Key Stage 3 becomes a phase of its own as schools are told to stop starting GCSEs early
The first three years of secondary school will be restored as a distinct stage under the new National Curriculum, with content slimmed down, absence in Years 7 to 9 named as the problem to fix, and early exam teaching called to a halt.
The Government is restoring the first three years of secondary school as a distinct phase of education, and telling schools to stop letting GCSE courses take them over. Announcing the change on Sunday as part of its review of the National Curriculum, the Department for Education said Key Stage 3, covering Years 7 to 9, will be made to count in its own right rather than as preparation for exams that are not meant to begin until Year 10. The full new curriculum, drawn up by subject experts, is due to be published later this year.
The rewritten curriculum will carry less content, better ordered across every school stage, in order to leave room for deeper understanding. Expectations on core skills rise at the same time: numeracy, fluent reading and reading for pleasure, and oracy, the ability to speak confidently. Drama, physical education, music and modern foreign languages are promised a more engaging place, alongside technical and digital skills, in a broader offer than many pupils currently receive in these years.
The sharpest instruction concerns exams. The new curriculum will state that schools should not start GCSE specifications early for large cohorts, should not routinely require children to narrow their options earlier, and should not enter them earlier for exams. Teachers keep the freedom to stretch pupils who are ready to go further, provided their options are not narrowed in the process. The department points to research by Public First Global for the International Baccalaureate finding that GCSE courses are said by more than half of teachers to dominate the first three years of secondary school, with some schools beginning GCSE teaching as early as Year 7.
The early years of secondary school should be a time when children are excited to go to school and engage in the specialist and much broader teaching on offer, and where they find their passion and develop a love of learning.Lucy Powell, Education Secretary
Absence is the evidence the department puts at the centre of its case. The proportion of pupils persistently absent almost doubles between Years 7 and 9, reaching one in four children, and persistent absence is among the strongest predictors of a young person ending up not in education, employment or training. For white working class children, persistent absence rates run 75 per cent higher in secondary school than in primary. The announcement answers three bodies of work: the Milburn Review, the Becky Francis Curriculum and Assessment Review, and the first Independent Inquiry into White Working Class Educational Outcomes, which found the move into secondary school to be a critical point at which disengagement takes hold.
Lucy Powell, the Education Secretary, said: “The early years of secondary school should be a time when children are excited to go to school and engage in the specialist and much broader teaching on offer, and where they find their passion and develop a love of learning.” She added: “What’s more, the pressures of GCSEs and an overcrowded curriculum are resulting in too many children receiving a narrower offer during Key Stage 3 and being rushed towards exams without grasping the fundamentals or developing deeper understanding. I’m putting a stop to that.”
The change drew support from two of the inquiry figures whose work sits behind it. Sir Hamid Patel, who co-chairs the inquiry and leads Star Academies as its chief executive, said its research had found huge challenges in these years, a time when too many white working class children are switching off. Becks Boomer-Clark of Lift Schools, a co-chair of the KS3 Alliance, welcomed the protection for these years, saying the phase had for too long been treated as “little more than a preparation ground for GCSEs”. Alongside the curriculum, a new enrichment framework is intended to help schools make space for experiences beyond the classroom, from practical experiments to debate.
None to date. The Journal corrects errors promptly and transparently. Read our corrections policy.
