1. House of Lords committee report

The House of Lords Education for 11–16 Year Olds Committee was appointed in January 2023 to “consider education for 11–16 year olds with reference to the skills necessary for the digital and green economy”.[1] The committee published its report, ‘Requires improvement: Urgent change for 11–16 education’, in December 2023. The report concluded that “major change is necessary” in the 11–16 phase of education.[2]

Setting out the need for change, the committee said reforms to 11–16 education since 2010 had “been guided by an emphasis on knowledge acquisition and academic rigour”.[3] This had resulted in an education system that “prioritises a restricted programme of academic learning, delivered through a narrow set of subjects and teaching styles”, with “little scope to engage with topics beyond the curriculum or apply learning to real-world issues”. The committee found there were “insufficient opportunities” for young people to develop and apply essential skills, such as literacy, numeracy, oracy and digital literacy.

The committee also looked at the assessment system. It said the focus on exams at GCSE level was “disproportionate” and did not give pupils enough opportunities to demonstrate achievement through other forms of assessment. The committee also argued that because GCSE results underpin the government’s school performance measures for 11–16 education, schools were incentivised to “focus on a limited set of traditionally academic subjects”. The committee said this had led to a “dramatic decline in take-up” of subjects outside the English baccalaureate (EBacc). The GCSE subjects that make up the EBacc are English language and literature, maths, the sciences, geography or history, and a language.[4] Secondary schools are measured on how many pupils take GCSEs in these subjects and how well they do.

The committee said “change must be undertaken without delay”.[5] It identified the following priority areas for attention:

  • Reduce the amount of content in the 11–16 curriculum, particularly in GCSE subjects. A revised curriculum should enable schools to offer a more varied range of learning experiences, with the aim of promoting the development of a broader set of knowledge, skills and behaviours.
  • Ensure there is an adequate set of literacy and numeracy qualifications available to pupils aged 14–16, focused on the application of these skills in real-world contexts. Sitting alongside GCSE English and maths, these should provide increased opportunities for all pupils to demonstrate their attainment and remove barriers to progression into post-16 education.
  • Create additional pathways to support the development of pupils’ digital skills, through the introduction of both a new applied computing GCSE and a digital literacy qualification.
  • Initiate a programme of reform aimed at reducing the volume and lowering the stakes of exams taken at age 16. In the shorter term, improvements could be made by increasing the use of coursework or other forms of non-exam assessment, including project-based qualifications.
  • Abandon the EBacc school performance measures and review the other measures in the 11–16 phase. Schools must be given greater flexibility to offer the subjects and qualifications that would best serve their pupils, based on a balanced curriculum including the study of creative, technical and vocational subjects.[6]

2. Conservative government’s response

The Conservative government published its response in February 2024.[7] It argued a “knowledge-rich” approach was the right way to provide every child with a broad, balanced and ambitious curriculum, and said it had reformed the national curriculum in line with this.[8] It said it would not make any changes to the national curriculum before the general election, and did not accept the committee’s recommendations for a review of the curriculum or the assessment system.[9] However, it said work to introduce an ‘advanced British standard’ (a new qualification framework proposed by the Conservative government that would have brought A-levels and T-levels together) would include looking at its impact on the wider curriculum and whether the type and format of GSCE exams could be streamlined.[10] Nevertheless, it maintained that exams remained “the best and fairest form of assessment” and non-exam assessment should be used only exceptionally.[11]

The Conservative government agreed with the committee on the importance of literacy, numeracy and digital skills, but did not agree that new qualifications were needed.[12] It also rejected the committee’s recommendation to do away with the EBacc performance measure, arguing it “encourages pupils to take an academic core of subjects that they may otherwise not be given the opportunity to take”.[13] It said the EBacc was designed to include a limited number of subjects to allow pupils to study other subjects, including creative subjects, and these remained “important pillars” of the national curriculum.[14]

3. Labour government’s position

The new Labour government has already launched a review of the curriculum and the assessment system. On 19 July 2024, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson announced an “independent expert-led curriculum and assessment review”.[15] Ms Phillipson said the review would seek to deliver:

  • An excellent foundation in core subjects of reading, writing and maths.
  • A broader curriculum, so that children and young people do not miss out on subjects such as music, art, sport and drama, as well as vocational subjects.
  • A curriculum that ensures children and young people leave compulsory education ready for life and ready for work, building the knowledge, skills and attributes young people need to thrive. This includes embedding digital, oracy and life skills in their learning.
  • A curriculum that reflects the issues and diversities of our society, ensuring all children and young people are represented.
  • An assessment system that captures the strengths of every child and young person and the breadth of the curriculum, with the right balance of assessment methods whilst maintaining the important role of examinations.[16]

