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Pupils will not be taught “enough of what actually matters” under Wales’ planned new school curriculum and teachers have “lost faith” in the way the radical changes are being developed.

These stark warnings come from leading schools organisations asked for their views on the curriculum being developed that will be the biggest change in education in Wales for generations.

The curriculum has been developed by Professor Graham Donaldson, who was also involved in the controversial changes to the Scottish curriculum that began in 2004 and which some blame for the decline in performance of students in Scotland.

In Wales, it would see traditional subjects scrapped and replaced by six "areas of learning and experience".

A consultation carried out by the Assembly’s Children, Young People and Education Committee has revealed that senior people in education in Wales have major concerns about the proposals being developed.

The committee meets on Thursday, January 10, to discuss the responses and take evidence on progress from Education Secretary Kirsty Williams.

A first draft of the new curriculum is due to be published in April before the changes come in from 2022.

Not enough of what actually matters has been included in the Areas of Learning and Experience (AoLEs).

The Association of Directors of Education in Wales (ADEW) and the Welsh Local Government Association gave a joint response to the committee.

They said: “In too many cases, not enough of what actually matters has been included in the Areas of Learning and Experience (AoLEs).”

The ADEW and WLGA fear the areas of learning and experience are too vague warning: “Too many statements are generic, poorly defined and weak on knowledge and skills development.

"As a result, it is likely that pupils’ knowledge, understanding and skills development will be left to chance, i.e. relying heavily on the knowledge and experience of individual teachers as opposed to an entitlement defined by the curriculum.

“Pupils without strong family support are at risk of missing out the most.”

On the language and literature AoLE they add: "There are many high-level & grandiose themes at the expense of the nuts & bolts of language development – speaking, reading & writing".

From the Sport AoLE they say the word sport is entirely missing.

They write: "Sport, and what sport entails, is absent in the progression steps. In fact, there is no mention of the word sport. For a proud sporting nation, that Wales is, and the value sport brings to individuals and communities, the lack of prominence of sport is a concern."

They fear children with least family support risk losing out most and that teaching will be overshadowed by the changes.

“In and amongst all the change and reform in the system, potentially, leaders and teachers will be distracted from focusing on what matters – teaching children,” they warn.]

What are the Six Areas of Learning and Experience (AoLEs Expressive Arts; Health and Well-being; Humanities; Languages, Literacy and Communication; Mathematics and Numeracy; Science and Technology The idea behind Professor Graham Donaldon's vision document 'P is that there is less separation of individual subjects where they cross into others. The Donaldson Report: An at-a-glance-guide

Unions: Fewer specialist teachers will be needed

This current design will reduce the need for specialist subject teachers which may in turn lead to redundancies, the largest teaching union in Wales, NASUWT Cymru claims in its response.

The NASUWT said while it generally welcomed the new curriculum the way it is being implemented risks excluding the profession from meaningful engagement with many teachers feeling frustrated and excluded by small team of senior staff and schools pioneering it.

“The overall view of the current position is that NASUWT members report that they have lost faith in the progress and development of the reforms and that trust and belief in the process has been seriously undermined,” NASUWT’s response to the committee says.

It goes on: “The NASUWT has serious concerns that the methodology now being used to develop the curriculum will result in a programme that will not stand up to scrutiny in the long term as it will not have been properly tested by teachers in a variety of forms, settings and ability ranges.”

The National Education Union is also concerned about variation in readiness for the new curriculum and warned without sufficient training and funding “The ambitions of ‘Our national mission’ will not be fulfilled.”

It went on: “Our members are concerned that not enough practitioners in the classroom are aware of precisely what the new curriculum would mean to them, nor that their school would be ready.

“Whilst we have been assured by Welsh Government that the pioneer schools are on track to deliver the new curriculum in time, we have not been provided with clear evidence of their involvement.”

The Association of School and College Leaders Cymru, which represents school leaders in more than 90 per cent of the secondary schools in Wales, also highlighted gaps in readiness and worries about assessment.

“As leaders of educational professionals, we are committed to doing everything we can to further the development of the new curriculum as part of the National Mission.

“We are, however, concerned that there may be a significant gap between the desire of schools to implement the new curriculum and their ability to deliver at a time when the level of funding for schools is causing significant issues and diverting their attention from the central focus of learning and teaching.

“It is clear to us that there will need to be a significant additional investment in overall funding if the aspiration to implement a world class new curriculum is to be achieved,” it warned.

Schools are not ready

There were 34 organisations who responded to the consultation.

Broadly, responses warn that schools’ readiness for the change is variable, there are concerns over teacher workload, what pupils will learn and how they will be assessed in the new regime.

Primaries are more ready than secondaries and opinions differ on how well schools pioneering the curriculum are communicating with others.

The Education Workforce Council said in a survey it carried last year out among school teachers found 38.6% who responded felt they were ‘not very’, or ‘not at all’ familiar with the new curriculum changes.

Among supply teachers 71.1% responding said they were ‘not very’ or ‘not at all’ familiar with the content and recommendations in the Donaldson report.

It warned: "There are are more than 4,800 school teachers working on a supply basis which constitutes approximately 14% of all school teachers on the register. It is of paramount importance that the supply workforce is factored in to the communications strategy, professional development offering and developmental work around the curriculum."

School inspectorate body Estyn said: "Given the scale and breadth of the reform, Estyn agrees that making the most of the network has been an innovative, complex and multi-faceted process.

"While inevitable challenges remain, Estyn acknowledges the noteworthy progress achieved by the Pioneer Schools."

But the ADEW and WLGA had this warning to those creating the new curriculum: ”While the landscape is awash with experts getting “excited” about curriculum reform (however), the reality is that workload-weary teachers will have to try to make it work on the ground.

Secondary schools, in general, are not particularly well prepared for delivering the new curriculum now, they added and changes to GCSEs have been more to the front of their minds.

The Welsh Government said: “We are concerned that some of the evidence from WLGA shows a general lack of understanding of the reforms and how they will work in practice.

"Many of the comments have called for continuing with a narrow and overcrowded curriculum. This is at odds with our reforms, and at odds with what our children and teachers deserve.

"The new curriculum must allow professionals the flexibility to choose the specific content which meets the needs of their learners in their specific context; the feedback that we’ve received from those involved in designing the curriculum has been broadly positive and suggests we’re heading in the right direction.”