The revised new Curriculum for Wales

The revised Curriculum for Wales guidance has just been published following positive and constructive engagement and feedback last year.

Also published is the updated National Literacy and Numeracy Framework and Digital Competence Framework on Hwb, to support the cross-curricular skills which are integrated into the new curriculum.

The new Curriculum for Wales marks a change of culture from one of telling schools what to do and what to teach to one which gives the responsibility to schools for developing a curriculum that works best for all their children and young people but within a national framework.

The revised Curriculum for Wales guidance is simpler and shorter, and provides greater support for schools.

·         It clarifies what parts of the curriculum will be mandatory in order to ensure a level of consistency for all schools.

·         New sections on ‘Designing your curriculum’ provide greater support for schools and practitioners on designing and developing their own curriculum and assessment arrangements.

·         More clarity on the role of disciplines within the curriculum.

The key message is that this term schools should:

·         familiarise themselves with the changes made to the guidance and understanding  the model

·         reflect on how they currently meet the four purposes of the curriculum

·         start to think about their school’s vision for learning and teaching.

After Easter the Curriculum for Wales implementation plan will be published.

The plan will provide a clear timeline for schools to design, trial and implement their own curriculum, helping them decide where to focus their efforts at different points up to September 2022.

The plan has been informed by international practice, including a follow up review by the OECD of our education reforms, which will be published before Easter, and extensive co-working between Government, regional education consortia, Estyn, schools and stakeholders.

Eleri Goldsmith 

Check out our history of foreign language teaching policy in Wales