As the school leaders' union, NAHT, submit their response to the
Department for Education's independent Curriculum and Assessment
Review call for evidence, Paul Whiteman, general secretary at
school leaders' union NAHT, commented:
“This is a golden opportunity to update a 10-year-old curriculum
so that it is relevant, fully reflects the diversity of our
society and prepares children and young people for their lives in
the modern world.
“The national curriculum and qualification specifications are
overcrowded and unmanageable. Reducing the overall burden of
content could have a range of positive impacts - improving the
quality of teaching and learning, enhancing pupils' experiences
of learning, increasing engagement, creating the flexibility
needed to ensure learning is relevant to pupils in every school
community and better meeting individual needs.
“The primary statutory assessment system, including SATs, does
not support children's progress, foster positive mental health,
or encourage a broad and balanced curriculum. The Multiplication
Tables Check, Phonics Screening Check and Key Stage 2 Grammar,
Punctuation and Spelling test are unnecessary and should be
scrapped.
“Young people have a wide range of abilities, strengths and
ambitions and a much wider range of qualifications than GCSEs, A
levels and T levels is necessary to meet those needs and to
assess their achievements. What is needed is an offer which gives
everyone the opportunity to access and achieve meaningful
qualifications across a range of academic and vocational subjects
using a variety of assessment methods
“The curriculum and qualification offer has also been distorted
by policies including the publication of narrow, high-stakes
performance measures. Measures such as the EBacc must be scrapped
and Progress 8 reformed if the government truly wants to
encourage curriculum breadth and take up of the creative arts."
Ends
NAHT's submission to the Curriculum and assessment
review 2024
