The House of Lords Education for 11-16-Year-Olds was appointed in January 2023 to consider education for 11-16 year-olds regarding the skills necessary for the digital and green economy.
In December 2023, the Committee released the report of their inquiry into 11-16 Education, alongside their recommendations. This inquiry focused on whether the current skills system effectively equips young people with the knowledge, skills, and behaviours they need to progress to the next phase of their education and to flourish in the future.
The Committee received evidence from pupils, teachers, academics, trade unions, and subject associations, among others. Conclusions of this inquiry recognise that the 11-16 curriculum must be revised.
Key Findings
- The Government’s emphasis on a knowledge-rich approach has led to an 11-16 curriculum which is overloaded with content, particularly at key stage 4. The extent of the material to be covered hampers pupil’s understanding of core concepts and stifles engagement.
- Each year, around a third of students do not secure a ‘pass’ grade in English and maths, which limits their opportunities in the post-16 phase. A greater focus on other core skills, such as oracy and digital literacy should be incorporated into the curriculum.
- Pressures from the current assessment system have become unsustainable – sitting 25 to 30 hours of exams at the end of Y11 is stressful for students, and those who do not excel in this type of assessment have few other opportunities to demonstrate their achievements.
- Schools are struggling with a shortage of teachers as, over the past decade, the overall number of qualified teachers in state-funded schools has not kept pace with increasing pupil numbers. This issue affects secondary schools in particular, with recent data showing that recruitment levels for trainee teachers in the 2022–23 cycle fell below government targets in 13 out of 17 subjects.
Recommendations
The Government should:
- Conduct a review of the national curriculum’s status, to ensure that all mainstream, state-funded schools are teaching a genuinely broad and balanced curriculum throughout a three-year key stage 3. Government should also consider the proposal for a mandatory curriculum that ensures a common entitlement for all pupils. The review should consider the impact of any curriculum changes on specialist schools, to ensure that innovative approaches are not undermined where they are to the benefit of pupils.
- Reduce the overall content load of the 11–16 curriculum, focusing particularly on GCSE subject curricula. It should undertake a review to establish how this can be achieved, and publish its findings.
- Determine why around a third of pupils do not secure a grade 4 or above in GCSE English and maths each year, and publish its findings. As part of a wider review of the key stage 3 and GCSE curricula, the government should embed opportunities for oracy and communication skills development.
- Working closely with stakeholders, the Government should take steps to develop and introduce a new GCSE in applied computing as soon as possible.
- Explore introducing a basic digital literacy qualification that can be taken at key stage 4, to ensure that all pupils have an opportunity to develop the basic digital skills needed to participate effectively in post-16 education and training, employment, and wider life.
- Must ensure that a core purpose of future reviews of the key stage 3 and 4 curricula, and GCSE content specifications, is to identify and incorporate opportunities to educate pupils about climate change and sustainability across a wider range of subjects. This is necessary to avoid the persistence of ‘subject silos’ and to ensure that teaching on such topics is available to all.
- Should explore innovative ways to encourage schools to promote language learning, whether or not as a GCSE subject, and to address practical barriers, including the limited supply of suitably qualified teachers.
- Aim for future adjustments to key stage 4 school accountability measures, including those called for in this report, this should be to reverse the impact of the current measures on the take-up of creative subjects at GCSE.
- Set out how technical and vocational education opportunities can be promoted to a greater number of pupils during the 11–16 phase, to enable all pupils to study at least one technical or vocational subject should they wish. The Government should engage closely with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s proposal to offer, as an alternative to the EBacc, a key stage 4 subject combination focused on technical careers, and the Baker Dearing Educational Trust’s proposal for a “UTC sleeve”, and publish its response to these suggestions.
- Give equal status to the full range of post-16 pathways, including technical and vocational qualifications. The House of Commons Education Committee’s call for the Government to develop potential solutions to the problem of schools being overly incentivised to encourage pupils to follow academic routes is supported.
- To consider proposals to reduce the amount of external assessment undertaken at age 16, as it reviews options for a less onerous GCSE assessment model. The Government should set out further details of its proposed review of GCSEs in its response to this report.
- As part of a longer-term review of qualifications at 16, introduce a greater proportion of non-exam assessments at key stage 4. In the short term, the Government should set out how a greater take-up of the Higher Project Qualification at key stage 4 could be encouraged, to enable more pupils to undertake an extended project qualification alongside their GCSEs.
- Lead on ensuring that the transition towards on-screen assessment at GCSE is implemented successfully. In its response to this report, the Government should summarise the steps it is taking to support progress towards a greater proportion of GCSE assessments being undertaken on-screen in future.
- Instead, prioritise lowering the stakes of assessment at 16, to ease the pressure for testing at this age to meet such high-reliability standards, and reduce the present emphasis on exam-based assessment at the end of key stage 4.
- Ensure that the type and volume of school and college performance data it publishes balances the needs of users against the risk of undesirable outcomes, such as disproportionate pressure on schools and pupils. Taking forward the recommended reforms to specific key stage 4 accountability measures set out in this report presents an opportunity for the Government to conduct a wider review of the data it publishes for this phase, to ensure that an appropriate balance is being struck.
- To review the current set of headline accountability measures, particularly Progress 8, in light of evidence that the existing measures are failing to support schools to deliver a broad and balanced curriculum. The review should examine how, following the withdrawal of the EBacc, Progress 8 can be further refined to ensure that schools maintain an appropriate level of focus on the core subjects of maths, English, and science, while enabling them to promote a broader range of subjects to pupils at key stage 4. Consideration should also be given to how results achieved in functional skills qualifications in English and maths would be incorporated into the measure.
