HoL report: "urgent change" needed to secondary education

The recently published House of Lords (HoL) report (December 2023) by the Education for 11– 16 Year Olds Committee states that secondary education is "moving in the wrong direction" and that the Committee is “convinced that change must be undertaken without delay”. The Committee highlights several “priority areas for attention” to bring reform to our English education system in the short term and longer term. The Committee heard repeatedly that the current English education system “fails to take account of wider societal and economic shifts”. The recommendations include reducing the amount of content in the curriculum, reducing the volume of and lowering the stakes of exams taken at age 16, increasing the use of non-exam assessment and abandoning EBacc school performance measures.

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An “overburdened” curriculum 

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The HoL report calls for a reduction in the "amount of content in the 11-16 curriculum” describing the current curriculum as “overburdened” necessitating “rote learning and ‘cramming’ subject knowledge” into lessons. “There is also little scope to… apply learning to real-world issues such as climate change, with pupil engagement suffering as a result”. It also states digital, creative and technical skills are likely to be in even greater demand in the future yet "opportunities to develop these skills have, however, been squeezed out of the 11-16 phase”. The report calls for "additional pathways to support the development of pupils' digital skills”. In addition, it calls for an "adequate set of literacy and numeracy qualifications available to pupils age 14 to 16, focused on the application of these skills in real-world contexts”. 

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The skills gained from creative, technical and digital subjects can be incredibly enjoyable, useful and rewarding to learn. This is regardless of the fact our society relies, and thrives, on many of these skills. Project Positivity Education fully supports a curriculum which contains less content, values all subjects equally, focuses more on real life application and equips people with the essential skills and knowledge they need to thrive now and in the future. 

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Alternatives to a high volume, high stakes exam system 

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The Committee calls for a reduction in the "volume and lowering the stakes of exams taken at age 16”. The Committee believes “the pressure created by the current assessment system has became unsustainable” and “those who do not excel in this type of assessment have few other opportunities to demonstrate their achievements”. It also suggests "increasing the use of coursework or other forms of non-exam assessment, including project-based qualifications” as “Pupils are now tested purely via exams in many GCSE subjects”. 

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Project Positivity Education fully supports a reformed assessment system which would reduce stress and allow pupils who don’t excel in exams to show off their achievements, abilities and capabilities with different types of assessment. This would remove unnecessary barriers for future aspirations. Assessment system reform would also allow teachers to focus more on teaching students for life, rather than training them for tests, putting the joy back in to teaching and learning for many. Yes, exams can be a way of measuring some understanding, knowledge and skills but it shouldn’t be the only way.

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Abandon EBacc school performance measures 

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The report also calls for the abandonment of EBacc school performance measures as it “incentivise[s] a focus on a limited set of traditionally academic subjects” and states “Schools must be given greater flexibility to offer the subjects and qualifications that would best serve their pupils, based on a balanced curriculum”. It highlights “the impact [of EBacc] on creative subjects, including art and design, design and technology, drama and music” being responsible for the “dramatic decline in take-up” of these subjects (as well as vocational ones). The report also states “Opportunities to experience more practical, applied forms of learning have become increasingly limited, even though many pupils enjoy, and excel in, this way of acquiring knowledge and skills”. The report also calls for a review into other school measures for secondary education. 

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Project Positivity Education supports the abandonment of the EBacc school performance measure as this would help reduce pressure on schools, encourage students to take GCSE courses that they’re interested in, enjoy and excel in and support the creative, technical and vocational subjects which have suffered because of EBacc. According to the Joint Council for Qualifications, between 2010 and 2018 with the introduction of the EBacc, there has been a fall of 154,000 (57%) in entries to Design and Technology GCSEs and a reduction of 77,000 (20%) in entries into creative subjects.*

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The full House of Lords report is available to read in full here