As reported by Wales Online, Education Minister Lynne Neagle announces new statutory guidelines for literacy, numeracy, and digital learning to be integrated into Wales’ curriculum
Schools will have to include the new statutory guidance, details of which are yet to be released, in their new curriculum design, the Welsh Government said. Schools will also be given more support in how to design, run and assess work for the new curriculum with some needing more support, Ms Neagle admitted.
The Curriculum for Wales is now being taught in all schools and settings up to and including year eight, with year nine following from this September. All year groups will be learning through it from September, 2026, with the new made-in-Wales GCSEs first sat in summer, 2027.
But, while the new curriculum is intended to be constructed by schools, the Nasuwt teaching union said that, in reality, teachers “are not being given the time and space to do this work”. Now, two years after it was rolled out in primaries and nearly a full academic year since it was introduced into all secondary schools, Education Secretary Lynne Neagle has admitted “it was clear more support was needed”.
The Chief Inspector for Schools, teaching unions and school leaders has long warned that delivery of the new curriculum has been inconsistent across Wales. Earlier this year the respected Institute for Fiscal Studies called for it to be “revised” and you can read more about that here.
Asked what new statutory guidance on key subjects meant in practice, a Welsh Government spokesperson said schools would be given “additional detail” of national expectations for what learners should know and be able to do in literacy, numeracy, and digital competence at different age points. Issuing these more detailed expectations as statutory guidance means schools will need to have regard to these frameworks in their curriculum design. You can see the Welsh Government’s current and non-statutory numeracy, literacy and digital frameworks here.
Concern has been growing after Wales’ worst ever Pisa results last year amid rumblings about how well Wales’ education reforms, including the new curriculum, are working. A report from Chief Inspector for Schools in Wales, Owen Evans, last autumn also raised questions, saying: “A few schools have made strong progress with their implementation of Curriculum for Wales” and “a minority of schools are still at the early stage of implementing Curriculum for Wales.”
His report went on: “Many of these schools have adapted planning to focus on what pupils learn rather than how they learn and only a minority of schools plan effectively to ensure progression in pupils’ skills and knowledge over time.”
Today, Ms Neagle said schools and teachers would get more support “to ensure consistent delivery across Wales”. But she told Plenary she didn’t want to make the same mistake as Scotland and overload schools with too much guidance and support, adding: “support will not materialise overnight, it is important we get it right”.
Ms Neagle said that while “some schools were flying with the new curriculum” others had requested more help and primaries were doing better than secondaries. Support would be devised with teachers and others and shared, she said. “Overwhelmingly, headteachers have told me they are supportive of the new curriculum. But it’s clear to me following the impact of the pandemic and challenges facing the sector, that practitioners need more support, particularly in progression and assessment. ”
She said the Curriculum for Wales annual report was out later this week and while primaries and nurseries were “making good progress” there was “variation” among secondary schools and pupil referral units and there was “still a way to go”.
In a statement, the Welsh Government said: “Following visits to educational settings and hearing first hand from teachers about their experiences, the Cabinet Secretary for Education, Lynne Neagle has announced Welsh Government will introduce simplified, easy to access support to help schools plan their curriculum, deliver for learners and provide consistency across Wales.
“The support announced today will include; national collaboration to develop common approaches across the profession, simplifying the process of curriculum design and evaluation, tools and templates to plan learning, clearer expectations for teaching and learning and sharing examples of curriculum design and best practice. It will also put revised literacy and numeracy and digital competence frameworks on a statutory footing to provide clear expectations for these critical skills.”
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