was appointed by new education secretary Bridget Phillipson in July to review the national curriculum and assessment system used in schools.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\nBut news of the review has prompted warnings that stretched schools cannot cope with further change after years of reform, and that adding more content to the curriculum will stretch them further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
‘Overstuffed’<\/h3>\n\n\n\n Speaking at a Westminster Education Forum webinar today, Francis said the review was conscious \u201cthat the system is under some strain\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere’s actually very limited capacity for a whole raft of different reasons, which, of course, partly explains why we’re very much focused on evolution, not revolution.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She said \u201coften, people complain that we already have a very overstuffed curriculum, particularly in some subject areas\u201d, added that there was a \u201clot of campaigning about what needs to be put into the curriculum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI’m very clear that if we’re putting things in, we also need to find things to take out, and that’s often much more controversial, but that is a key principle there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Curriculum ‘myths’<\/h3>\n\n\n\n Francis also warned there were \u201ca lot of myths that circulate in the curriculum space and a lot of assumptions about different trends and so forth\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut when that, when you actually kick the tires, you find on the data, you find that actually maybe those claims are overstated.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Asked for examples, she said \u201coften people say that things aren’t in the curriculum, and actually, it turns out they are\u201d. She said this included financial education, oracy and sustainability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But she said there were \u201cvery serious questions about the extent to which they’re represented in in the curriculum\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She added that there were \u201cvery prevalent views that, for example, art education has declined in the curriculum over time\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen you dig into the data, it’s really interesting to see art as a subject, it absolutely thrives at GCSE, but some other areas of the arts, for example, drama, has shown a decline.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Review to look at sex education<\/h3>\n\n\n\n Relationships, sex and health education has been compulsory in all schools since 2021, but that requirement is set out in separate statutory guidance, rather than forming part of the national curriculum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Francis said despite this, \u201cgiven the government’s intention to following the recommendations of the review, ask all schools to teach the national curriculum, including academies, we feel that in that case, we do need to be looking at RSHE as well. So [RSHE and PSHE] are in our purview\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is not clear where this leaves proposals set out by the previous government for age limits on certain topics and updated content. The new administration has not said if it will continue with the plans or ditch them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The DfE said: “It\u2019s vitally important that teachers have clear guidance on teaching about sexual health, which is why we are looking carefully at the consultation responses and considering the relevant evidence before setting out next steps to take the RSHE guidance forward.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Francis ‘surprised’ by academies criticism<\/h3>\n\n\n\n Francis also defended the make-up of the expert panel that will assist her in the review, following criticism that local authority maintained schools were not represented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She said she had been \u201creally surprised\u201d by the criticism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI sort of thought we were kind of a bit beyond that. Many of the people who might be considered now to represent [a multi-academy trust] actually have been in local authority schools in the past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere’s certainly no intention that somehow people are being excluded. You’ll note that in terms of local authority representation, there are no, for example, regional schools commissioners on the panel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn terms of that representation, though, of course, we want to hear evidence from local authority officials who you’re absolutely right to say, have a wealth of expertise, and we’ll be looking forward to engaging that both through the road show and through the call for evidence as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She added that she had \u201cresisted the temptation to tokenistically place, say a parent or an employer or a young person on the panel”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Silence on whether review will include Oak<\/h3>\n\n\n\n This week, ministers were urged by the Publishers\u2019 Association to review the make-up of its panel over the “close ties” three members share with Oak National Academy, the government\u2019s curriculum body. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A DfE spokesperson said the panel have been \u201cappointed on the basis of their personal expertise and experience. We have robust arrangements in place for managing any potential conflicts of interest.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However the government refused to say whether the review will look directly at Oak or its work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Publishers’ Associations high court challenge over Oak is due to take place in November<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Professor Becky Francis acknowledges complaints of a ‘very overstuffed curriculum’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":209548,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[349,28],"post-theme":[2961],"class_list":["post-213900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-curriculum","tag-dfe","post-theme-curriculum"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t