The government is set to slash GCSE exam time, and will introduce lessons on AI and budgeting, following recommendations from a review of England’s school curriculum.
The volume of GCSE exams was found to be “excessive”, with the final report recommending key stage 4 exams be cut by 10%.
England is an “international outlier” with the number of exams for students of this age, with only Singapore having a comparable amount, according to curriculum review leader Professor Becky Francis.
“We do want to try and bring that down,” she said. “It’s a very intense and elongated time, as anyone who’s been a parent of GCSE-age pupils knows, but we don’t want to trade standards and reliability.”
The Department for Education (DfE) said it would work with the regulator Ofqual and exam boards to reduce GCSE exam time, while making sure qualifications remained valid.
The recommendations also call for compulsory citizenship lessons in primary schools, with all pupils to learn about finances, democracy and government.
Citizenship is already a required subject for those aged between 11 to 16 in England.
The proposed curriculum will teach pupils to navigate AI, misinformation, and disinformation, with financial education covering mortgages, pensions and budgeting.
According to research cited in the review, most seven to 17-year-olds make online purchases, with two thirds doing so without adult supervision.
The government aims to publish the revised national curriculum by spring 2027, to be implemented for first teaching from September 2028.
A number of other recommendations have also been made, including a requirement for all GCSE pupils to sit triple science, and scrapping the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) performance measure introduced by Michael Gove.
It means schools would no longer be measured by how many pupils take English, maths, science, a humanities subject and a language at GCSE.
“It is clear that the (EBacc) performance measures have to some degree unnecessarily constrained students’ choices,” the review’s final report said.
“This has affected their engagement and achievement, and limited their access to, and the time available for, arts and vocational subjects.”
The DfE also confirmed it would replace the current computer science GCSE, explore the possibility of a new 16-18 data science and AI qualification and a new language qualification to sit alongside GCSE and A-level.
Subscribe for free to our weekly newsletter for exclusive and original coverage from ITV News. Direct to your inbox every Friday morning.
The review has also recommended new maths and English tests to be taken during year 8 to help teachers identify learning gaps early, mandatory citizenship in primary schools, and overhauling the key stage 2 test of grammar, punctuation and spelling.
Shadow Education Secretary Laura Trott said the government’s reforms would mean fewer children studying history and languages post-14 and amounted to “educational vandalism”.
Education Secretary 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.”
Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know…
