What final grade does the Curriculum and Assessment Review deserve?

The goal was evolution, not revolution, and when the final report from the Curriculum and Assessment Review, chaired by Professor Becky Francis, was published on November 5th, that is precisely what was delivered.

Across primary and secondary education in England, the Review proposed changes to the system as a whole as well as individual subjects, with all the changes firmly rooted in the evidence that the Review’s expert panel had received.

The Government has accepted a large number of recommendations from the Review but, rather unexpectedly, ministers have also decided to ignore some of the Review’s evidence-based recommendations and instead announce their own reforms.

So what were the main proposals in the Review’s final report? Was the Government right or wrong to reject some of the Review’s proposals? And does the goal of evolution not revolution mean that debates over some controversial topics are far from over?

My guests are the same two experts who joined me to digest the interim report from the Curriculum and Assessment Review back in April - Mary Myatt, an education adviser, writer and speaker, and Dale Bassett, the director of curriculum and assessment at United Learning, a group of over 100 schools.

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