This is the initial submission to the Curriculum and Assessment Review from Humanities 20:20, a signatory to a letter to the Review Panel in August 2025.
1 Introduction: This response is from the Humanities 20:20 group. Details of who we are and our thinking can be found on Humanities2020 - A new vision for primary schools We are educators who have worked in schools and teacher education with young children and believe that the humanities matter profoundly, since they help children to explore questions to do with values, purpose and meaning and to build their sense of self-worth, identity and belonging. Through the humanities (especially History, Geography, Religious Education and Citizenship) children learn about the world and its people and become active and responsible global citizens. This empowers them to contribute to, and create, a more just, inclusive and democratic society.
We welcome the decision to review the Curriculum and Assessment, especially since many children and their teachers are currently disengaged from learning and teaching, as evidenced by levels of absence among children and of retention of teachers. We are pleased to see the greater attention to be given to breadth and flexibility, as well as high standards, the emphasis on breaking down barriers and the concern for equity and on assessment which captures the strength of every child/young person. The emphasis given to restoring professional autonomy to teachers is welcome. However, we are concerned that the main focus seems to be on the secondary curriculum, as evidenced by the decision to work ‘from Key Stage 5 downwards’ whereas we believe that the starting point should be how children learn and that significant changes are required to the curriculum in Key Stages 1 and 2. This page summarises the key points we wish to make. The rest of the document provides the rationale for these.
Summary of key points
2 A revised curriculum must:
3 The assessment and accountability regime must:
4 The need for a revised primary curriculum: We believe that the current primary curriculum is too narrow, full and prescriptive, with too great a focus on often-decontextualised skills in literacy and numeracy and one particular method of teaching reading. The current overemphasis on systematic, synthetic phonics contributes significantly to the curriculum lacking breadth and balance, especially in Key Stage 1. The curriculum takes too little account of areas of learning like the humanities and the arts which encourage the many types of knowledge, skills and dispositions needed to deal confidently with an uncertain future in diverse and rapidly-changing societies. It tends to encourage - and often to demand - an overemphasis on children memorizing propositional knowledge, on pace and on delivery; and is skewed in how it is taught by high-stakes testing and the current inspection model. Research from neuroscience, such as Immordino-Yang et al. (2019), highlights that social and emotional development is the foundation of learning.
It is essential that the revised National Curriculum reflects the demand that ‘every state funded school must offer a curriculum which is balanced and broad and promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils at the school,’ (DfE, 2013, p. 5). The idea of ‘high standards’ must be understood more broadly than simply in terms of literacy and numeracy and what can be measured.
Active learning which provides children with space for practical activities, reflection and discussion must be encouraged. A curriculum with looser boundaries between subjects would help to enhance cross-curricular learning opportunities (Barnes, 2015). This could be based on areas of learning as in Wales, Scotland and other jurisdictions and the International Baccalaureate; and as recommended (broadly speaking) by the Rose Review (2009) and the Cambridge Primary Review (Alexander, 2010). The removal of descriptions of subjects as 'core' and 'foundation' would help to show how interlinked different parts of the curriculum are, and should, be.
Many years of the current curriculum have led to some significant issues being poorly addressed or covered adequately. One example is the need for young children to be active participants in shaping their own learning opportunities. A second is concern for environmental sustainability in the context of the climate emergency (Scoffham & Rawlinson, 2022). A third is the current plethora of false information and the likelihood that ‘artificial intelligence’ will become more pervasive. These highlight the importance of ways of working and thinking and the dispositions such as empathy and critical thinking which the humanities (and the arts) are particularly well-placed to develop.
A significant concern is the limited experience and knowledge of curriculum design and the loss of expertise especially in foundation subjects among primary school teachers, subject leaders and senior leaders. This has major implications for initial teacher education, whole-school curriculum planning and continuing professional development. While this may to some extent be alleviated by providing support materials, wide-ranging opportunities for continuing professional development will be needed to help primary teachers develop the necessary expertise and confidence to provide a balanced and broadly-based curriculum.
5 The role of the humanities in a revised curriculum: What a balanced and broad curriculum is like will always be a matter of judgement. But our main concern is that as a part of a broad and balanced primary curriculum the humanities should have a much more prominent place. The rationale for this is set out in our ‘manifesto’ on Humanities2020 - A new vision for primary schools This section sets out some key points from this.
