Government’s Curriculum & Assessment Review – interim panel report and next steps

You may remember that back in November 2024, the PSA responded to the call for evidence for a new review into curriculum and assessment for school pupils in England. 

The review panel has now produced this interim report (18 March 2025): https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/curriculum-and-assessment-review-interim-report

I met with panel chair Professor Becky Francis and other members of the review panel last week at a session for learned societies organised by our friends at the Academy of Social Sciences and we were able to share our views and ask questions on the review’s interim findings.  

The headlines are: 

•  Although much of the system is working well with a curriculum that is reasonably broad and balanced, there are subject-specific challenges. The review panel will be focussing on this in the next phase to ensure the curriculum for these subjects has sufficient depth, mastery and remains ‘cutting edge.’ 

• There are unlikely to be major changes to GCSE and A or T leaves. The review wants to ensure that pathways beyond GCSE work for all including how A and T levels can work better together. 

• Consultation responses (including the one from the PSA) are calling for the curriculum to better equip our young people for social and technological change including heightened digital skills and media literacy. Opportunities for more subject choice will also be looked at (although teacher training is out of the scope of this review and safeguarding teacher workloads is a core principle).