Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has hit back at claims of “educational vandalism” as she unveiled Labour’s sweeping overhaul of England’s school curriculum.
Speaking to GB News, Ms Phillipson said the changes were about “making sure our young people are really well prepared for the world to come”, with a renewed focus on core subjects such as English, maths and science, alongside new lessons on financial education, citizenship and AI.
The Labour minister rejected accusations from Conservative critics that the reforms risked “dumbing down” standards by teaching primary pupils about climate change and diversity.
Ellie Costello pointed out to the MP: “You’re being accused of educational vandalism in some of the papers today and of dumbing down the curriculum.
Bridget Philipson said she ‘fundamentally rejects’ the comments
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GB NEWS
“The Tories are taking aim at primary school children being taught about climate change and diversity rather than being taught to read, write and add up properly.”
MS Phillipson replied: “I just fundamentally reject that.
“The review has been incredibly well received from some of our most successful academy trust leaders, by business, by creative industry experts, and I think parents will really like it.
“We’re actually bringing a sharper focus into some of those areas, such as introducing a test in Year 8 at secondary school around reading, because too many of our young people aren’t able to read confidently and fluently.
“And if they can’t do that, then the rest of the curriculum is shut down to them.”
Ms Phillipson said the new curriculum would better reflect local history and culture, allowing teachers more flexibility to bring lessons to life.
She explained: “I also think it’s important that we understand our history as a country, while allowing teachers to tailor that a bit more to local circumstances.
Ms Phillipson said the new curriculum would better reflect local history and culture
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GETTY“To give one example: earlier this year I unveiled a statue recognising the achievements of women shipyard workers during the Second World War in Sunderland something that, as a city, we’d never really talked about much before.
“Those women made an enormous contribution. The men had gone off to war, and the women stepped in to fill their places in the shipyards.
“That’s the kind of example I think can really bring a subject like the Second World War to life for our young people.
“It’s also something that, when I was at school, I would have loved to learn more about.”
Eamonn Holmes said: “What I like about what you’re doing is that you’re taking this curriculum and adapting it more for the workplace in general.
“You’re saying to businesses ‘what do you need from us on the education front?'”
Bridget Phillipson responded: “Businesses have had an input into this. It’s important that young people leave school with the knowledge they need but also the skills they need to succeed.
“One area businesses have told us needs more attention is digital literacy around computing and AI. That’s why we’re going to refresh the computing curriculum.
“We’re also going to bring in a new qualification that will sit alongside A-levels, focused on AI, so that young people can understand how it relates to the world of work and the other subjects they’re studying and how we can embrace this new technology.
“This is the first time in a decade that the curriculum has been refreshed, but the pace of change means technology is moving fast and we have to keep up with that.”