This chapter looks at the Curriculum for Wales and the curricula of the comparison systems explored in this report. It shows that the role of the curriculum is different across the comparison systems, particularly regarding the relationships with learners’ programmes and qualifications and requirements on schools for what they must offer. Uniquely, in Wales, the Curriculum ‘stops’ at age 16, with learners in post-16 education having their learning guided by the qualifications they take. Finally, the chapter provides policy pointers, suggesting a role for further guidance and support for schools when implementing the high-level Curriculum for Wales and an opportunity to strengthen connections between pre-16 and post-16 learning in Wales.
What Shapes Pathways and Transitions?
A Comparative Perspective on Learners’ Trajectories through Upper Secondary Education in Wales
Abstract
Through the expectations that they set for learners, national curricula shape pathways and transitions in upper secondary education. The influence that curricula have on upper secondary learning varies widely across countries, reflecting the variety in how curricula are articulated and the level of responsibility devolved to schools for setting the curriculum. In Wales, understanding how the curriculum currently shapes pathways and transitions into, through and out of upper secondary education is important to prepare for implementation of the Curriculum for Wales (see Box 2.2 for a fuller description of the Curriculum for Wales) at upper secondary level in the coming years. The country will need to consider the role of the curriculum in providing guidance and direction for the structure of learner pathways, whilst still enabling flexibility for personalised approaches.
This chapter looks at how selected comparison systems design and structure their curricula and the extent to which school-level actors, like teachers and principals, have curricular autonomy. It brings together information on the comparison systems to identify trends in the ages, levels of education and cohorts covered by curriculum frameworks and considers the relationship between the curriculum and assessment requirements in upper secondary education.
Curriculum is one of three key policy levers – alongside certification and programmes – which shape the structure of teaching and learning in upper secondary education (Figure 2.1). These three levers come together to shape learners’ upper secondary experience by:
Curriculum – determining the overall aims and aspirations for learning and pedagogy;
Programmes – orienting how learners spend their time including across general and vocational learning and individual subjects or courses; and,
Certification – shaping where learners and teachers focus their time and resources and regulating access to subsequent levels of education or employment by certifying different levels of achievement.
Source: Developed by the Above and Beyond: Transitions in Upper Secondary Education project through engagement with Wales, first published OECD, (2024[1]), What shapes upper secondary pathways and transitions, http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/7139d7f1-en.
Understanding international variability in the curriculum’s influence on pathways and transitions
The term ‘curriculum’ holds diverse and multifaceted meanings across different country contexts (OECD, 2020[2]). Simply put, the curriculum may be defined as the entirety of learners’ educational experiences during their time at school (OECD, 2020[2]). In Wales, “curriculum” is described as:
... everything a learner experiences in pursuit of the four purposes. It is not simply what we teach, but how we teach and crucially, why we teach it. (Welsh Government, 2021[3])
More specifically, across OECD countries, the term curriculum refers to the expectations outlined in policy statements and legislative frameworks about what learners should learn. Countries’ curricula often reflect a broad political and social consensus about what matters in the education of young people (UNESCO International Bureau of Education, 2016[4]). The Curriculum for Wales, for example, was developed following extensive co-construction with public stakeholders and political debate (OECD, 2020[5]).
Some systems have comparatively prescriptive curricula which specify how programmes are structured and how assessment occurs
In systems with relatively prescriptive curricula, the curriculum may set out the programmes learners follow and the subjects they take. For example, in Singapore, the A-Level curriculum specifies the three areas for learning (Life skills, Knowledge skills and Subject disciplines) and that learners must take a subject from a ‘contrasting discipline’ to ensure they engage with a range of subjects across the curriculum (Box 2.1). A country’s curriculum may even describe how learners are to be assessed for the purposes of upper secondary certification. For example, in Estonia, the regulation establishing the general upper secondary curriculum also specifies how learning is to be organised, the compulsory subjects and the requirements to graduate (Estonia Government Ministry of Education and Research, 2022[6]).
In 2002, Singapore reformed its A-Level programme and qualifications to create greater diversity, breadth and structured coherence in learners’ upper secondary choices. The general A-Level programme, taken by learners aged 16-18, has three broad pillars:
Life skills which are non-examined
Knowledge skills which are assessed via the General Paper, Knowledge and Inquiry, and Project Work, and
Subject disciplines which are assessed via written examinations and other assessment methods, such as coursework.
