GCSEs overhaul to put speaking on par with reading and writing

Speaking and communication skills will be given equal status with reading and writing in the national curriculum as part of a serious overhaul of teaching in England being drawn up by ministers. Lucy Powell, the education secretary, will announce on Thursday that the ability to speak fluently and clearly will be “hardwired” into a revised national curriculum and assessed as part of GCSE exams. Most commented 1 Three in ten of super-rich consider leaving Britain over tax fears Companies & Markets 645 comments 2 Pope Leo walking and eating after lung cancer operation Europe 303 comments 3 Scaling up: the best British fish to eat sustainably revealed Environment 107 comments 4 Sculpted stags in the garden — and other news in pictures Photography 129 comments 5 New dinosaur related to T rex emerges from drawer after 100 years Science 69 comments At the same time Powell also wants to reduce significantly the amount of academic “desktop” work and assessment that pupils taking subjects such as drama, PE and music have to do as part of the GCSE curriculum. Instead she wants to move to more “practical” assessments, arguing that these are more relevant to the modern world. Politics newsletter Get our daily insider’s guide to Westminster, plus a rundown of PMQs every Wednesday. Sign up with one click You’ve successfully signed up to the Politics newsletter Explore our newsletters An error occurred. Please use the link below. Politics newsletter Explore our newsletters The move is a significant departure from the education policies pursued by Powell’s predecessor Bridget Phillipson, who backed far more modest changes to the curriculum. Top stories 1 Shopkeeper in Kelly Clarkson row ‘fears for safety’ as CCTV released US news 2 US inflation hotter than expected as Iran war stokes fuel costs Economics Phillipson commissioned a year-long curriculum review by Professor Becky Francis, which recommended evolution not revolution, to avoid destroying hard-won gains in educational attainment in England. Advertisement The changes are likely to raise criticism from the right that ministers are jeopardising progress in academic standards over the last two decades, during which time England has climbed up global rankings. Top stories 1 Budget 2026 predictions: when is it and what could be announced? Economics 2 Forget the property ladder, there’s a new route to wealth Saving & Investing England is far ahead of both Scotland and Wales, which have opted for a more skills-based approach than the so-called knowledge-rich curriculum implemented by Michael Gove , the former Tory education secretary Bridget Phillipson JAMES MANNING/AFP/GETTY IMAGES But in a speech on Thursday Powell will argue that under the current curriculum “practical skills are disappearing from practical subjects, just when the world demands the opposite”. She will add: “That isn’t politics or ideology; it’s a fact.” She will also say that, with the rise of artificial intelligence,, the ability of young people to communicate in person will become far more important — something that state schools have tended not to prioritise. “That ability to articulate yourself confidently is central to success in work and life,” she will say. “But for too long it’s been a marker of privilege. Now it will become the right of every child. Nobody left out because they can’t speak up.” Advertisement She will add: “Both in content and assessment, speaking, listening and communicating will be a core part of every child’s education, through primary up to and including GCSE.” Government sources insisted that Powell was not going to rip up the Francis review, which concluded last year. However, the education secretary has said that she wants to go “further and deeper” and create new vocational “pathways” for 14 to 16-year-olds , equivalent to GCSES — something not recommended by Francis. A senior education source said the announcements from Powell were “vibes”, retrogressive and light on detail. GCSEs will bring a new focus on practical skills RUI VIEIRA/PA WIRE Only a handful of vocational GCSEs could be taken by pupils, if English, maths and science remain compulsory, as Powell has suggested they will. Powell’s plans have been criticised by the Conservatives, who accused Labour of giving up on the pursuit of academic rigour in schools. Advertisement “Lucy Powell seems to be tearing up the last two years as if they never happened, with a constant change of direction,” Laura Trott, the Tory shadow education secretary, said. “Blowing open the curriculum and assessment review once again creates more confusion for schools and risks reopening the hard-won debate over the importance of a knowledge-rich curriculum.” Phillipson was in the process of changing how schools were measured on their GCSE results when she was replaced. She was keen to ensure more teenagers could take art, music or drama while retaining some pressure on them to choose humanities and languages as well. Powell met students collecting their GCSE results at Harper Green School in Farnworth, Bolton in the summer PETER BYRNE/PA The source added of Powell’s plans: “Once you lever something in, you lever something out. The potential is to leave all GCSE options open, apart from English, maths and science. That’s pretty radical as there would be no stipulation of humanities or language.” Some experts say almost half of young people already take a technical qualification at 16, so creating new routes is unnecessary. Advertisement Powell has already said that the first vocational qualifications being introduced from 2028 are those that already exist but they will be repurposed. The Francis review had recommended that technical qualifications should be reviewed only once there was sufficient data to make a judgment. Teenagers can already take several practical sports qualifications that are GCSE equivalent, such as a Btec in sports studies as an alternative to a PE GCSE. In her speech, Powell will claim that lessons give too little space for the “proper depth or richness that really gets children excited to come to school” and that “oracy will light up every classroom”. It will allow children to advocate for themselves and engage thoughtfully with others, she will add. A source close to Powell said: “If we are serious about improving young people’s life chances, we need an education system that reaches beyond the classroom to ensure every young person leaves school ready to thrive in further study, work and life.”