New Welsh curriculum to replace traditional subjects with targeted areas of learning

The Welsh government has announced details of the new school curriculum, which will see traditional topics replaced by areas of learning and experience

As reported by Sky News, Welsh schools are set to replace traditional subjects with six targeted areas of learning and experience.

These changes to the curriculum will be Wales’s biggest education reform in a generation.

The aim is to put an end to restrictive topics and provide a broader education for pupils.

£44m has been set aside to help train teachers, and the new curriculum will give them more flexibility to teach subjects under the six areas of learning and experience (AoLE).

Wales’s education minister, Kirsty Williams, told Sky News the reforms were about creating a curriculum fit for the modern world.

She said: “The current curriculum was designed in 1988 – before the fall of the Berlin Wall, before we were all carrying around computers in our pockets – and it’s only right that we completely look at again at the nature of education in Wales and what we’re teaching our children.

“We’ve been working with our teaching professionals. This is a curriculum designed by our teachers and built for our children ensuring that they will have the knowledge, the skills and experiences that will allow them to be successful individuals when they leave the Welsh education system.”

Year 7 pupils will begin learning under the new curriculum in 2022.

Tim Pratt from the Association of School and College Leaders in Wales has stated that he’s concerned £44m isn’t enough for a venture this size.

He said: “Although £44m sounds a good amount of money, when you divide it down to the number of teachers and support workers in Wales it comes in at about £650 per person which is to last the next three years.

“Well that’s really not enough to ensure the job is done properly.”

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