English Schools to Introduce Mortgages and AI in Curriculum
The recent government review of England’s national curriculum aims to modernize education and address achievement disparities. This initiative focuses on offering a forward-thinking curriculum to support disadvantaged students.
Key Reforms to the National Curriculum
The Department for Education (DfE) has proposed significant reforms based on the review’s findings. One notable change is the proposal to eliminate the English Baccalaureate (EBacc), a measure assessing student performance in core subjects since 2010. The DfE described the EBacc as overly restrictive.
Impact of the Changes
- The scrapping of the EBacc is expected to broaden the range of GCSE subjects students can choose, particularly in arts.
- Former Conservative schools minister Nick Gibb expressed concerns that this could reduce the focus on foreign languages. He fears that language studies will increasingly be limited to private schools.
Additional Curriculum Enhancements
In addition to changes regarding language studies, the review includes several other recommendations:
- Introduce financial literacy to maths classes to prepare students for real-world financial decisions.
- Make citizenship lessons mandatory in primary education to promote civic engagement.
- Enhance curricula to better educate students on identifying misinformation and disinformation.
- Explore a new post-16 qualification focusing on data science and artificial intelligence (AI).
- Reduce the total time spent on GCSE exams by approximately three hours per student.
- Ensure all students can take three science GCSEs, addressing gaps in scientific education.
- Include more content on climate change to foster environmental awareness.
- Improve representation of diverse perspectives throughout the curriculum.
Importance of Oracy in Education
Another vital recommendation is to elevate oracy to the same importance as reading and writing in the curriculum. The charity Voice 21 has endorsed this change, stating it is crucial for developing essential communication skills among children.
These revisions aim to create a more inclusive and comprehensive educational framework that better prepares students for modern challenges, especially in a rapidly evolving technological landscape with a focus on AI and financial literacy.
