Darllenwch y dudalen hon yn Gymraeg
Following consultation earlier this year, statutory guidance on 14 to 16 Learning under Curriculum for Wales (CfW) has been published today.
This complements the publication of the first wave of reformed GCSE exam specifications from WJEC later this month and aims to support schools to plan and design their curriculum for the first cohort of year 10 learners under CfW from September 2025.
What’s next?
From September 2025 the curriculum offer for 14 to 16 year olds should be organised around the four components of the 14 to 16 Learner Entitlement alongside qualifications during years 10 and 11.
What will be required of schools/practitioners?
To design a 14 to 16 curriculum offer that:
- ensures everything a learner experiences is in pursuit of the four purposes.
- includes an appropriate mix of general, vocational and skill-based qualifications at different levels, based on the needs of their learners, with all learners benefitting from challenging, stretching and ambitious qualifications in English, Welsh, Mathematics and the Sciences.
- provides dedicated curriculum time to support their learners to understand their strengths, and to plan for their next steps post 16.
- ensures all their year 10 and 11 learners continue to learn across all Areas and mandatory elements of the curriculum, and that they make progress in all four components of the Learner Entitlement.
As schools plan for September 2025, we will provide resources to support practitioners and senior leaders in designing their curriculum offer in line with the guidance. This will include process maps for curriculum design along with good practice case studies focusing on learner effectiveness. These supporting materials will be published throughout the Autumn term with the first available later this month alongside the publication of WJEC’s Made for Wales GCSE specifications.
We are also developing a targeted package of professional learning for senior leaders to support them as new qualifications and the Learner Entitlement are introduced from September 2025. This will complement the work of Welsh Government curriculum colleagues on curriculum design, progression and assessment, whilst supplementing WJEC’s professional learning schedule for the Made-for-Wales GCSEs. Full details of the package of professional learning will be publicised in Dysg by the end of September.