Curriculum in a Changing World
50 think pieces on education, policy, practice, innovation & inclusion
Ongoing project
BERA and the Curriculum
Following the General Election on the 4th July 2024, The Labour Government committed to a range of policies, relating to education, in the King’s Speech. The Labour manifesto pledged to a review of the national curriculum in England, which was referenced in the speech:
‘an ‘expert led’ review of the curriculum and assessment, which would “consider the right balance of assessment methods whilst protecting the important role of examinations” (the manifesto noted the importance of “an excellent foundation in reading, writing and maths, and support to develop essential digital, speaking, and creative skills”)’
In accordance with this policy, the Secretary of State for Education, Bridget Phillipson, announced a call for evidence to inform the Curriculum and Assessment Review on 25th September 2024. This closes on 22nd November 2024. On 21st October 2024, Education Minister of Northern Ireland, Paul Givan, also announced a Review of the Northern Ireland Curriculum. BERA will be engaging with these reviews in various ways throughout their duration.
As an educational organisation, BERA has a strong track record for disseminating research on the subject of curriculum. We would like to take this opportunity to share some of our most relevant publications and projects to assist our members in engaging with this important milestone in UK educational policy.
The Curriculum Journal
The Curriculum Journal is an international peer-reviewed journal that publishes original contributions to the study of curriculum, pedagogy and assessment. Papers reporting empirical studies and...
Autumn 2023
Research Intelligence issue 156: Intersectionality: Teaching & learning in UK schools
The BERA Guide to Decolonising the Curriculum
Equity and Inclusion in Educational Research and Practice
BERA Bites, issue 8: Toward a digital future of curriculum, pedagogy & assessment
In the last three decades, digital technologies have become an integral part of our lives, societies and education systems worldwide. The Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns since early...
BERA Bites, issue 9: What are we educating for?
This BERA Bites collection started out as a seminar series in which policymakers, educational practitioners and researchers came together to discuss what we are educating for across the English...
BCF Curriculum Investigation Grant
The BCF Curriculum Investigation Grant is intended to support research led by schools and colleges with a focus on curriculum inquiry and investigation. The theme for the 2024-2025 grant is...
A selection of the award winning BCF Curriculum Investigation Grant Research Reports
Sounding right, sounding white: Interrogating language, race and curriculum in secondary education
Funded by the British Curriculum Forum Curriculum Investigation Grant 2021–2022, this project explored the impact of offering lower KS3 pupils a curriculum that contrasted significantly with the...
Towards curriculum design coherence in primary geography education for sustainability
This report shares the work of four primary teachers from the West Midlands of England involved in a curriculum investigation project funded by the British Curriculum Forum. The project aimed to...
Students as the co-creators of the sustainability curriculum
Developing an introductory course on climate change, social justice & sustainability
Diversifying our curriculum: Rediscovering the power of our narrative voices
Funded by the 2021–2022 British Curriculum Forum Curriculum Investigation Grant, this project aimed to investigate the degree to which a secondary school in England included a multitude of...
Further BERA Publications with a Focus on Curriculum
Spotlight on SEND: Curriculum design and practice
On 24 March 2022, the British Curriculum Forum (BCF) ran the Spotlight on SEND: Curriculum Design and Practice online event. The event focused attention on research-informed curriculum design and...
Exploring issues in secondary subject English: Reconnecting curriculum, policy and practice
Evidence suggests that opportunities for students to enjoy talk, reading and writing in the subject of English are increasingly delimited in maintained secondary schools in England. The pressures...
Doing cynefin: Exploring ideas on belonging, connectedness and community in the Curriculum for Wales
Wales is a small country that is distinctive in its landscape, culture and language. This gives the notion of place a particular resonance in Wales and reinforces the significance of local...
Unpacking the complexities and challenges of education in Northern Ireland
Stimulating debate with Ulster University’s Transforming Education project
BERA and the British Curriculum Forum (BCF)
The British Curriculum Forum is the successor to the British Curriculum Foundation which was incorporated into BERA in 2014. The BCF has been in existence for over 40 years (and was previously known as The Association for the Study of Curriculum).
