A Closer Look at English National Curriculum Review: Progress, Gaps, and What Comes Next

The final review of the National Curriculum in England has been released and it is worth reflecting on some of the main themes that occur throughout this document. My focus here will be on the content and pedagogy of Key Stages 1 and 2, especially with regard to the foundation subjects. This will be the first of four micro-articles diving into the review.

It is pleasing to see at the start that the intention is to make sure the children are enjoying their education and that they “build strong foundations and a love of learning in the primary years.” (p.8) It is no easy thing to create a curriculum that is internationally competitive and that prepares students for life and, while this review is very welcome given the speed of change in the last decade, there are ways in which I believe it doesn't go far enough.

When discussing the successes of the current curriculum, the report states that each part of the curriculum “plays a vital role in equipping children and young people with the knowledge and skills they need to navigate the world”. (p.24) From my experience as a primary school teacher, I cannot say that I agree with this statement; to me the curriculum seemed more like a reference guide for facts that should be imparted to children. This leads me on to what seems like one of the disappointing core ideas of this review - the continued emphasis on knowledge rather than skills, which is made explicit right from the start: “we therefore intend to maintain and build on the knowledge-rich approach”. (p8)

The report states that “A knowledge-rich curriculum need not omit or be in opposition to the development of skills. The skills and capabilities that are an inherent and desirable aspect of a rich, broad and balanced curriculum arise from, and are situated within, a knowledge-rich curriculum.” (p.47) I agree that the development of knowledge and skills should go hand in hand but I would argue that the curriculum therefore should be more explicit about what these skills are and be structured in a way that makes it clear that both aspects of education are equally important. You could go further to argue that knowledge should be situated within a skills-rich curriculum. Currently, the skills in the framework documents are usually constrained to the “Aims” section at the start and it is all too easy for teachers to instead focus on the statutory content. The skills that need to be taught should be present in such a way that is clearer to teachers what they are and does not seem like the ideological rationale before getting to “what we need to cover”. I also believe that if the curriculum prioritises skills, then it is easier for teachers to adapt the curriculum to their local context, something that is repeatedly emphasised in this review (e.g. “A curriculum for all” pp.51-2).

I know from experience that some facts and ideas do need to be taught explicitly, even in foundation subjects and I am not in favour of overhauling the entire pedagogical foundation of the curriculum. However, if we empower children with the skills they need to learn, then they will be able to acquire knowledge more easily, knowledge that is relevant to their lives.

Continuing on from this idea, the review contrasts the densely packed core subjects with the brevity of the foundation subjects, highlighting that the latter leaves teachers “unclear about what is sufficient in terms of depth or breadth”. (p44) If the frameworks for the foundation subjects were more explicit about the skills, this would make it easier for teachers to understand that this is how children can connect with topics more deeply and will be more easily able to learn about a wide range of subjects because they have the tools to move easily between topics. A skills-based approach would also make it easier to ensure a diverse curriculum: a knowledge-based curriculum either tries to fit in all possible information and becomes unusable, or it swings too far the other way and only includes a narrow perspective.

We can look at the framework document for history as an example of this. There is a lot of information about what topics of history should be covered and in more order. Whilst I understand the importance of providing some level of consistency between schools, they're really should be more focused in this document on the skills that children need such as dealing with primary and secondary sources, assessing the accuracy and reliability of evidence, developing a sense of chronology, and looking at propaganda and bias. This would also mean that schools might feel more confident to explore a wider range of topics with history tell children buildup more well-rounded worldview of human history alongside key events from England's past.

The report comes closest to the balance of knowledge and skills in the section regarding the specificity and precise language of the framework documents. It actually acknowledges the difficult balancing act between teachers’ freedom and providing sufficient guidance. In the summarising Curriculum Principle for this section, it states “Foundation subject content should specify the essential substantive knowledge and skills which should be taught to enable children and young people to meet the expectations at the end of each key stage.” (p.49) It is a shame that such a statement is buried at the end of a section that does not even mention skills. I believe this statement should be the core principle of this entire review.

The review discusses how it collected opinions from families and students as part of the methodology and it is in these sections that we find a clear desire for the introduction of skills to the curriculum. It is from the families annual people that the drive comes to include more applied knowledge which the report summarises as "financial literacy, digital literacy and media literacy; education on climate change and sustainability; and the skill of oracy”. (p34) These skills will likely come in a desperately needed update to the Citizenship framework, which is currently only sporadically used by schools and may not even be well known to most teachers. The discussion of the Citizenship subject (pp.57-60) is particularly interesting and seems an excellent starting point for a modern curriculum. The desire of the families and young people to learn life skills in school demonstrates how much more appropriate it would be for the rest of the curriculum to take this skills-focused approach. The report acknowledges that our world is “fast-changing” (p.10) and arguably the best way to prepare students for these challenges is to give them the skills they need to interact with the world.

The report talks in detail about the attainment gap between different groups of students and the need to refresh the curriculum in such a way that SEND children and those from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds have the best chance of succeeding alongside their peers. This is another area in which I believe that a more practical and skills-based curriculum could be beneficial. By allowing students to learn in a hands-on way that is relevant to their lives, we are making it easier for all students to access the curriculum. This is not to say that such approaches are not currently happening in schools, however I believe that the National Curriculum should be the place to lead a cohesive change in this regard. The review does mention that a curriculum should not be so overloaded that it bars schools from providing innovative practice (p.9) but stops short of saying what such practices would look like.

Another vital point that this review touches on is the importance of meaningful connections to be made between subjects. The report talks about how Key Stages 1 and 2 are particularly good opportunities for such an approach (p.44) and these horizontal links should be made in the curriculum. (p.49) And yet once again this review does not suggest explicitly how this could happen. A simple example is given such as mathematical concepts being carried across to financial literacy within citizenship (p.95) and I sincerely hope that this idea is taken forward when the curriculum is redesigned in more detail. Again, the emphasis on learning skills goes hand in hand with cross-curricular learning and we should be helping children to develop the ability to see the whole picture and how their learning in different subjects is connected.

One particularly interesting and inspiring section talks about how teachers actually use the national curriculum. The review is critical of the existing format that is simply a PDF of information and instead advocates for a dynamic digital curriculum to help teachers moving forward. It suggests that such a tool would allow easier connections between cases and disciplines and I believe this is a fantastic suggestion. Such a tool could easily be updated to include information on how different skills can be applied across subjects and I am very excited to see how this is developed going forwards.

Overall, I believe the curriculum review is positive and makes some excellent suggestions about how to update and modernise the English National Curriculum moving forward. My frustration lies in the fact that it comes so close to acknowledging how critical the teaching of skills is but instead seems to focus more on the reorganisation of knowledge objectives. Given that the report ends by talking about the need for short-term updates to the curriculum to keep it relevant (pp.167-9) gives me hope that we will see a more dynamic and useful curriculum moving forwards.