Welsh government steps up delivery of new curriculum

Teachers in Wales will be supported by the government to boost the roll out of the new curriculum.

Following visits to educational settings and hearing first hand from teachers about their experiences, the Cabinet Secretary for Education, Lynne Neagle has announced Welsh government will introduce simplified, easy to access support to help schools plan their curriculum, deliver for learners and provide consistency across Wales.

The support announced will include national collaboration to develop common approaches across the profession, simplifying the process of curriculum design and evaluation, tools and templates to plan learning, clearer expectations for teaching and learning and sharing examples of curriculum design and best practice.

It will also put revised Literacy and Numeracy and Digital Competence Frameworks on a statutory footing to provide clear expectations for these critical skills.

A sustained improvement in educational attainment is a top priority for the Welsh Government and the new Curriculum for Wales is central to raising standards and providing a broad and balanced education so all learners can reach their full potential.

The Curriculum for Wales is now being taught in all schools and settings up to and including year 8, with year 9 following from this September. All year groups will be learning through the Curriculum for Wales from September 2026.

Neil Butler, National Official for Wales, said: “Our members in Wales remain concerned about the chaotic rollout of the new Curriculum. They are already battling increasing class sizes and a pupil behaviour crisis, neither of which the Welsh Government is choosing to address head-on.

“The Cabinet Secretary for Education’s call for consistency is an ambitious ask,  especially considering that the Curriculum was designed to be created and differentiated by individual schools. This approach encourages inconsistency. Moreover, Local Management of Schools ensures that schools act as individual entities, so it is very difficult to get them to collaborate.

“Consistency will have to be imposed by a Welsh Government that understands what the problems are and is determined to fix them. Where the Curriculum is concerned, there has been a lot of fiddling whilst Rome burns. Let’s hope that the new Cabinet Secretary for Education is ready to get stuck in and put the fire out.”