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As part of the Curriculum and Assessment Review, techUK worked with its Digital Skills in Education Policy Group to respond to the Call for Evidence in November 2024, emphasising the need to take action to ensure learners are being equipped with the skills they will need to navigate a society and economy enabled by current and emerging technologies such as AI.

techUK responds to the Curriculum and Assessment Review

techUK submitted its response to the government’s Curriculum and Assessment Review Call for Evidence, sharing the tech sector’s view on how the curriculum must evolve to prepare learners for our digital future.

techUK conducted a survey of parents and guardians working in technology to gauge their views on how they felt their children were being prepared for the future of work to inform its response. It found that confidence in schools’ ability to prepare children for future jobs was moderate, with over half feeling somewhat confident, and over a quarter saying they were very unconfident. Notably, a significant majority said schools lacked a focus on core competencies and soft skills, and 59% of those polled said their children were not pursuing computing qualifications.

The review panel has now published the final report of the Curriculum and Assessment Review, setting out its recommendations to government. Following publication, the government has published its response to the report, which includes many of techUK’s recommendations.

Government has committed to:

• Creating a fully digital version of the national curriculum, which visually represents the links within between subject areas and supports teachers to contextualise learning across traditional subject boundaries in the classroom.
• Ensuring that applied knowledge and skills in areas like financial, media and digital literacy will be embedded into the revised curriculum.
• Ensuring subject-specific disciplinary skills including critical thinking, creative thinking and problem solving are clearly articulated in the relevant refreshed programmes of study, as well as opportunities to practise social and emotional attributes such as resilience.
• Rebalancing the Computing curriculum, including the creation of a refreshed Computing GCSE, and exploring a new level 3 qualification in data science and AI
• The creation of a new vocational pathway at level 3 – V Levels – and has launched a consultation on post-16 Level 3 and below pathways.
• Working with employers on opportunities to draw links between the curriculum and future careers.

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