While the main focus of Humanities 20:20 is on History, Geography, Religious Education and Citizenship, the humanities are often seen more broadly to include areas such as literature, foreign languages, philosophy and music (see Eaude, 2017). However they are conceptualized, we believe in line with the Humanities 20:20 manifesto that:
Put simply, the humanities matter because they enable children to:
We believe that from a young age children are able, and must be encouraged, to address such issues and strengthen these values, beliefs and dispositions. The primary years are the ideal time to enable children to learn not just about history, geography and RE, but to practice and develop the ways of working associated with these - to be and become historians and geographers and learn to grapple with the complex moral, cultural and political issues and debates associated with RE and citizenship- and so to develop the identities and values associated with citizenship in democratic societies. The humanities make a vital contribution to children’s SMSC development. Moreover, this is a time when children can acquire a life-long interest in, and love for, these areas of learning.
6 The contribution of specific subject areas and disciplines: Different subject areas and disciplines contribute to children’s understanding of the humanities in various ways which are, and need to be, linked. For instance, History enables children to learn about how societies have operated and changed over time, using skills such as observation and interpretation and concepts such as change, continuity and causation. Children need to understand both their own histories and the histories of other groups and societies and do so, as far as possible, through first-hand experience, for instance by handling artefacts and visiting historic sites.
A geographical perspective is increasingly essential in the modern world. Maps and digital data reveal key patterns and distributions which illuminate our understanding of both the physical and the human environment. As climate change, biodiversity loss and other planetary issues gather momentum, geography empowers pupils by helping them make sense of what is happening around them. At a local level, the study of place and fieldwork activities contribute to their sense of belonging and identity in their communities which in turn serves to build their personal resilience and well-being. It is hard to see how the pupils in school today can be properly equipped as citizens of the future without a proper grounding in geography (Scoffham and Owens, 2024).
Through its substantive content and skills sets, Religious Education enables children to engage with a range of religious and non-religious beliefs and values. They learn about the influence of faith and non-faith on personal, familial, cultural and social attitudes and activities. By being taught using a Religion and Worldviews approach (Pett, 2024), they begin to identify and understand their own worldviews in conversation with those with different experiences and beliefs. RE has strong links with other humanities subjects through its approach to criticality and openness and by broadening children’s appreciation of what it means to be human and live in a complex and diverse world.
Citizenship, although not statutory in the primary years, underpins the humanities in its recognition of the individual and communities and its developing understanding of social justice and democracy. Schools which structure their learning to include Citizenship frequently develop pupils’ oracy skills by providing opportunities to speak openly about what matters to them. This practice of articulating their own views and representing the views of others increases their critical awareness and their sense of agency. Many of the values which underpin our society are learned and practised in the primary classroom as children learn about civil and social structures which contribute to wellbeing and fairness. This enhances pupils’ sense of self and responsibility for others and helps ensure that pupils leave their primary schools empowered to recognise the importance of a just and open society and skilled at presenting and responding to informed arguments.
7 Rationale for the key points on the curriculum;
We believe that a revised curriculum must:
1 be based on a vision of education which reflects the challenges which all people including children and young people face now and in the future;
The curriculum must help children to address the many challenges which they, society and the planet face, such as climate change, environmental degradation and conflict. This requires an expansive vision of education which equips children to deal with these, from a young age. While clearly children need to be literate and numerate, they require much more than this in order to develop robust, flexible and compassionate identities.
2 be broad and balanced, enabling children to develop the many different types of knowledge, skills, concepts and dispositions necessary to enhance their health and well-being and ability to cope with an uncertain future;
In a broad and balanced curriculum, there must be an expectation that children will apply skills in different, practical contexts with a greater emphasis on strengthening dispositions such as curiosity, imagination, creativity, resilience and empathy and the skills associated with critical thinking such as observation, analysis and interpretation. The humanities provide an excellent context for learning about oneself and other people and for developing and practising the knowledge, skills and dispositions associated with becoming literate and more compassionate and humane, as a basis of active, responsible citizenship with an understanding of, and respect for, democracy.
