Labour’s curriculum review: What can be learned from last time? 

The announcement of Labour’s curriculum and assessment review and the appointment of Professor Becky Francis as its independent chair will be welcomed by those within the education system.

As we look ahead to the areas that the review may explore and the process involved, it is worth reflecting on the last national curriculum review in 2011/12, and the lessons that can be learned for this time around.  

Start by facing outwards

The first phase of the 2011 review did not look at England’s curriculum at all. Instead, it looked in forensic detail at the curricula of various high-performing education jurisdictions around the world.

Although an ‘international cut-and-paste’ approach to curriculum design is impossible, it is important to start by looking outwards to challenge ideas of what is actually possible. 

Embody high expectations for all pupils

Teachers should differentiate levels of support and teaching methods, but maintain high expectations for all students, especially those of whom the least had been expected in the past or by others. 

Adopt a guiding mantra

The 2011 review had a few key principles, one of which was “fewer things in greater depth”. Whatever principles are adopted for 2024, it’s important to hold to them.

For example, in 2011 it was important to implement the ‘fewer things’ part of the phrase as well as the ‘greater depth’, otherwise things risked becoming unwieldy and unfocused.

It is also crucial to engage with the right external expertise at an early stage in the process to help shape these mantras into actual practical work.

Take note of policy contradictions

At the time of the last curriculum review, the other biggest educational reform at the time was the rapid acceleration of academisation. Academies were by law to be ‘set free’ from a whole gamut of central and local controls, including the key fact that they did not have to teach the national curriculum. Possible conflicts or tensions with other policies need to be taken into account. 

Take a child’s-eye-view

The last review process started, began and ended with a focus on what was the right knowledge and understanding to teach to all our children and young people. The aim was to empower them to understand our wonderful, complex and challenging world through the various lenses of history, geography, science, maths and literature.

But the children themselves were absent throughout, both figuratively and literally. Nobody really looked seriously at how it would feel to experience this curriculum as a child, all at once, from the bottom up; and especially not when reforms to GCSEs were factored in too.

It is vital to ‘walk through’ the whole new curriculum as it will actually be experienced in school, to identify pinch points, gaps and any areas where demands could be spread more evenly to relieve pressure. 

But realise it won’t please everyone

One of the big headaches in creating a truly national curriculum is the problem of multiple interests. So many stakeholders have trenchant views on what should be in it – often down to great detail – and it is simply impossible to give them all what they want. 

One way the process can go badly wrong is if a sprawling governance of committees and sub-committees is set up with a view to giving all interested parties an equal say. It can all too often end up in stasis and stand-off. Becky Francis will need to be an expert mediator, and design the input of stakeholders well. 

This is a critical juncture for education amid many well-acknowledged challenges for the sector. Our recent Pearson School Report 2024, which took in the voices of 12,000 students and teachers heard this loud and clear. 

There will be high expectations of Professor Francis and her review. To meet these expectations, there needs to be an evidence-based approach to the curriculum that will find ways to make real improvements for learners, while holding on to all the good elements of the current curriculum.