Landmark reform to national curriculum after years of neglect under previous Government
- Preet Kaur Gill MP
- 9 hours ago
- 2 min read
The Government's reforms to update the national curriculum will enable young people in Birmingham Edgbaston and across the UK to seize opportunities so they can achieve and thrive in the modern world, including navigating the threat of fake news and online disinformation.
Promotes high standards for every child with strong foundations in oracy, reading, writing and maths especially in primary and the “lost years” at the start of secondary.
Revitalised curriculum delivers on Government's manifesto promise and is central to the Prime Minister's target of two-thirds of young people participating in higher-level learning by age 25.
There are thirty-three state primary and secondary schools in the Birmingham Edgbaston constituency, all of which are expected to adopt these curriculum reforms by September 2028.
KEY REFORMS INCLUDE:
Making citizenship compulsory in primary, ensuring all pupils learn media literacy and financial literacy, law and rights, democracy and government, and climate education early on.
Replacing the narrowly focused computer science GCSE with a broader, future facing computing GCSE and exploring a new qualification in data science and AI for 16–18-year-olds.
Supporting schools to develop a triple science offer, ahead of introducing a statutory entitlement for all GCSE pupils.
Removal of the EBacc and reforms to Progress 8 – to encourage students to study a greater breadth of GCSE subjects including the arts, humanities and languages alongside English, maths and science. This follows the failure of the EBacc measure to encourage take up of subjects including languages and constraining student choice.
Preet Kaur Gill, MP for Birmingham Edgbaston said:
“I am proud to back these reforms which will ensure every child in the Edgbaston constituency, and across the UK, has the chance to succeed in life, irrespective of their background.
“For the thirty-three primary and secondary state schools across the Edgbaston constituency, this is a long-awaited step towards equipping students with the vital skills for life and work.
“I look forward to inviting local headteachers and senior school leaders across Edgbaston to discuss their views on these reforms, and to assess how best these changes can be implemented to ensure kids learn and thrive as much as possible.”
Secretary of State for Education, Bridget Phillipson, said:
“It has been over a decade since the national curriculum was updated, and it’s more crucial than ever that young people are equipped to face the challenges of today, so they can seize the exciting opportunities that life has to offer.
“The path to our country's renewal runs through our schools: they must be an epicentre of the strongest possible foundations of knowledge, and the skills to excel in the modern world.
“From the fundamentals of reading to the present danger of spotting fake news, as part of our Plan for Change, these landmark reforms will help young people step boldly into the future, with the knowledge to achieve and the skills to thrive as the world around us continues to rapidly evolve.”
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