Changes to the curriculum 2025

[toohotforjeans]

There is a review underway, headed by Becky Francis. The interim report was published in March 2025. The review is currently reviewing subject matter with the final report due to be published in Autumn 2025. Initially extensive changes were mooted, to do with "inclusivity", but last time I looked no information about changes to subject matter had been made available to the public, no information since March and the information in the interim report about proposed changes to subject matter was quite vague and wishy washy.

Is clear information about proposed changes now available?

Does anyone have any concrete information about what is going on?

Thanks

(NB The interim report did however highlight some problems such as the fact that 40 percent of 16 year olds are not at the required standard in maths and literacy, and around 16 percent of 16 years olds were not at the required standard expected of 11 year olds so is worth a read generally)

Honestly, you really would 😂 words featured this year included floats and scribe, and the made up words clen and stizz. I’m sure you could have a crack at those.

i do agree about kids wasting time doing phonics they can already do. My daughter entered reception able to read but for 2 years there’s been no differentiation, they all do the same sounds which she already knows. Other schemes split them in to ability groups which would have suited her much better.

Children should not be given made up words to decode. It goes against everything we know about how children learn, it works against how the brain at that age absorbs information. It really is absolutely disgraceful that this is still happening when there is research which explains how ineffective and damaging it is.

Going back to the discussions about maths - from the sound of it, it would be a simple solution to remove phonics and retain the maths. Maths concepts need to be gone over continuously over the years and so spending time introducing the concepts as required but also spend time regularly going over foundations such as addition, tables would be time well spent.

I was thinking about what you were saying about your father - could you ask him if he remembers what text books he used for English language/grammar in his set? And if the same books were used in the other two sets? (If he doesn't mind being asked!) And also, does he remember "can" as in "to be able to" being a vt and aux? Just curious, as that is how it was taught when I was at school but it appears to be taught completely differently now. Just curious, really!

I’m sorry but I just can’t take you seriously. How can reading made up words be damaging? Whenever you pick up a copy of Harry Potter it’s full of…made up words. Hufflepuff, hogwarts, quidditch, quaffle…is it damaging for people to read these? Any time a child comes across a new word they have to have a go at saying it, perhaps without knowing its meaning. Is that damaging?

You should take it seriously. Children's brains at primary school are highly absorbent, they should be learning real words, their meanings and correct spellings. Children of 4 - 7 are unlikely to "pick up a copy of Harry Potter and read it" - if a literate older child did that it would not be a problem because they would (should) already have been taught which words are real and not real.

Hope you appreciate how polite and helpful my response to your post has been.

Another problem here is that teacher training does not cover child development.

I had forgotten how much explicit sex and violence there is in 1984, and when I read it as a child it was a fantastical science fiction which was not familiar whereas now more of it is familiar, sadly, so will give it to DC when they are older. 14 is too young. (Cue a bunch of teachers telling me that explicit sex and violence and torture is equally as good as phonics for children and that I am a terrible parent for not letting a 14 year old read 1984.)

I know of many 7 year olds (and 6 year olds) who have read Harry Potter (personally don’t agree with it as I think they’ll get more out of it older but that’s beside the point.)

what about the Gruffalo or the smeds and the smoos? Aimed at preschoolers….full of made up words.

Also Dr Seuss.

Re 1984 - OP's DD's particular edition may have been full of footnotes, but mine (I read it at much the same age) wasn't. And 14 is a perfect age for learning about politics and dystopia. I did Brave New World alongside it and had a lovely discussion with my English teacher about different visions of the future. (I am not British but have been bilingual from age 10, so when at secondary school I didn't follow the curriculum). As for sex and torture - the sex content is relatively mild, and the torture is the way it is for a purpose.

Yes, you have a point in relation to some preschooler stories, not that the ones you are thinking of are necessarily amazing, but there is in any event a difference between that and what we are discussing - when teaching reading and writing the importance of teaching words, meanings, spellings, and not including fake words just to test if the child can use phonics rules....

Re 1984 absolutely agree that 14 is a good age to be talking about political concepts, the future, dystopian ideas, different ways of governance, and I bought it thinking it would be good.. but have you read it recently? The torture is pretty explicit and the entire second half of the book pretty harrowing. I had forgotten. But absolutely agree that the concepts are perfect for a 14 year old.

Your post reminded me of the teletubbies too, full of nonsense words.

I think there is a lot of stuff out there, even in the YA genre, that is far more hardcore than 1984. The reason 1984 resonates so much is because it is such a very well written book and because let's face it, it has become topical in all the worst ways.

Mind you, I let my DC read and watch all kinds of stuff, always in dialogue with me. It hasn't traumatised them, but it has made them very political. Which IMO is a good thing.

Absolutely agree in relation to YA genre. 1984 is brilliant and absorbing and has literary merit, which doesn't apply to a lot of the modern YA genre, so not knocking it, just saving it for later. Agree about being political a good thing.
I don't go in for hardcore for the sake of hardcore though.

I agree with that - that's torture porn and I'm not here for it. I'm also a great believer in less is more - there is a very brief couple of lines in Diana Wynne Jones' Hexwood which barely touches on what those in power do to the gifted youngsters they want to control. There's very little of it, and it is not at all explicit, and it is harrowing.

What do you think about Lord of the Flies being banned in schools, just out of interest?

I wasn't aware it has been. That's bad, there's so much a teacher can do with that particular book even in a mixed ability group. I oppose censorship and bans, they never do any good.

Mind you, I also think set books are nonsense. I did 4 language A level equivalent subjects in the Netherlands and I was allowed to choose my own reading list, subject to teacher approval for literary merit. Total of 50 books over 2 years. It really broadened my outlook, though I did find German literature a slog for the most part.

I think bans are okay for some books, but surprising about the Lord of the Flies as it is another incredible book. I am not certain it is banned, I saw a post somewhere. I haven't read the Hexwood book and i am now very curious about the passage you mentioned - can you quote it?!

What is your interest exactly and what extreme changes are you thinking are going to happen?

I've just looked through my Diana Wynne Joneses and it's missing - I suspect one of my adult kids has half inched it. Hey ho, off to get another copy.

But overall, Diana Wynne Jones' YA books are brilliant - I'd recommend the Homeward Bounders (also AWOL), Hexwood, Fire and Hemlock and Black Maria (also AWOL, I really am going to have to gently murder DS!)

Lord of the flies isn't banned in the UK?

(I can't comment on some states of America, it's probably on a banned list somewhere)

I was on a MN thread awhile ago and quite a few teachers were saying it was banned.

I think I covered off the rumoured changes in earlier post. Why are you asking what my interest is? Surely interest in the curriculum speaks for itself? What is your interest?

well I am a teacher so that would be why.