Typically, learners take a combination of Higher 1 (H1) and Higher 2 (H2) subjects. An H1 subject is half of an H2 subject in terms of curriculum time, as H2 subjects have greater scope and breadth than H1 subjects. Learners in an A-Level programme would typically take (see Figure 2.2):
Mother Tongue Language at H1 level
General Paper and Project Work (both the size of an H1 subject)
Four other content-based subjects of which at least three are taken at H2 level and for which the fourth may be taken at H1 level.
At least one H1 or H2 content-based subject must come from a ‘contrasting discipline’ i.e. if learners take mostly Humanities and Arts subjects, they must take at least one Mathematics or Science subject.
In 2023, Singapore further refined its A-Level programme by making Project Work a ‘Pass/Fail’ subject. The fourth content-based subject now only counts for university admissions if it improves their overall calculated score, in an effort to redirect students’ efforts to holistic development and to recalibrate their learning load.
Sources: Sin and Goh, (2017[13]), Singapore’s Journey in Preparing Learners for a Fast-Changing Global Landscape: The A-Level Curriculum and Examinations, https://www.seab.gov.sg/docs/default-source/research-and-presentation-articles/research-and-presentation-articles/2017/1-the-A Level-curriculum-and-examinations.pdf; Singapore Ministry of Education, (2023[7]), MOE FY2023 Committee of Supply Debate Response by Minister for Education Chan Chun Sing, https://www.moe.gov.sg/news/speeches/20230301-moe-fy2023-committee-of-supply-debate-response-by-minister-for-education-chan-chun-sing.
Other systems have more high-level and adaptive curricula which set expectations and the direction for learning, but not the design of learning programmes
The curriculum that learners engage with is not always specific to a particular programme: a single curriculum may apply to multiple programmes, or multiple programmes might each have their own curriculum. In many systems, including British Columbia (Canada), New Zealand, and Portugal, the curriculum learners engage with at upper secondary spans multiple levels of education and may even apply to learners in both general and vocational programmes (Figure 2.4). Given that these curricula apply to a broad range of learners, they do not always specify the detail of programme structure, such as compulsory and optional subjects. Rather, these curricula focus on the overall goals for education and high-level learning outcomes. In New Zealand, for example, requirements for completing upper secondary education and gaining upper secondary certification are set by the certificate itself, rather than the curriculum. By design, curricula in such systems may only set high-level expectations and direction, in the understanding that schools develop their own local curriculum. The Curriculum for Wales reflects this approach, providing high-level aspirations and significant autonomy for teachers and schools. It is notable that some systems in this category – such as British Columbia – provide an additional layer of curriculum articulation or material exemplifying how to implement the curriculum in schools and classrooms. For example, British Columbia’s the ‘Career Education 10-12 Guide’ includes Delivery Examples and significant guidance for delivering the courses (British Columbia Government, 2019[8]).
The Curriculum for Wales
In 2021, following a multi-year reform agenda dating back to 2014, the Curriculum for Wales was established in law (OECD, 2020[5]) (Welsh Government, 2021[3]). The Curriculum for Wales is the flagship of the country’s education reform agenda and is intended to herald a shift towards education that is driven by commonly defined, learner-centred purposes. The Curriculum for Wales provides schools and teachers with significant autonomy to decide many aspects of their learners’ experiences (see Box 2.2 for an overview of the Curriculum for Wales) (OECD, 2020[5]). Supporting guidance for implementing the Curriculum for Wales forms part of the overall Curriculum for Wales framework.
The Curriculum for Wales sets the foundations and vision for learning
The Curriculum for Wales represents a major break from previous curriculum policy in the country. The previous national curriculum, dating back to 1988, existed prior to the devolution of education from the government of the United Kingdom to Wales. Although the curriculum from the 1980s had undergone reviews and adaptations, many stakeholders across the country felt that it was not fit for purpose (OECD, 2020[5]). There was a perception that the curriculum had become overcrowded, atomistic, and unwieldy, falling short of the evolving needs of 21st century learners (OECD, 2020[5]). Its complex frameworks setting out content and strong accountability mechanisms were felt to create a highly prescriptive environment that hampered teachers’ scope for creativity and agility (Donaldson, 2018[9]).
