The Curriculum for Wales is a purpose-driven curriculum. It sets out what we want for our learners when they finish compulsory education at 16 – informed citizens, confident individuals and contributors to society who are ready to learn throughout their lives.
From September 2025 the Curriculum for Wales will start to be taught to year 10; in September 2026 when it reaches year 11 learners, the roll-out will be complete.
Years 10 and 11 are vitally important for young people as the years when they start to undertake qualifications. During these years, their decisions and achievements can have a significant influence on their future choices and pathways.
Secondary education is, of course, about more than just studying for qualifications. And the teaching and learning must be broader than just preparing young people for exams – it’s preparing learners for life. This is why I want all learners to finish compulsory education at 16 both having been given the opportunity to gain good qualifications and having gained the knowledge, skills and capabilities they need to transition to their next steps, whether that is continuing in formal education, apprenticeship or work.
I am today publishing statutory guidance on 14 to 16 learning under the Curriculum for Wales.
The guidance sets out the policy for 14 to 16 learning and teaching, including the legal requirements for schools, and forms part of the Curriculum for Wales framework guidance. The guidance sets out clear national expectations to provide a consistent approach across all schools.
Central to the guidance is the 14 to 16 Learner Entitlement: the learning that all learners in year 10 and 11 will benefit from under the Curriculum for Wales. This includes a breadth of GCSE, vocational and skills-based qualifications drawing from the National 14 to 16 Qualifications offer developed by Qualifications Wales, as well as learners following stretching and ambitious qualifications in literacy, numeracy, and the sciences. The Learner Entitlement will also help ensure each individual young person follows the journey that is right for them, with schools supporting them to plan their next steps.
Responding to what senior leaders have told me they need, my officials have worked with school leaders to develop a package of support for practitioners on how schools can design their 14 to 16 curriculum offer. This will be published during the autumn term, to align with the publication of WJEC’s new made-for-Wales GCSE specifications.
WJEC has developed an unprecedented pan-Wales plan to deliver training on made-for-Wales GCSEs to clusters of schools during INSET days from February to April 2025.
We are also developing a targeted package of professional learning for senior leaders to complement both the WJEC training, and the professional learning already available on curriculum design, progression and assessment.
In addition to providing a structure for curriculum design in years 10 and 11, the Learner Entitlement will provide a framework for schools to use to self-evaluate and reflect upon the learning, progress and achievements of their learners in these years, and to plan for further improvements in their offer. Our proposals on what should be included in the information requirements that will replace the “Key Stage 4 interim performance measures” (including the Capped 9) will therefore be aligned with the priorities and aims of the Learner Entitlement. We will be consulting on information proposals related to the 14-16 Learner Entitlement later this term and providing direction on our expectations for use and publication of relevant data at a school level.
The 14-16 learning policy and supporting information requirements will help shape the expectations against which Estyn inspect secondary schools from September 2025.