National curriculum reviews don’t come along very often. It’s been over a decade since the last one in England. So for educational non-profits like The Economist Educational Foundation, who have long-since advocated for a curriculum that focuses on the skills and knowledge to empower children as curious, empathetic global citizens of a modern world, we’ve been highly-anticipating the review report and government response.
Moving towards a modern curriculum
Current affairs education should be mandatory in every school. That might be a longer-term goal for us, but this review lays some solid first stepping stones in that journey, including:
- Acknowledgement in the report that the curriculum needs to adapt to ensure that young people have the requisite knowledge and skills to shape our changing social and physical environment with specific focus on media literacy, democratic education, financial literacy, digital literacy, climate education and applied learning to real-world issues. These are detailed through Citizenship and also updates to subjects including English, History and Science
- A government commitment to the statutory requirement for citizenship in primary and renewed attention and strengthening of the subject more broadly
- A government commitment to give oracy the prominence it needs- including a new primary oracy framework, and a new combined secondary oracy, reading and writing framework so these are embedded across the whole curriculum
- A government commitment to a new core enrichment entitlement for every pupil – including provision for civic engagement- to promote wider life skills. Though schools will need lots of support and resourcing for this!
- A renewed focus in the report on social justice and supporting SEND learners and underserved children. As a member of the Fair Educational Alliance, we are dedicated to this and are committed to supporting schools and young people in underserved communities to prepare for the new curriculum
“Our curriculum must equip young people for a world that is changing quickly. Rapid technological advancements, including the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI), are likely to significantly change the way we work. The climate crisis brings wide-ranging, urgent challenges to address – but also opportunities to seize, as we seek to restore our environment. Global geo-politics and means of communication are also shifting. New media channels are enabling greater connectivity than ever before, whilst amplifying the risks posed by online harms or misinformation […] the curriculum needs to adapt to ensure that young people have the requisite knowledge and skills to shape our changing social and physical environment.”
– Curriculum and Assessment Review Final Report, November 2025.
Turning aspirations into meaningful education
What is absolutely critical is that careful thought is put into the curriculum redesign and roll-out and that these new skills and knowledge are properly embedded in a meaningful way, and not just added as tick-box activity.
- Organisations like ours, with specialist expertise, should be brought into the consultation and planning process
- Curriculum leads, schools, teachers and students will need lots of support to make this transition a success, including high-quality resources and training
- Impactful and sustainable enrichment programmes should be signposted now
Dynamic, oracy-focused lessons on current affairs cover so many of these areas and with over 13 years of experience, we’re poised to be able to support schools and teachers with high-quality, trustworthy, practical resourcing and training. Topical Talk resources thread the needle for many of the key features of the new curriculum, can already be used as an enrichment programme and is freely available to all teachers.
Read about how The Economist Educational Foundation supports media literacy here.
Read our policy position on current affairs education here.
Browse our media literacy lessons here.