Early GCSE teaching to stop as first three years of secondary school get their own curriculum

The first three years of secondary school are to be protected as a distinct phase of learning, with schools in England told to stop starting GCSE courses early, under what the government calls the biggest shake-up of the national curriculum in a generation.

The Department for Education announced on 8 November that Key Stage 3, which covers Years 7, 8 and 9, will be restored as a three-year stage in its own right. For the tens of thousands of children in Birmingham's secondary schools, the aim is a broader, richer and more engaging start to secondary education.

Why the change

The government says too many children switch off from school in their early teens. The proportion of pupils who are persistently absent almost doubles between Year 7 and Year 9, to one in four. Persistent absence is one of the strongest predictors of a young person later ending up not in education, employment or training.

At the same time, more than half of teachers told researchers that GCSE courses are dominating the first three years of secondary school, even though that content is not meant to start until Year 10. Some schools begin GCSE teaching as early as Year 7.

The Education Secretary, Lucy Powell, 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."

"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," she said. "I'm putting a stop to that."

What will be different

The new national curriculum, developed by subject experts and due to be published in full later this year, will slim down overcrowded content and sequence it better across every stage of school. The government says it will set higher expectations for core skills such as speaking confidently, reading fluently and for pleasure, and numeracy.

There will also be a more engaging offer in drama, PE, music and modern foreign languages, alongside technical and digital skills. A new enrichment framework will help schools make room for experiences beyond the classroom, from practical experiments to debating.

Schools will be told not to start GCSE specifications early for large groups of pupils, or to make children narrow their options or sit exams early as a matter of routine. Teachers will keep the flexibility to stretch high-achieving pupils who are ready to go further.

A response to three reviews

The changes follow the Curriculum and Assessment Review led by Professor Becky Francis, the Milburn Review and the first Independent Inquiry into White Working-Class Educational Outcomes. That inquiry found the move from primary to secondary school was a critical point, with persistent absence rates for white working-class children 75% higher in secondary than in primary.

Baroness Estelle Morris, co-chair of the inquiry and a former Education Secretary and Birmingham MP, welcomed "the government's commitment to begin to address these issues."

Becks Boomer-Clark, chief executive of Lift Schools and co-chair of the KS3 Alliance, said: "This is not about lowering academic expectations, quite the opposite; it's about giving young people the time to build really secure foundations in knowledge, while also having the space to explore, discover new interests and develop confidence in what they can achieve."

Parents of children starting or already in secondary school do not need to do anything now. Schools will adapt their timetables once the new curriculum is published and comes into force.