This blogpost has been created by Alex Fairlamb

Alex is Director of Alex Fairlamb Consultancy LTD and she is an Honorary Fellow of the Historical Association.  Alex is also co-editor of ‘What is History Teaching, Now?’  Alex Fairlamb Consultancy –

In November 2025, the Curriculum and Assessment Review and the DfE’s response to the Curriculum and Assessment Review were published.  What does this mean for primary and history classroom teachers, Subject Leads, Heads of Department, and SLT links to history?

Included in this blog is a detailed document of the key aspects of the review and response, alongside information from Ofsted’s 2025 Inspection Handbook (see below).  However, it’s useful to have some core details pulled out, alongside some questions that these details might generate.  Whilst we await what the new National Curriculums and GCSE specifications look like and include, it would be a missed opportunity to not begin to consider the implications of what has been suggested and use the period between now and then to carry out auditing work and wider reading around the below areas.

Curriculum for all and a curriculum that reflects our society	How can we ensure that the curriculum is both the ‘mirror and the window’?How can we ensure that our curriculum has woven throughout it diverse experiences, backgrounds, cultures and contributions?What aspects of the existing history/parts of the past studied should be retained?How can we create space for broadening narratives, whilst retaining parts identified above, when balanced against the amount of content?What parts of the past should be ‘statutory’ to include?How can local history be elevated so that it is a consistent and constant thread, rather than a one-off bolt on?
Specificity – knowledge and skills	What substantive knowledge and skills should be specified?How much should be specified?  What does the balance look like in order to ensure flexibility and to engender local history, context specific curricula etc?
Transition between key stages   Whilst this hints more so at KS2-3, I think it would be advisable to look at KS1-2 and also how we can avoid the KS4 backwash into KS3 due to content overload and needing time.  Moreover, how can we make the transition to A Level less of a cliff-edge for many.	How can we work to reduce the transition gap between key stages?What could curriculum continuity look like? (Especially if there is an online tool to support this, as proposed)Content wiseSkill milestones wise?
Strengthening KS3	How ambitious is KS3?How can we strengthen our KS3 curricula?
Knowledge and skills   Not a binary of one or the other; it’s both.	How will we know if our curriculums are ‘knowledge rich’?How can we enhance our student’s knowledge of how historians construct arguments?How can we improve students’ ability to evaluate the provenance of sources?How can we better embed chronological understanding?How can we ensure that skills and knowledge are developed symbiotically / in tandem?How can we ensure that there is an appropriate balance given to both across all key stages?
Curriculum coherence	What content is taught when and why?How is our curriculum sequenced both horizontally and vertically, so that knowledge, skills and concepts are developed and revisited over time?What will this look like at transition points to help reduce the transition gap: KS1-2, KS2-3 etc.
Media literacy	If the study of history is going to be viewed as a way to support media literacy, how can this be achieved meaningfully rather than in a tokenistic way?How can we incorporate newer types of sources (vlogs, blogs, social media posts, AI generated propaganda posters etc.) into appropriate and relevant studies of modern periods?
Climate change	What could environmental history look like in history?Where and when should it be taught?How can teachers be supported to upskill their knowledge of environmental history?
CEAIG	How can we elevate careers within the field of history more readily and meaningfully?How can we promote the benefits of studying history by connecting it to the wider world and world of work?In a STEM-experience rich school career, how can subjects such as the humanities and arts be given greater exposure?

Curriculum and Assessment Report in Detail, by Alex is in the embedded link below.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DkzudPpTsSFlJvaRZJUeEffWmp7zZV_t/view?usp=sharing

Suggested reading:

Historical Association Teach History articles

Curriculum and Assessment Review final report: Building a world-class curriculum for all

Government response to the Curriculum and Assessment Review

What is History Teaching, Now?

Secondary History in Action

Mr T Does Primary History

The History Lessons

Teaching Slavery. New approaches to Britain’s colonial past

The-value-of-a-knowledge-rich-curriculum-web.pdf

Teaching Migration, Belonging and Empire in Secondary Schools