UK plans major secondary education reform

In the United Kingdom, a large-scale reform of school education is being prepared: a special commission has submitted a voluminous report of almost 200 pages with recommendations for transforming the system. These proposals are already being called a potential revolution in the country's educational policy.

Why did the British government want change?

It all started with a loud public request. Professional associations in the field of culture have been seeking a revision of the English Baccalaureate program, which was introduced back in 2010. Their main argument is that EBacc forces schools to sacrifice creativity for the sake of "priority" subjects. How the program works in practice:

• At the age of 16, teenagers take GCSEs, choosing 5-10 subjects,
• EBacc considers "key" basic areas, including, for example, English and mathematics,
• The rating of the school depends on how many students choose these subjects,
• Exam results literally manage funding and reputation, so schools minimize hours of music, art, design, and professional courses, devoting all resources to preparing children for testing.

The result is disappointing: from 2010 to 2024, the number of teenagers who chose to take creative disciplines fell by 42%. The system, designed to raise academic standards, literally pushed the arts out of school life.

7 key ideas of the reform

Experts have proposed a set of measures that can radically change the face of British secondary education:

1. Abandon EBacc in its current form. Instead of rigid criteria, there is a flexible approach: only 3 tests from the current list are mandatory, plus make a choice of two subjects from creative, humanities or language areas and two more at the request of the student. The goal is to bring balance back to children's academic lives and ensure families learn at least one creative discipline.
2. Make GCSE duration 10% shorter. It is believed that British schoolchildren spend more hours on testing than students in neighboring states, while they do not sacrifice the quality of tests.
3. To introduce social studies in primary school. Primary school students are planned to be taught financial and media literacy, talk about climate change and sustainable development.
4. Make a diagnostic test mandatory for eighth-graders: a test in mathematics and English 2 years before GCSE should help to identify gaps in knowledge in time. However, some teachers fear that this will create an unnecessary burden.
5. Re-evaluate the teaching of grammar, instead of memorizing terms, focus on the practical application of rules in writing.
6. To move from computer science to digital technologies: they want to teach schoolchildren not only the basics of programming, but also how to work with data, AI, and digital tools in various fields.
7. Ensure equal access to separate science exams. Now only strong students can take biology, physics and chemistry separately - experts suggest making this the right of every student.

What does this mean for foreigners?

The reform will affect not only the UK - its echoes will be felt even by foreign schools working according to the British curriculum, families whose children study in British international schools abroad, applicants who are preparing to enter universities where GCSE and A-level are valued. If the new bill is adopted, then schoolchildren will receive:

• More opportunities for creative development,
• Less busy exam sessions,
• Educational materials that reflect modern society,
• New courses relevant to the digital age.

What's next?

While this project is only advisory in nature, the final decision remains with the government, and the timing of its adoption is unknown. But the very fact of the publication of such a report is a signal that the United Kingdom is ready to move away from narrow specialization in favor of the harmonious development of the individual.

For parents and teachers, this is a reason to follow the news, because if the reform takes place, it will change not only the lesson schedule, but also the very view of what school education should be like in the 21st century.