Schools to Teach Budgeting, AI Awareness, and Fake News Detection in Biggest Curriculum Shake-Up in a Decade
Children in England are set to learn practical life skills like budgeting, understanding mortgages, and spotting fake news as part of the first major overhaul of the national curriculum in over ten years.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said the aim is to “revitalise” what pupils learn while keeping strong foundations in core subjects like English and maths. She said the changes are about “better sequencing” rather than swapping lessons out, adding that schools will have four terms to prepare before the new curriculum begins.
The government commissioned the review last year to modernise teaching and help narrow the gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers. Among the biggest moves is the scrapping of the English Baccalaureate (EBacc), a school performance measure introduced in 2010 that critics said limited students’ subject choices. The Department for Education called the EBacc “constraining” and said its removal would allow more pupils to take creative and vocational subjects such as art and music.
Other changes include cutting GCSE exam time by up to 10%, making citizenship lessons compulsory in primary schools, and introducing more teaching around financial literacy, climate change, and diversity. Pupils will also learn how to identify misinformation — including AI-generated content — and will have opportunities to explore new qualifications in data science and artificial intelligence post-16.
Professor Becky Francis, who led the curriculum review, said the goal was “evolution not revolution,” and that England’s pupils already perform well internationally. She said giving oracy — speaking and listening skills — equal importance to reading and writing would be a “vital step forward.”
However, the reforms have sparked debate across the political spectrum. Shadow education secretary Laura Trott accused the government of “educational vandalism,” claiming the plans will mean fewer students take subjects like history and languages. Former schools minister Nick Gibb also criticised the end of the EBacc, saying it could cause a “precipitous decline in the study of foreign languages.”
Liberal Democrat education spokeswoman Munira Wilson welcomed the broader curriculum but warned that schools “cutting their budgets to the bone” would struggle to fund the changes without extra support. Pepe Di’Iasio, head of the Association of School and College Leaders, said the proposals were “sensible and evidence-based,” but warned that a “great curriculum” still needs “sufficient funding and teachers.”
Phillipson pushed back against concerns that standards would slip, saying, “I want young people to have a good range of options, including subjects like art and music and sport. And I know that’s what parents want as well.”
The new curriculum is expected to be published by spring 2027, with first teaching beginning in September 2028 — ushering in what ministers hope will be a “cutting edge” education system fit for the modern world.
