Curriculum and Assessment Review 鈥� Interim report 18 March 2025
Wednesday 19 March 2025
In July 2024, the Government commissioned Professor Becky Francis CBE to chair a panel of experts to conduct a Curriculum and Assessment Review.
We submitted a response to the review calling for:
- The introduction of mandatory training on dyslexia and dyscalculia in Initial Teacher Training (ITT) and Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for classroom teachers, support staff and Senior Leadership Teams.
- All teachers to be trained in how to use adaptive teaching techniques to support dyslexic and dyscalculic children.
- Flexibility for schools to use other methods than systematic synthetic phonics to teach reading and spelling.
- School performance data recognising schools that are welcoming and supportive of those with special educational needs.
- Explicit teaching of assistive technology such as screen reading in Key Stage 2 to help reading and spelling.
- Schools to have timely access to specialist resources to help identify and support dyslexic learners.
- Widening the scope of the curriculum and assessment at Key Stage 4 to provide earlier access to vocational pathways and functional skills alongside or in place of GCSE examinations.
- Allowing flexibility to enable dyslexic and dyscalculic students to progress to Level 3 qualifications without a pass in GCSE maths and English where they meet the other entry requirements for a course.
- Revision of T Level content and offering this qualification alongside, not instead of other vocational and technical qualifications pathways.
- Rethinking the assessment techniques used in GCSE to better meet the needs of all learners.
- Removing spelling, punctuation and grammar (SPaG) marks in GCSE exams that are not testing English language skills or enable learners to use assistive technology to gain these marks.
Update
The panel has now published an interim report of the findings which set out four key areas of focus for further investigation:
- Developing a system that works well for all
The report acknowledges that the current curriculum and assessment pathways do not work for everyone, in particular, learners with SEND who do not achieve in line with their peers.
We are disappointed to see little change proposed to the formal assessment in GCSEs and believe that the focus needs to move beyond stating that the assessment system must be inclusive especially for learners with SEND and consider fundamental and explicit changes.
- Challenges with specific subjects
The current breadth of the curriculum and the sheer volume of work to be covered in some subjects can make delivery challenging and this needs further investigation to identify solutions.
- The curriculum needs to respond to social and technological change
The report identifies the need for the introduction of AI, the need to teach digital skills and a focus on digital and media literacy.
We would like to see this extend to include teaching dyslexic learners how to use technology to enable them to read age-appropriate material rather than reading at a level dictated by their decoding ability, and the ability to use assistive technology in GCSE exams to work independently and gain marks for appropriate spelling, punctuation and grammar.
- 16 to 19 pathways and qualifications
We welcome the news that there will be a further look at the qualification pathways at 16- 19 years which sit alongside A levels and T levels. While English and maths GCSE resits will remain for those who do not pass at 16 years, there is recognition that multiple resits with no success impacts self-esteem and engagement with learning and that further investigation is needed.
We will continue to call for flexibility for dyslexic and dyscalculic learners to be able to progress to level 3 courses without these passes, where they meet the other course entry requirements or have functional skills.
In primary schools, there is an acknowledgment that the content of the curriculum means that some learners do not have sufficient time to master the foundational concepts needed to enable them to move on, and we welcome that the review will look at SPAG and writing in Key Stage 2 SATS.
Unfortunately, while there are some positive steps, the review does not go far enough to address the challenges dyslexic learners experience every day in our schools. We will continue to press for the changes we know we need to make sure all our dyslexic learners can thrive and succeed in school.