Green Shoots Market Intelligence

In our latest research we surveyed primary and secondary school teachers in England to find out what they think about the recommendations coming out of the Curriculum and Assessment Review. The survey found cautious optimism, albeit with some concerns raised.

The full report can be downloaded for free here, and key findings can be found below.

On balance teachers view the recommendations favourably

When asked for their overall impressions of the recommendations made as part of the Curriculum and Assessment Review, teachers tend to be favourable.

A little more than four-in-ten teachers (44%) reported feeling either ‘very positive’ or ‘positive’ about the recommendations, with just 11% reportedly feeling ‘negative’ or ‘very negative’.

Notable, however, is that the most common answer selected was ‘neutral’, which may reflect that teachers are waiting to see what the recommendations mean in practice, or it may truly reflect mixed-feelings with regards to the recommendations.

There are several recommendations which teachers are largely on board with

By far the single most popular recommendation was the introduction of an oracy framework, which 72% described as being either ‘positive’ or ‘very positive’. Just 4% were ‘negative’ or ‘very negative’ about this recommendation. This generated a net positivity score of +68% when the percentage who viewed this recommendation negatively was subtracted from the percentage who viewed it positively.

Other recommendations that were widely viewed positively included retaining a knowledge-rich approach to the national curriculum (net positivity score of +58%), continuing to use non-exam assessment at GCSE when it is the only valid way to assess essential elements (+56%) and updating all programmes of study (+55%).

Some recommendations were less positively received

Although teachers tended towards being positive about the recommendations, there were a number of concerns raised. These included:

1. Workload and staffing (e.g. work required to update curriculum and teaching resources, and recruiting sufficient subject specialists)
2. Curriculum content and teaching delivery (e.g. the curriculum adding in new content without taking anything out)
3. Exams and high stakes assessment (e.g. introduction of Year 8 diagnostic tests)
   Implementation (e.g. concerns around the timeline)
4. Finances (e.g. lack of funds to purchase new resources aligned to the new curriculum)

Despite overall positivity, teachers are sceptical about the impact that it will have

Despite being positive overall about the Curriculum and Assessment Review recommendations (as outlined above), teachers are sceptical that it will bring about the change that it is intending to.

Of a range of objectives that we asked about, the only one that teachers felt was more likely than not to be achieved as a result of the Curriculum and Assessment Review recommendations was that it will help to encourage take-up of the arts (59% agreed compared to 42% who disagreed, generating a net agreement score of +18%).

Teachers were evenly split when reflecting on whether the recommendations will help to maintain standards, whilst fixing known problems with the current curriculum and approach to assessment (with a net agreement score of +1%).

However, teachers were more likely to disagree than agree that the Curriculum and Assessment Review recommendations are ambitious and go far enough (-12%), that the recommendations will help to future proof the curriculum for the next 10 years (-22%), or that the recommendations will help to create a world-class curriculum for all (-25%).

Conclusion

Overall, teachers responded with cautious optimism towards the recommendations coming out of the Curriculum and Assessment Review. There are aspects which are well received, notably an increasing emphasis on teaching real-life skills, reducing the exam burden at GCSE, the introduction of an oracy framework, and greater subject choice afforded by the scrapping of the EBacc. However, this optimism is tempered by concerns that teachers have, including concerns around implications for teacher workload and responsibility, concerns that the curriculum changes will lead to a curriculum which has far too much content, the introduction of Year 8 diagnostic tests in English and maths, and concerns that there will not be any additional funding to enable schools to purchase new resources which are aligned to the next curriculum. There are also questions as to how likely the proposed changes are to achieve their stated aim of creating a world-class curriculum for all. These are of course early days, and until more details are released teachers are likely to be cautiously optimistic, albeit harbouring some concerns.