Welcome to another Worldly Wednesday.
The report has taken on board the many consultation responses. These are available in a summary document which is separate to the main final report - this is also worth looking at.
The RGS's response to the call for consultation is here.
This has been almost a year in the making, and runs to several hundred pages.
The recommendations for Geography are as follows:
We recommend that the Government:
Makes minor refinements to the Geography Programmes of Study and GCSE subject content to respond to the issues identified, including by:
• Refining content to support progression better to further study, deepen children and young people’s understanding of key geographical concepts, make content more relevant and inclusive, and remove unnecessary repetition across topics.
• Embedding disciplinary knowledge more explicitly at Key Stage 3, such as geographical enquiry, spatial reasoning, use of digital tools, human geography and use of evidence, to ensure all children and young people have access to high-quality geographical education.
• Clarifying and reinforcing requirements for fieldwork to demonstrate its role more effectively in supporting content and the developing of disciplinary knowledge, ensuring changes remain proportionate and inclusive.
Embeds climate change and sustainability more explicitly across different key stages, including across the physical geography, geographical applications and human geography sections of the curriculum, ensuring early, coherent, and more detailed engagement with climate education. This should be done without risking curriculum overload.
There is also an element of media literacy here for climate change education in particular, where there is a lot of misinformation and disinformation. There is a need for pupils to be aware of AI and its value and issues. There is mention of a new qualification in data science and AI for 16-18 year olds.
As someone who has taught GCSE and 'A' level Computer Science, and with an interest in AI from a geographical perspective, this is an interesting development.
There is also mention of the need for diversity and for all students to "see themselves in the curriculum" - something which I was particularly keen to see.
And these will ultimately form part of changes to the national curriculum (will this be compulsory for all schools?) and GCSE subject criteria. These will be consulted on again and no changes will happen before 2028 in any case.
There was also no reference to "GCSE Natural History". I wonder what the future of that qualification will be. The reports says updated GCSEs will be for first teaching from September 2029. That's even more delay...
On the purpose of the review itself:
National curriculum content must be kept up to date, fit for purpose and reflective of the needs of wider society. Periodic holistic reviews of the national curriculum are therefore essential for ensuring these aims are achieved, as well as for maintaining overall curriculum coherence. Reviews are also a valuable mechanism for addressing curriculum shape in the round. Reviews can evaluate whether the breadth and depth of different subjects and their content remains appropriate, as well as determining the overarching aims of schooling and the time needed for the different activities required to meet these aims. Reviews can also address the build-up of content in particular areas to ensure that the curriculum remains deliverable for teachers and ambitious for students.
After some early Zoom and other meetings around the Review, it was out to the coast.
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