3 be exciting and motivating for all children, and their teachers with a much greater emphasis on the humanities and the arts and the associated ways of working;
To be inclusive, the curriculum must be engaging and interesting to all children, most of whom have in the primary years a natural curiosity and desire to learn, as long as the curriculum is exciting and motivating. So, a revised curriculum must allow children and teachers flexibility – and therefore not be unduly prescriptive or narrow. In particular, it must encourage children as active learners, with a sense of agency and voice, so that they are able, at least to some extent, to shape their own learning opportunities. The practical ways of working associated with the humanities, including field work, exploration, observation and interpretation provide excellent opportunities to motivate young children. This is especially important for children who are not engaged with learning.
4 be enabling for teachers, providing sufficient flexibility so that they can exercise greater professional autonomy;
Put simply, the current curriculum is too detailed, especially in relation to English. This encourages content coverage at the expense of depth of understanding. In welcoming the Review’s emphasis on greater professional autonomy and recognizing that the written curriculum is only one element of the wider curriculum, we emphasize that teachers, who know the children in their care well, must be encouraged to exercise professional judgement. Strengthening teachers’ professional autonomy to encourage innovation and creativity is essential if high standards of children’s learning and teacher motivation are to be enhanced. The written curriculum must enable this, rather than act as a constraint and must be supported by assessment and accountability frameworks which act in the same way. Otherwise, it is hard to see how teachers will be motivated and creative in ways which will both ensure that they enjoy teaching – and so wish to continue doing so – and enable children to learn the many different types of knowledge, skills and disposition which they need.
8 Rationale for the key points on assessment and accountability:
Whatever is in the written curriculum is strongly influenced by external assessment and accountability mechanisms. Therefore, the expectation to provide a broad and balanced curriculum and to rely more on teachers’ professional judgement is unlikely to be widely adopted in practice unless the current assessment and inspection regimes are altered to align with these. Assessment and inspection should encourage a broad and balanced curriculum and the exercise of teachers’ professional judgement in line with the needs of a particular class or school community. Therefore, the assessment and accountability regime must be changed to:
1 be sufficiently light-touch not to constrain children’s learning, reducing significantly the amount of testing especially in Key Stages 1 and 2, in order to free up more time for children’s learning across the whole curriculum;
It is important that formal assessment and accountability mechanisms are not so ‘high-stakes’ that teachers are encouraged, subtly or otherwise, to focus their teaching on ensuring that children achieve high scores and narrow the curriculum by focusing unduly on test scores. This is not to argue that achieving highly in such tests is not desirable, but that focusing too much on this restricts the opportunities for children to learn both more broadly and more deeply. End of Key Stage 2 SATs do not reflect the full range of children’s achievements. The significance given to these needs to be considerably reduced in line the ICAPE report (2022). This would have the benefit of avoiding the widespread narrowing of the curriculum in Year 6, especially, in order for children to prepare for and practice SATs papers; and so enable children to experience and teachers to provide a broader and more balanced curriculum.
2 focus on and celebrate the strengths of every child/young person across the whole curriculum
In welcoming the intention to focus on children’s strengths, we believe that this will entail a very different approach to formal assessment so that there is an emphasis on what children can do as well as identifying areas where they need additional support. If this is related to a wide range of subjects and areas of learning, this will have a significant impact on ensuring the curriculum, as taught, is broader and more balanced.
3 support and moderate teachers’ judgements and assess the extent to which schools are teaching a balanced and broadly-based curriculum, in ways that are developmental and collaborative.
This implies a greater emphasis on formative assessment, backed by the judgements of other teachers and without losing the benefits of summative assessment in terms of deciding what to do next. In particular, the inspection model needs to be more developmental, collaborative and supportive, while still having scope for identifying serious underperformance. Changes to the Ofsted inspection model should broadly in line with the Beyond Ofsted Inquiry of 2023. This entails inspection teams being less concerned with outcome data in literacy and numeracy and relying more on their professional judgement, which in turn requires that inspectors have a considerable depth of knowledge and experience of primary education. Ensuring that inspectors are required to make a judgement on whether schools are providing a broad and balanced curriculum would have a significant impact on them doing so.
References not included here, but available by contacting tony@edperspectives.org.uk
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