Big subject changes coming to UK schools
The government has announced a major review of the national curriculum focusing on the first years of secondary school. The review will make the first three years of secondary school count by restoring Key Stage 3 as a distinct three-year phase, the Department for Education said in a statement on Sunday (8 November).
It will also update the curriculum to slim down overcrowded content and better sequence it across all school stages, creating more space for deeper understanding and richer experiences.
This will come with higher expectations on core knowledge and skills needed for the future, like oracy and confident speaking, reading fluently and reading for pleasure, and numeracy.
There will also be a more engaging offer in subjects like drama, PE, music, and modern foreign languages, alongside technical and digital skills.
It also comes with new expectations on schools to stop the increasingly widespread practice of encroaching on Key Stage 3 with an ever earlier focus on GCSEs, the department said.
Public First Global for the International Baccalaureate found that more than half of teachers say GCSE courses are dominating the first three years of secondary school, despite this content not being intended to begin until Year 10, with some schools starting GCSE teaching as early as Year 7.
The new curriculum will say schools should not start GCSE specifications early for large cohorts or see children routinely required to narrow their options earlier or entered earlier for exams, teachers will still retain the flexibility to stretch high-achieving pupils or groups who are ready to go further without narrowing their options.
“The early years of secondary school should be a time when children are excited to go to school and engage in the specialist and much broader teaching on offer, and where they find their passion and develop a love of learning,” said Education Secretary Lucy Powell.
“Instead, we’ve seen worrying trends of disengagement and high levels of persistent absence, with the disadvantage gap stubbornly large and too many leaving school without the knowledge and skills they need to thrive. That’s what our exciting and engaging new National Curriculum aims to address as part of our wider education reforms.”
