The Curriculum Review Is a Welcome Step, But Real Change Requires a Revolution

The government’s new curriculum review is welcome, but it’s not the revolution we need.  For the first time in over a decade, we’re seeing official recognition that young people must be financially literate, digitally critical, and prepared for an AI-driven world.

That’s progress. But let’s be clear; tweaking exams and modernising subjects won’t fix a system that still teaches to the test rather than to the learner.

A strong start, relevance finally meets reality.

Firstly, the review led by Professor Becky Francis deserves credit.  Including financial literacy is long overdue. For too long, we’ve sent young people into adult life able to analyse a poem but not a payslip.

The renewed focus on digital literacy, teaching students to identify fake news, deepfakes, and AI-generated content, is crucial. As Lisa Nandy rightly said, we’re raising the “most digitally connected yet most isolated generation.” Helping children distinguish between truth and manipulation is no longer optional; it’s a matter of survival.

The missing piece, learning how to learn

Here’s the truth; the biggest missing skill in British education is the ability to learn itself.

For fifteen years, my work with Performance Learning has proven that when educators assess and develop mindset, motivation, and learning behaviour, results soar, often doubling or tripling within a year.

Brilliant teaching can’t reach a child who’s lost belief in their ability to learn. Until we embed metacognition, resilience, and self-management directly into the curriculum, we’ll continue to produce students who can memorise information but struggle to apply it. 

We call saving three hours at exams a shake-up? Please let’s get real. True reform means teaching students how to think, not just what to think.

From grading memory to growing potential

Cutting exam time by 10 per cent is fine, but it’s cosmetic.  The current school, FE and HE system still rewards short-term recall over long-term reasoning, measuring compliance, not curiosity.  If we want young people who can adapt to a world of automation, we must start grading growth, creativity, emotional regulation, and adaptability.

In other words, we need to go further; we need to stop grading memory and start growing potential.

Facing the AI revolution head-on

The genie is out of the bottle.  AI tools like ChatGPT are rewriting how students access knowledge, and we can’t wish that away.  But current policy still lags behind reality. Without clear guidance, students risk outsourcing understanding to technology.

AI can personalise learning, but it can also replace thinking.  We urgently need digital ethics, critical thinking, and creativity taught as core competencies, not optional extras. These are the human skills no algorithm can replicate.

Where’s Student voice? The missing driver of reform

Every major education failure shares one trait; policy designed for student, not with them.  At Performance Learning, we’ve seen the power of student voice first-hand.  When young people are invited to express how they feel about learning and what helps them thrive, behaviour, motivation, and results all change.

Recently, I asked forty students whether cutting three hours of exam time would help.  All forty said, “Let’s get real.”

They don’t want lighter exams; they want learning that means something.

Beyond the gates a system under strain

The review mentions inclusion and SEND support, and rightly so.  But curriculum alone won’t fix a sector facing teacher shortages, mental health crises, and stretched pastoral systems.

We can change what we teach, but unless schools and colleges are supported by integrated partnerships with health, youth, and community services, the most vulnerable will continue to slip through the cracks.

Education cannot stop at the gates.  A modern curriculum demands a modern ecosystem.

A hopeful beginning if we’re brave enough to finish it

This review is a start, and it deserves recognition for that.  But if we stop here, we’ll be reforming around the edges while young people continue to disengage.

Real reform requires courage to teach students how to learn, to measure mindset and motivation, and to build a system that produces employable, entrepreneurial, adaptable young people ready for an AI-powered world.

That’s not evolution. That’s revolution, and it’s long overdue.

By Dr Tej Samani, CEO and Founder of Performance Learning