Last Friday, the 19th of July 2024, the Department for Education (DfE) appointed Professor Becky Francis as Chair of the soon-to-commence curriculum and assessment review, here are our thoughts on the appointment and the announcement of such a review.
Last Friday, the 19th of July 2024, the Department for Education (DfE) appointed Professor Becky Francis as Chair of the soon-to-commence curriculum and assessment review.
Teach the Future is delighted that the new Labour Government is prioritising updating the curriculum by setting this much-needed review in motion so soon. We have continually advocated for a review of the education system since our conception in 2019 and spent the last four years calling for curriculum reform both through on the ground activism and from inside Westminster, meeting with key ministers and government officials. Our research, our revised curriculum (Curriculum for a Changing Climate), our work shaping policies that were passed at Labour’s National Policy Form in 2023, and our pre-election work with Bridget Phillipson (see our school visit in May 2024) and other key members of the cabinet have undoubtedly encouraged this review. We’re incredibly proud of our volunteers, student staff, core-staff and all our supporters for pulling this off, and grateful that this government seems to be listening to the country’s young people.
However, the work is not over. We are very much looking forward to supporting Professor Francis to ensure that the views of both students and educators on the importance of integrated, solution-centred climate education are fully represented in the review. We are already convening our 130+ supporting organisations to ensure that each organisation and individual can play a part in repurposing the education system around the climate emergency and ecological crisis.
A government press release states that the “views of experts, parents and teachers will be key for making recommendations” and that a “national roadshow” will be undertaken to gather input with frontline school staff across the country. It would be remiss of the review team not to acknowledge and accept recommendations from the Education for 11–16 Year Olds Committee’s recent report, “Requires improvement: urgent change for 11–16 education” which is informed by “extensive evidence … from pupils, teachers, school leaders, academics, exam boards, trade unions and subject associations, among others”. This report also explicitly recommends that any future reviews of secondary education must “incorporate opportunities to educate pupils about climate change and sustainability across a wider range of subjects“, and cites Teach the Future’s Curriculum for a Changing Climate as an example of how this can be achieved. Teach the Future are ready and prepared to help Professor Francis and her team ensure this recommendation can be met.
I personally am very pleased to see the government appoint such a well-experienced Chair to this review, rather than handing the role to one of its ministers. This is not because I do not value ministers or their roles, but because to recommend any fair and significant improvements to a system as vital and complex as our education system requires such a thorough understanding of the system and how it impacts the vast assortment of people who interact with it, that would be incredibly difficult to fully grasp without the years of experience, knowledge, and insight Professor Francis has and ministers simply do not have the time to gain. I’m also glad to see someone with Professor Francis’ aspirations and values take this role. Her career has consistently centred on fighting social inequality through education and the education system, as demonstrated by her roles as CEO of the Education Endowment Foundation which works to deconstruct the link between family income and educational attainment. I believe we can and should expect to see a review which considers children from low socio-economic backgrounds and marginalised communities and prioritises designing an education system which treats all children equitably and truly values their diverse skills and strengths while ensuring the welfare and acceptable treatment of educators and school staff.