If you like this blog, join the project in 2025: recruiting for 10 schools now!

I have been watching the progress of the Curriculum and Assessment review over the last few months with some interest, and wondering why everyone is so scared of revolution. The world is going through a technological revolution, which is affecting children’s day-to-day lives, their working prospects, their wellbeing, their lives, both now and more so when they become adults. The last time we experienced a revolutionary period in history like this was the industrial revolution – and when it happened, everyone realised we needed an associated educational revolution. So what is holding us back from an educational revolution now?

Teachers are leaving, leaders are retiring early and noone wants to fill their shoes, children and young people are voting with their feet. They say evolution not revolution because schools are weary, but if we don’t go for revolution, this weariness will turn into exhaustion. Teachers are not happy because they have lost their agency and curriculum freedom, and because leadership structures have become judgemental and controlling. Children and young people find education increasingly irrelevant and, let’s face it, boring. They need to learn life skills we have no room to teach, and feel that noone listens to them – they are simply being told to do what adults think is best.

England has set off on a different path to the rest of the world’s education systems. Forward thinking countries like Australia, Finland, Singapore and China are already on a dramatically different learning trajectory that takes into account the revolution that is taking place in the world – but we are not. That’s why evolution is not enough.

Over the last four years, I have been leading the Rethinking School project which supports schools interested in innovating in the education system. We are a growing number, and represent a big voice in the system, a voice which is now confident to speak out with a change in government. We are already leading our own small revolution, and building a pathway for other schools to join us.

We believe that the current education system focuses entirely on the Head: academic learning and passing exams. Whilst not disputing the need for academic learning, we want the curriculum to offer us space to develop the Heart (wellbeing and relationships) and the Hand (creativity and skills). We believe that this shift represents a revolution in leadership, curriculum, pedagogy and assessment.

Some of us are designing approaches to teacher development that build teacher agency and engagement, instead of judging and controlling teachers. We are designing approaches to teacher professional development, appraisal and quality assurance that empower and motivate teachers to want to do better, that build feedback cultures in schools and that improve teacher retention.

Others in the project are seeking to create a sense of belonging in schools, through considering those pupils, staff and parents that sit under the nine protected characteristics. These schools are auditing their practices alongside stakeholders and designing curriculum and community projects to create feelings of belonging and thereby improve attendance and engagement for pupils, and retention for staff.

We are thinking of ways to make space in the curriculum to teach important competencies like metacognition, creativity and collaboration, which will support our pupils to become lifelong learners and more successful adults, in a world where most low skilled jobs will be done by AI. We are rethinking assessment in our schools by evidencing the full and important breadth of pupils’ learning through digital learner profiles, which make a meaningful replacement for annual reports and a great CV for older students. Independent schools in the project are already developing and using their own interdisciplinary project qualifications to replace the narrow rote learning of GCSEs. Primary schools are designing their own versions of these as project based assessments for upper key stage 2.

Schools in the project are working to support the growing number of pupils experiencing climate anxiety, and the need to take climate action. They are designing projects which actively engage pupils in sustainability work, as a research proven strategy to reduce anxiety.

We are designing a curriculum for teachers and students to help them understand the potential, challenges and dangers of using AI to support learning. This group of schools will be offering these materials to schools across the UK and beyond, helping our young people make sense of the changing face of technology and the associated implications for their lives.

The interest from schools in our work shows that there is an appetite for revolution. Not a dramatic change in direction – no throwing out the baby with the bath water. Academic learning matters, but there is a need to give teachers the freedom to teach things that matter beyond exam results, and to trust teachers to do what is right for the pupils in their schools.

Join the movement! We want 10 more schools to join the Rethinking School project in September 2025. If you are interested in innovation, and in joining our revolutionary movement, contact [email protected].