Curriculum Review recommends primary citizenship education and better scientific literacy

The Curriculum and Assessment Review, published today, recommends making citizenship education a statutory part of the primary National Curriculum, and to place a stronger emphasis on scientific literacy. These recommendations have been welcomed by Humanists UK as positive steps forward in preparing young people for modern life. Both of these areas formed part of Humanists UK’s submission to the Curriculum and Assessment Review, along with its also taken up call to add RE to the National Curriculum. 

Statutory citizenship education at primary school

The Curriculum and Assessment Review’s final report found that citizenship education for primary school age children was ‘inconsistent’ and that ‘children experiencing greater socio-economic disadvantage have fewer opportunities to develop civic skills and are less likely to be prepared for civic life’. It recommends that essential core elements of citizenship education become statutory from Key Stage 1. 

Humanists UK campaigns for citizenship education to be strengthened and to include knowledge of democratic participation and human rights, so that children and young people are prepared for life as citizens. As part of its submission to the Curriculum and Assessment Review, Humanists UK said that citizenship education plays an ‘important role in imparting knowledge and understanding of human rights, civic responsibilities, democracy, and the rule of law’.   

Increased scientific literacy

Considering science education, the Review recommends that the Government ‘bases the Science curriculum on the fundamental concepts of each individual discipline so that students develop deep scientific and disciplinary knowledge and skills’. It also recommends that ‘the science curriculum explicitly develops students’ understanding of the scientific principles that explain climate change and sustainability and the global efforts to tackle them’.

As part of its submission, Humanists UK called for the science curriculum to ‘make direct reference to the value of science as a way of finding out knowledge’ and for students to be taught how scientists know how things are true, through learning about how to plan experiments as much as what to expect from them. This is useful both for future scientists and to build critical thinking among all students, to help them as adults tackle misinformation they may encounter, particularly online.

Commenting on the recommendations, Humanists UK’s Education Campaigns Manager Lewis Young said:

‘These recommendations are a big step towards a curriculum that prepares young people to participate confidently in a democratic, diverse, and changing world.

‘We argued strongly for statutory primary citizenship because it builds the habits of empathy, debate, and responsibility from day one, and we’re delighted to see scientific literacy elevated. In an age of misinformation, helping pupils test claims against evidence is a vital skill.’

As the Department for Education had recently concluded a separate review of the statutory Relationships, Sex, and Health Education guidance, this was out of scope for the Review. 

Humanists UK also warmly welcomes the Review’s landmark recommendation to add Religious Education (RE) to the National Curriculum in England after a thorough review of its content to be conducted by an expert group in the coming months.