepare them for successful futures.
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