British Curriculum Forum
The British Curriculum Forum aims to bring together all those with an interest in collaborative curriculum, research and development. Through events, awards and grants, the BCF supports...
A Curriculum For Wellbeing
This British Curriculum Forum virtual resource brings together education professionals from different systems and sectors in education to share their ideas around curriculum development and...
Education and the climate crisis: A curriculum for sustainability
A BERA Blog special issue from the British Curriculum Forum
A research approach to curriculum development: A British Curriculum Forum event report
A collection of groundbreaking new work on collaborative curriculum, research and development.
Curriculum makers and thinkers: the case for curriculum studies in teacher education
Teachers’ planning and design of the curriculum often brings into question how they learn to do this important task and how and their role in curriculum making is shaped. In this talk I discuss...
BERA in the News
BERA BCF Curriculum Investigation Grant Winner awarded Betty Campbell Diversity Award
Llanwern High School, the 2021 BCF Curriculum Investigation Grant winners have been awarded the first Betty Campbell MBe award for promoting the contributions and perspectives of Black, Asian and...
Background to Michael Gove’s response to the Report of the Expert Panel for the National Curriculum Review in England
On 11th June 2012, Michael Gove, the Secretary of State for Education, published a letter in response to the Final Report of the Expert Panel for the National Curriculum Review in England. Mary...
The Improving the curriculum and assessment call for evidence runs from 25 September to 22 November 2024.
Spanning from key stages 1 to 4 and 16 to 19 education, the review will look closely at the key challenges to attainment for young people, and the barriers which hold children back from the opportunities and life chances they deserve – in particular those who are socio-economically disadvantaged, or with special educational needs or disability (SEND).
It will also look at whether the current assessment system can be improved for both young people and staff, while protecting the important role of examinations. Following the review, all state schools – including academies which currently do not have to follow the national curriculum – will be required by law to teach the national curriculum up to age 16, giving parents certainty over their children’s education.
‘National conversation’ on curriculum begins
Professor Becky Francis has launched a call for evidence seeking views on the current curriculum and assessment system to help shape the future of education.
Rebecca Jane Francis, CBE, FAcSS, FBA (born 7 November 1969) is a British educationalist and academic, who specialises in educational inequalities. Since January 2020, she has been Chief Executive of the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF).
“The curriculum belongs to the nation. And especially, it must work for the young people who follow it, and the teachers and lecturers that communicate it.”[Professor Becky Francis]
Curriculum & Assessment Review: Review Aims, Terms of Reference & Working Principles
Membership
The review is chaired by Professor Becky Francis CBE, CEO of the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF). Additional members are:
- Gary Aubin – Specialist Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) consultant and author of the SENDMatters.co.uk blog
- Professor Jo-Anne Baird – Director of the Oxford University Centre for Educational Assessment
- Professor Nic Beech – Vice-Chancellor of the University of Salford
- Cassie Buchanan OBE – CEO of the Charter Schools Education Trust
- Professor Zongyi Deng – Professor of Curriculum and Pedagogy at University College London
- Jon Hutchinson – Director of Curriculum and Teacher Development at the Reach Foundation
- John Laramy CBE – Principal and Chief Executive of Exeter College
- Dr Vanessa Ogden CBE – CEO of the Mulberry Schools Trust
- Lisa O’Loughlin – Principal and CEO of the Nelson and Colne College Group
- Funmilola Stewart – Trust Leader for Anti-Racism and Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion across Dixons MAT
- Sir Ian Bauckham CBE (Observer) – Interim Chief Regulator at Ofqual
Detailed is also available.
Becky Francis – BERA Conference 2021 Keynote Lecture
Educational inequality remains a challenge to social justice in the UK and across the world, and education research has an important role to play in addressing this. In order to do so effectively,...
