Testing patience: Reducing the burden of the English school curriculum F

The most recent of these came in 2014 when Michael Gove, then Education Secretary, set out significant changes designed to streamline content and reduce prescription, whilst making the content more demanding and placing a greater emphasis on knowledge acquisition.1 The following years saw the government implement extensive reforms to the system of GCSE examinations taken at the age of 16. [...] Reforms should seek a modest, not drastic, reduction in the level of curriculum content, prioritising subjects like History where there is greatest dissatisfaction It is clear that the extent of material in the curriculum is putting pressure on teachers to, in the words of one expert, “gallop through the content”. [...] 5 SOCIAL MARKET FOUNDATION The scale and importance of GCSEs drives rote learning “The more we assess, the less we teach” A large part of the problem is the sheer number of examinations students have to take when they reach the end of KS4. [...] 9 SOCIAL MARKET FOUNDATION Independent curriculum review group The government should create an independent curriculum review group, as suggested by the Association of School and College Leaders, as a way to navigate reform to the curriculum and assessment regime.25 A number of leading education and skills policy experts would be selected by DfE to sit on this group, and they would be required to c. [...] This would give teachers and other relevant stakeholders the ability to understand the changes they need to make and to effectively plan the implementation of such changes (with the added benefit of divorcing the curriculum reform process from the electoral cycle, further insulating it from political interference).