Ms Phillipson said the review would look closely “at the barriers which hold children and young people back, particularly those who are from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds, have a special educational need or disability and/or are otherwise vulnerable”. She said the announcement marked the government’s “first step towards an education system where background is no barrier and every young person leaves school or college with the best life chances”. The announcement followed a commitment in Labour’s general election manifesto to modernise the school curriculum “so young people are ready for work and life” and to reform assessment.[17] The review is set to start in the autumn with a call for evidence, with an interim report due in the new year, and a final report and recommendations due in autumn 2025.

The government also intends to legislate to require all state schools to teach the national curriculum.[18] As part of the King’s Speech, it announced that this will be included as part of a Children’s Wellbeing Bill to ensure “greater consistency between academies and maintained schools” and give every child “a broad and rounded education”.[19] Currently, academies do not have to follow the national curriculum, but they must teach a “broad and balanced” curriculum including English, maths, science, relationships and sex education, and religious education.[20] However, the government has stated that the new requirement would not apply until the curriculum and assessment review had concluded.[21]

During the House of Lords debate on the King’s Speech, the announcement of the curriculum review was broadly welcomed, including by former education secretaries Lord Baker of Dorking (Conservative, a member of the Education for 11 to 16 Year Olds Committee) and Baroness Morris of Yardley (Labour).[22] Several members called for more creative and vocational subjects and financial education to be included in the curriculum, although Baroness Morris cautioned that a fundamental reform would be needed if teachers were to be asked to fit more subjects in, not simply adding them on top of the existing curriculum.

Speaking for the Conservatives, Baroness Barran said her party was “genuinely puzzled” by the proposed requirement for all academies to adhere to the national curriculum. She argued the “vast majority” already followed it and for those that did not, “the rigour of the Ofsted inspection regime assures the quality of the curriculum being taught in all our schools”.[23] Baroness Barran also pointed out that changes to the curriculum would have implications for inspection, assessment and exams, and changes to the inspection regime would have implications for intervention in underperforming schools. She therefore argued “great care” would be needed in implementing the review.[24]

4. Read more


Cover image by Oleksandr P on Pexels.

References

  1. House of Lords Education for 11–16 Year Olds Committee, ‘Requires improvement: Urgent change for 11–16 education’, 12 December 2023, HL Paper 17 of session 2023–24. Return to text
  2. As above, p 4. Return to text
  3. As above, p 3. Return to text
  4. Department for Education, ‘Guidance: English baccalaureate (EBacc)’, 20 August 2019. Return to text
  5. House of Lords Education for 11–16 Year Olds Committee, ‘Requires improvement: Urgent change for 11–16 education’, 12 December 2023, HL Paper 17 of session 2023–24, p 4. Return to text
  6. As above, pp 4–5. Return to text
  7. Department for Education, ‘Education for 11 to 16 year olds: Government response to the report of the House of Lords committee’, February 2024, CP 1026. Return to text
  8. As above, p 3. Return to text
  9. As above, pp 5 and 30. Return to text
  10. As above, pp 5 and 31. Return to text
  11. As above, p 33. Return to text
  12. As above, pp 8–16. Return to text
  13. As above, p 40. Return to text
  14. As above, p 22. Return to text
  15. House of Commons, ‘Written statement: Schools and teaching update (HCWS13)’, 19 July 2024. Return to text
  16. As above. Return to text
  17. Labour Party, ‘Labour Party manifesto 2024’, June 2024, pp 75 and 77. Return to text
  18. House of Commons, ‘Written statement: Schools and teaching update (HCWS13)’, 19 July 2024. Return to text
  19. Prime Minister’s Office, ‘The King’s speech 2024’, 17 July 2024, p 64. Return to text
  20. HM Government, ‘The national curriculum’, accessed 18 July 2024. Return to text
  21. Prime Minister’s Office, ‘The King’s speech 2024’, 17 July 2024, p 64. Return to text
  22. HL Hansard, 19 July 2024, cols 147–8 and col 151. Return to text
  23. HL Hansard, 19 July 2024, col 216. Return to text
  24. HL Hansard, 19 July 2024, col 217. Return to text