End of term review: Five things we call for in the curriculum consultation
The second of three blogs on the big education updates we heard this term.
After last week’s blog post focusing on changes to the OFSTED inspection framework, we’re back for the second in our series to share what we called for in the government’s recent review of the national curriculum and assessment system.
Our vision at Anna Freud is for all schools and colleges in the UK to be mentally healthy. We know that what and how children and young people learn through the curriculum - as well as their experience of assessment and the culture it creates - all impacts on wellbeing.
We support education settings to implement a whole school or college approach to mental health and wellbeing and this includes influencing the systems around school communities to enable this.
Learn more about our offer, alongside access to practical tools and resources, by joining our Schools in Mind network.
Sign up for Schools in MindA reminder: Our schools and colleges offer
Our school and college offer includes evidence-based training, practical tools, resources and direct clinical interventions like our Schools and Colleges Early Support Service (SCESS) to help schools and colleges prioritise the mental health of students and staff.
Research shows why this is important.
In 2021, the World Health Organisation highlighted the need for prevention strategies and the integration of mental health support in community-based settings1. Schools and colleges are ideally placed to deliver early intervention and preventative strategies to protect young people’s mental health and wellbeing. This is particularly the case when the whole school and college community - including parents and carers - work in partnership to support young people’s mental health and wellbeing so they can flourish and thrive.
Our curriculum call outs
The government launched its curriculum review in September. Its aim was to ensure both the curriculum and assessment system were fit for purpose and meeting the needs of children and young people. This was an important opportunity for us to share our learnings from young people, education staff and our own delivery both at Anna Freud and through The Pears Family School, which we founded and sponsor. Our response was built around five core areas:
Encouraging belonging across the curriculum
Ensuring representation
Improved support during transition periods
Incorporating social and emotional skills across the curriculum
Reducing the high-stakes exam culture.
Encouraging belonging through the curriculum
A sense of belonging in school is proven to have an impact on socio-emotional and academic outcomes2, with positive face-to-face interactions with teachers and peers at school increasing the subjective valuing of students’ learning.3 4
However, as of 2022, only 63% of students in England felt they belonged at school5. Not feeling represented in the curriculum can be disempowering, isolating and discouraging. It can negatively affect young people’s wellbeing, stopping them from achieving their full potential.
Building a sense of continuity between home and school is one way to cultivate belonging. Helping to build connections and having opportunities to co-create curricula that reflects students’ lived experiences should be built into the curriculum. This could include working with local communities and providing students with opportunities to discuss the ways in which the content connects with their outside lives.6
Ensuring representation
The links between representation in the curriculum and a sense of belonging highlight how important it is to actively promote diversity in the curriculum. Evidence shows that students’ attitudes towards learning was the biggest predictor for school belonging.7 A narrowed and non-representative curriculum which does not foster inclusion can deplete students’ sense of school belonging.
We believe curriculum content should include diverse authors, voices and themes that are more relevant to the lives of young people and promote diversity and inclusion. It is important that students can see positive representation from a range of cultures and communities. These changes can help foster more positive attitudes towards learning and support school belonging.
Improved support during transition periods
Transitions - such as those from primary to secondary school - can be one of the most stressful events a student can experience, impacting on mental wellbeing and academic attainment.
Our recommendations include professional development for education staff to build knowledge and understanding of the impacts of transitions, while investing in and embedding support systems around students during these periods of change which are responsive to the individual needs of young people.
Incorporating social and emotional skills across the curriculum
Mental health and wellbeing should be embedded into the school culture as a whole school or college approach from early years through to Higher Education. It’s essential for fostering a culture of connectedness and belonging. Time and space should be protected within the curriculum for student’s personal development alongside opportunities to explore and reflect on their feelings and build emotional regulation.
The RSHE curriculum – when taught well – helps to keep students mentally and physically healthy – preparing them for life and work. It also plays a vital role in equipping young people with the skills, knowledge and resilience to thrive in their lives. Its place in the curriculum needs to be valued and given sufficient space and resource.
This should be complemented by professional development and training to support education staff in delivering social and emotional skills. We believe this needs to begin at Initial Teacher Training and continuing throughout their career. However, with more than three quarters (77%) of all education staff experiencing symptoms of poor mental health due to work8, it is essential this does not add to workloads. Instead, there should be sufficient time for professional development and support for personal wellbeing.
Reducing the high-stakes exam culture
The current assessment system and culture is having a negative impact on the mental health and wellbeing of students and staff. The volume and disproportionate exam burden creates excessive pressure, leading to increased anxiety and jeopardising the wellbeing of staff and students.
As one of Anna Freud’s young champions shared: “My school was highly academic and very competitive; it created a toxic culture of tests and grading. A more balanced curriculum, with mental health firmly integrated within it, would help tackle this.9”
We recommend that the curriculum incorporates a more varied range of learning experiences, including practical and applied forms of learning with assessment processes that mirror this. This will particularly support those who excel in less traditional assessment environments.
What next?
The Department for Education has set a target to publish an interim report in early 2025, setting out initial findings from this curriculum review. A final report is scheduled to be published in autumn 2025.
In the meantime, we will continue to work with partners across the sector to ensure changes to the curriculum have a positive impact on the mental health and wellbeing of school communities.
Join our Schools in Mind network to keep up to date with this and other support we provide for education staff from Anna Freud.
Sign up for Schools in MindSources:
1 World Health Organization. (2021). Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan 2013-2030. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240031029
2 Riley, Coates, Allen (2020). Place and belonging in school: Why it matters today. https://neu.org.uk/latest/library/place-and-belonging-school-why-it-matters-today
3 Baek, C. (2023). How (do) school experiences contribute to students’ sense of belonging?. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/02188791.2023.2206552
4 Allen, K. A., Kern, M. L., Vella-Brodrick, D., Waters, L., & Hattie, J. (2018). What schools need to know about belonging: A meta-analysis. Educational Psychology Review, 30(1), 1-34. Download: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-016-9389-8
5 Ingram, Stiff, Cadwallader, Lee, Kayton (2023). PISA 2022: National Report for England. Department for Education and Government Social Research. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/656dc3321104cf0013fa742f/PISA_2022_England_National_Report.pdf
6 Guay, F. (2022). Applying Self-Determination Theory to Education: Regulations Types, Psychological Needs, and Autonomy Supporting Behaviors. Canadian Journal of School Psychology, 37(1), 75-92. https://doi.org/10.1177/08295735211055355
7 Baek, C. (2023). How (do) school experiences contribute to students’ sense of belonging?. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/02188791.2023.2206552
8 Teacher Wellbeing Index 2024
9 Thinking differently p.18