“The curriculum and assessment review has delivered on its promise of evolution rather than revolution with a sensible, evidence-based set of reforms. We’re pleased to see recommendations which will modernise the curriculum for a changing world without creating an unmanageable burden on an education workforce which is already under great strain.
“However, delivering a great curriculum also requires sufficient funding and teachers, and the government must step up to the plate and ensure that schools and colleges have the resources they need. This is not currently the case and the government only last week signalled an even tighter financial squeeze on schools in evidence to the pay review body where it made clear that it will not fund the full costs of national teacher pay awards over the next three years.
“We see that the Education Secretary has now randomly announced that a new set of enrichment benchmarks will be added to the many expectations over which schools are judged without a word about how this will be resourced. The stark reality is that many schools have had to cut back extracurricular activities because government funding is so desperately inadequate.
“We welcome the curriculum and assessment review’s recommendations to reform key stage 2 tests, scrap the English Baccalaureate performance measure, and reduce the excessive amount of time students spend sitting GCSE exams. We have called for reforms in these areas for a number of years.
“We agree with the proposed entitlement for every student to be able to study triple science. There is, however, a significant practical issue which needs to be overcome to enable all schools to be able to deliver this expectation. Many schools are struggling with severe difficulties in recruiting subject specialist science teachers. This is particularly the case in physics where postgraduate recruitment into initial teacher training is dire. We look forward to discussing with the government how we will ensure we have enough subject teachers to deliver this expectation.
“The recommendation on making citizenship mandatory in primary schools also requires careful consideration over how this would be resourced and accommodated within busy timetables.
“We welcome the review’s recommendation on proposed maths and English tests in Year 8 being diagnostic rather than a test which ends up being used as an accountability measure to judge schools. This should be something that is about helping to support young people in these vital subjects. It should not be used as yet another way to beat schools over the head.
“However, we are confused by the fact that the government has already announced plans for a mandatory Year 8 reading test before the outcome of the curriculum and assessment review, and we do not agree with its plans to share the results of these tests with Ofsted.”