Curriculum Wars, AgainThe 2025 Curriculum & Assessment Review–progress or regression?This week, we wade into the newly publishedCurriculum and Assessment Review—the biggest rethink of England’s education system since 2014. Chaired by BeckyFrancis,the report promises a “world-class curriculum for all.” But behind the politephrasing lies a familiar battlefield: knowledge versus skills, rigour versus relevance,freedom versus control.Has the pendulum swung again? Or are we just circling the same debates undernew branding?What Is English For, Anyway?The review calls for a clearer sense of purpose—including a firmer distinctionbetweenEnglishandliteracy.Could this finally kill off the endless reproduction of GCSE question types atKey Stage 3?Or will “clarity” just mean more bureaucratic fog?Remember when KS3 had its own curriculum and the Year 9 SATs actuallytested something worthwhile?Drama Returns to the StageThe report reintroducesdrama—not as an afterthought, but as a formal part ofEnglish, alongside reading and writing.Nostalgia or necessity?Can English teachers still teach drama with confidence? Or has that expertisegone the way of the OHP and the acetate pen?When it’s done well, drama deepens understanding and builds voice; whenit’s bad, it’s awkward theatre therapy.The Oracy Framework: Finding Our Voices, Losing Our Minds?A newNational Oracy Frameworkis coming to “complement” reading and writing.The idea: oracy underpinslearning, wellbeing, and citizenship.The worry: it becomes another smorgasbord of “amuse-bouches” thatdistracts from the main course of English.If it’s about real talk—debate, interpretation, Socratic dialogue—brilliant.If it’s another round of laminated sentence stems and group talk rubrics, notso much.Grammar in Use, Not Grammar in TheoryAt last, someone’s said it: move theoretical grammar out of primary and focus ongrammarin useat Key Stage 3.Re-sequencing grammar so it’s taught whenstudents can actually use it.A revised GPS test focusing on application, not terminology.Imagine a “literacy passport”—a driving theory test for writing—taken whenstudents are ready.Diagnostics and the Year 8 TestA national diagnostic test in English at Year 8: to identify reading weaknesses beforeit’s too late.Were SATs a good thing?Because every child who can’t read at secondary is a failure of the system,not the child.Measure it and it will come.GCSE English: The Return of Purpose (Maybe)The review proposes a total rethink of English Language and Literature at Key Stage4.More focus on thenature and expression of language.Greater range of text types—possibly multi-modal or media-based.But will this mean deep analysis or “describe your favourite app” nonsense?Broadening the CanonKeep Shakespeare. Keep the 19th-century novel. Keep poetry. But add more“diverse and representative” texts.Sounds fine, unless “diverse” just means “short and modern.”Without a central list, we risktokenism—or a slide back to the 1980s: AngelDelight, pastel colours, and low expectations.“The best that’s been thought and said—by everyone.”EBacc: The Empire Strikes OutThe review doesn’t quite kill the EBacc, but it quietly prepares theobituary.A “rebalancing” of accountability measures signals its long fade.The arts and technical subjects might finally be allowed to breathe again.But will schools trust that the accountability system really means it?Is this the end of “five pillars of rigour,” or just a rebrand before the nextelection?The Broader Frame: Inclusion, AI, and Moral PurposeBeyond English, the review leans heavily into digital literacy, sustainability, andmoral educationAre we educating people or optimising products?Civic education from Year 1: universal virtue or creeping ideology?AI readiness: the new “future-proofing” theology.Implementation and IronyThe report promises “professional autonomy within entitlement.”A phrase so elegantly meaningless it could only have been written by acommittee.Is it g