Overview
- Citizenship becomes compulsory in primary schools, with lessons on spotting misinformation, basic money management and climate education.
- A statutory reading test will be introduced in Year 8 and Year 6 writing assessments will be strengthened, while Ofsted will check schools against new enrichment benchmarks.
- All pupils gain a triple‑science entitlement at GCSE as ministers replace the computer science GCSE with broader computing and explore a 16–18 data science and AI qualification.
- GCSE exam load will be trimmed by about 10%, reducing average time in exams by 2.5 to 3 hours per student, with wider assessment changes slated to begin from autumn 2029.
- The EBacc performance measure will be scrapped as the DfE targets spring 2027 to publish the final curriculum, drawing union warnings over resources and Conservative claims of lowered take‑up in history and languages.