A second post considering the upcoming Curriculum and Assessment Review. Slightly delayed from when I was originally going to post it.
This was supposed to be coming to the next stage in 'Spring', which became 'Summer' and now it is September, or will it be January 2027?
I've been considering the strengthening of disciplinary thinking in geography, the particular concepts and vocabulary which are needed for a changing curriculum to be communicated successfully. This has also been the subject of a Brendan Conway post on the Learning to teach Geography Substack.
Here's a blog from Hannah Sassoon of Ark on the climate change element of the changes.
To help with some early thinking, you should also check out recent posts by Mark and Zoe Enser who shared their work on Substack.
Mark explores some thoughts on making your curriculum 'too local'.
The Confederation of School Trusts produced a report in February 2026. (PDF download from the link)
This was called "The challenge ahead"... which perhaps suggests their feelings. I came across this report and read it with interest.
The Confederation of School Trusts' member schools educate around 4 million children and they plan to work collaboratively to create their new curriculum materials, drawing on the skills of people within the trust.
They are going to work within their own networks to develop materials and thinking once the next stage of the process is revealed.
In the introduction to a new book I've written on the power of Everyday Geographies I talk about the value of exploring this approach and the importance of centring a curriculum on all young people, so that they can 'see' themselves and their experiences in it. Curriculum should be done with them rather than to them.
The Young People's Geographies project I was involved in from 2006-10 was one example of an attempt to increase young people's agency in curriculum making, and it is a pity that such thinking has not really been revisited since.
The ongoing Curriculum and Assessment Review has reached the consultation stage, and schools will need to consider the results of this ‘evolution’ (not the revolution it perhaps needed) from 2028 onwards. This is the time to embrace the everyday and as Professor David Lambert suggested back in 2009, “throw out crusty old favourites … in favour of … lessons that challenge students to make geographical sense of their own lives and experiences”.John Morgan refers to some curriculum choices as a “‘Zombie geography’ based on content, concepts and models that no longer (if they ever did) help them to make sense of the world’ when arguing for a more radical school geography.
While working as a regional subject adviser for CfBT during the last curriculum reform, I created a video with a list of topics which people were still teaching despite their age and lack of relevance, set to Rick Astley’s ‘Never gonna give you up’. It’s time to be ‘creatively subversive’ and give some things up. I can provide a list if you like.
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