Craft experts have hopes for 2025 schools curriculum review

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Crafts Council is one of the bodies that has welcomed a review of the curriculum in schools in England that will report in 2025 with the aim of ensuring "ambition, excellence, relevance, flexibility and inclusivity for all children and young people".

The review is being led by Professor Becky Francis CBE, CEO of the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) and is expected to publish its recommendations later this year. It has completed a call for evidence and plans to host a series of events to work with other stakeholders and educators.

Specifically the review will seek to deliver an excellent foundation in core subjects of reading, writing and maths as well as a broader curriculum, with improved access to music, art, sport and drama, and vocational subjects. The overall aim is to create a curriculum that ensures children and young people leave compulsory education ready for life and ready for work a curriculum that reflects the issues and diversities of society, ensuring all children and young people are represented.

Last October, the Royal Academy of Art launched an 'Art is a Serious Subject' campaign, citing data that the number of school children taking studying art, design and technology at GCSE level at 16 had fallen by 65 per cent since 2010.

This decline follows the introduction of the Ebacc, which prioritises English, Maths, Science, Geography, History and Languages — at the expense of creative subjects. The Cultural Learning Alliance also reports that 27 per cent of schools cut courses as a result of the implementation, with creative subjects the most impacted.

The Crafts Council is among the organisations arguing that creative subjects have been crowded out of English school schedules by previous changes to the curriculum. It says that 3D processes can be particularly vulnerable to cuts. These crafts are often seen as messier and time-consuming and need more storage space; teachers lack confidence in their skills and non-specialist teachers will often resort to sticking to safer two-dimensional processes.

The Council promotes a 'Make First' approach, encouraging learners to dive straight into making, develop and test ideas and come back to tweak and tinker based on how the materials respond.

Find out more about the Make First thinking.

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