Labour’s plans for the curriculum
27 June 2024
Lindsey Taylor, OCR Policy Researcher
Mission statements have been set out. Manifestos have been published. Campaigning for the next government is well underway. If Labour is elected to power, how might the curriculum change? As we edge ever closer to the 4 July 2024 General Election date, I’ll take a look at three aspects of the curriculum that the Labour Party has said it wants to address.
So far, with public concerns remaining elsewhere, education is not featuring heavily in election debates. But this hasn’t stopped all the main parties setting out key areas for improvement in education, with the Labour Party saying more than most.
In the run up to the General Election, we’ve all seen the media-grabbing headlines around Labour’s plans for education. In recent weeks, we have become familiar with the Party’s focus on early years and primary education, with promised breakfast clubs, and with pledges to end VAT exemptions for private schools. But behind the headlines, Labour has set out clear plans to review the curriculum which would have the potential to change significantly what is taught and learnt in schools.
1. Broaden
The Labour manifesto sets out the type of curriculum it wants to see taught in schools. It believes the curriculum should be rich and broad. It should provide every child with what it describes as an excellent foundation in reading, writing and maths, but as well as that, essential digital, speaking, and creative skills should also be developed. Particular support is outlined for music, the arts and creative subjects to help young people “find their voice”. Labour also wants to get more children active by protecting time for physical education within the curriculum.
Labour is not the only Party with plans to broaden the curriculum. Central to the Conservative’s well-publicised proposals for the post-16 Advanced British Standard is a greater breadth of subjects. The Liberal Democrats have also called for more curriculum breadth in their manifesto. Labour’s plans would see curriculum reform throughout both primary and secondary education, aiming to provide all children with access to a broader curriculum from an early age onwards.
2. Modernise
In February this year, the think-tank Labour Together, driven by a group of prominent Labour MPs, made recommendations to modernise the curriculum, and we can now see evidence of this coming through in the Party’s manifesto. The Labour Party believes that a broader and more innovative curriculum which includes increased reference to more contemporary issues and subjects would encourage more inclusivity. It sees the engagement that this could bring about as key to student well-being and achievement.
3. Prepare
Key to Labour’s plans for education is what it sees as the need for a greater emphasis on preparing children and young people for their futures - for work and life. Labour wants to provide a curriculum which develops children’s knowledge and skills. The manifesto sets out a pledge to support children to study a vocational subject until they are 16 and ensure accountability measures reflect this - potentially making changes to the Progress 8 measure to encourage this (creative subjects will also feature in reformed measures).
Assess
The Labour Party has committed to reform assessment. Its manifesto says it will consider the right balance of assessment methods whilst protecting the important role of examinations. So whilst there are no specific plans in the short term to reform individual qualifications, and the support for examinations is clear, Labour’s review of the curriculum will certainly consider potential changes to assessment methods, shifting the current emphasis on examinations as the dominant, often exclusive form of assessment used.
Teach
Of course, the teaching workforce is key to a lot of these plans. The importance of recruiting and retaining more teachers is recognised, at least in part, by Labour’s pledge to recruit 6,500 teachers as one of its essential first steps in government. Easier said in opposition than done in government I hear you cry, particularly given competing priorities for a new government’s time and money. But the clear intention is set out. It will be crucial for any government to engage with teachers and support them on a journey to curriculum change.
Curriculum change can’t be considered in isolation
Education has many challenges to face right now, many of which impact on the sector’s capacity for change. And conversations about increased breadth in the curriculum will always raise questions about the appropriateness of reducing content and a potential loss of depth of learning. Is there room in the curriculum for more subjects or skills? Would something have to give? What are the trade-offs? Where would extra-curricular activities fit?
It’s impossible for any government to keep everyone happy – there will always be differing views about what our children and young people should learn not least, and importantly, from the students themselves. But before a single vote has been cast, curriculum change from every political persuasion seems inevitable.
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About the author
Lindsey has been with OCR since its inception in 1998 having worked for RSA in the early 1990s. Her role covers policy research, policy comms and stakeholder engagement with a particular current focus on the run up to the General Election.
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