Context
The curriculum has been narrowed by funding pressures and high-stakes accountability, reducing breadth, creativity and relevance for children and young people and undermining inclusion. The Curriculum and Assessment Review acknowledged that the national curriculum is overloaded and lacks breadth but missed the opportunity to deliver a genuinely broad, balanced and more inclusive curriculum for all learners.
Key facts
- The current curriculum is not broad, diverse, inclusive or fit for the future enough to ensure all young people thrive in modern, diverse Britain.
- High-stakes accountability measures, including SATs, Progress 8 and government performance targets focused on ‘core’ subjects, create a hierarchy of subjects and drive teaching to the test.
- Time for the arts, physical education and outdoor learning has been squeezed by the focus on English and maths.
- Curriculum content is overloaded at every key stage, leaving insufficient time for consolidation, deep learning and enjoyment.
- A one-size-fits-all curriculum and the spread of standardised curriculum packages undermine teacher autonomy and particularly disadvantage pupils with SEND.
- NEU evidence shows Standardised Curriculum Packages increase workload, erode professionalism and worsen stress, burnout and retention.
- Teachers are best placed to shape relevant and engaging curricula, but need time, trust and professional development to do so.
- Skills which experts say will be most important in the 2030s and beyond – such as communication and problem solving – continue to be deprioritised in the curriculum.
Key statistics
- The number of pupils taking GCSEs in arts subjects has almost halved since 2010.
- In primary schools, more than half of teaching time is now taken up by English and maths alone.
- 61 % of NEU members say they have seen a worsening of student engagement as a result of GCSE reforms.
Campaign asks
- End high-stakes statutory assessments at primary school and reduce the exam burden at GCSE.
- Equip the education system to deliver a broad, balanced curriculum.
- Reduce curriculum content at primary, especially in English and maths, and at secondary, particularly at key stage four, to allow time for deep learning.#
- Empower educators to use pedagogies they determine most appropriate, rather than being driven by the pressure to rehearse for tests.
- Put teachers at the heart of curriculum and assessment reforms, with time set aside and ringfenced – as a right – for all teachers to engage in high quality training and planning.
- Guarantee a right to study arts subjects for all children.
- Restore the status of arts education: scrap Progress 8, restore parity between subjects, give schools trust and flexibility.
- Fund the arts: restore school funding to allow investment in arts education, and to facilitate links between the education system and industry.