In contrast, the Curriculum for Wales is expected to provide greater levels of autonomy and flexibility to schools, since schools will use its framework to develop their own curriculum. The Curriculum for Wales acts as a high-level national framework, with subject/disciplinary learning goals articulated with “statements of what matters” across six Areas of Learning and Experience – Expressive Arts, Health and Well-being, Humanities, Languages, Literacy and Communication, Mathematics and Numeracy and Science and Technology (Welsh Government, 2021[3]). Across the whole curriculum, there are 27 “statements of what matters”, which function as high-level statements that are applicable to learning at all ages and stages. These are accompanied by principles of progression and descriptions of learning, broken down across five progression steps to form the framework from within which schools and teachers develop their own curriculum (Welsh Government, 2021[3]). Drawing on these, schools and teachers may decide how to structure their local curriculum, such as through integrated, multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary or disciplinary approaches (Welsh Government, 2021[3]). As the Curriculum for Wales provides greater school-level curricular autonomy, it will be important to consider how this is balanced with accountability and support measures to ensure equitable access to good quality learning opportunities for all learners across all schools.
This high-level and adaptative framework moves away from what was seen previously as a more prescriptive curriculum and is intended to empower teachers and senior staff as leaders of teaching and learning (OECD, 2020[5]) (Welsh Government, 2022[10]). Schools are expected to use the Curriculum for Wales framework to design, adopt, and implement their own local curriculum. This approach gives the Curriculum for Wales a look and feel similar to that of other flexible and non-prescriptive systems such as British Columbia, Portugal and New Zealand (OECD, 2020[5]).
The Curriculum for Wales is a relatively high-level and non-prescriptive national framework that provides guidance for each school to develop their own curriculum. Following the Curriculum for Wales, schools are expected to draw on ‘big ideas’ and key principles. Cross-curricular skills of literacy, numeracy and digital competence and skills integral to the ‘four purposes’ – creativity and innovation, critical thinking and problem-solving, personal effectiveness and planning and organising – are highlighted in the curriculum and specific provision exists for the teaching of relationships and sexuality education and religion, values and ethics.
All aspects of the Curriculum for Wales work towards the ‘four purposes’
The Curriculum and Assessment (Wales) Act 2021 sets out in law the ‘four purposes’, which are articulated as the shared vision and aspiration for every learner. The four purposes of a curriculum are for learners to be and become:
ambitious, capable learners, ready to learn throughout their lives
enterprising, creative contributors, ready to play a full part in life and work
ethical, informed citizens of Wales and the world
healthy, confident individuals, ready to lead fulfilling lives as valued members of society.
These four purposes emerged as principles for a new curriculum following a 2015 review of the national curriculum and assessment.
Curriculum for Wales implementation journey
Rollout of the Curriculum for Wales is on-going. In 2022, The Curriculum for Wales was introduced in primary schools, and in some secondary schools that opted to begin implementing it for lower secondary. The Curriculum for Wales became mandatory for Years 7 and 8 (ages 11 and 12) from September 2023. Since the start of the 2024/2025 academic year, secondary schools are required to use the Curriculum for Wales to guide the teaching and learning of Year 9 learners (age 13). The Curriculum for Wales will then be progressively rolled out to Years 10 and 11 learners (ages 15-16). From 2026/2027, the Curriculum for Wales will cover all learners aged 3 to 16.
Source: Donaldson, G. (2015), Successful Futures: an independent review of curriculum and assessment arrangements in Wales, Welsh Government, Cardiff, UK, https://www.gov.wales/sites/default/files/publications/2018-03/successful-futures.pdf (accessed on 22 August 2023); OECD (2020), Achieving the New Curriculum for Wales, Implementing Education Policies, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/4b483953-en. Welsh Government (2021[11]), The Curriculum for Wales - Progression Code, https://www.gov.wales/sites/default/files/publications/2021-11/curriculum-for-wales-progression-code.pdf, Welsh Government (2021[3]), Curriculum for Wales, https://hwb.gov.wales/curriculum-for-wales/; Welsh Government, (2023[12]), Curriculum for Wales rollout timeline, https://hwb.gov.wales/repository/resource/043330cf-bd5f-45e5-9d0f-07f78cfd7141/overview.
The Curriculum for Wales aims to ensure that learners aged 14-16 engage in a ‘broad and balanced’ education programme with some room for learner choice
Legislation for the Curriculum for Wales specifies that a school’s curriculum must ‘be broad and balanced’ and – for learners over the age of 14, offer ‘a choice of teaching and learning within each area of learning and experience’ (Welsh Government, 2021[3]). Teaching and learning must also provide for ‘appropriate progression’, for example by allowing students to increase their breadth and depth of knowledge, deepen their understanding, use and apply their skills, make connections and transfer learning into new contexts in increasingly sophisticated ways (Welsh Government, 2021[11]).
Beyond the expectation that learners engage with a broad and balanced curriculum and, at 14 and over, have some choice, the Curriculum for Wales does not provide substantive detail on how learners’ programmes are to be designed and how learners spend their time. Schools may still choose to follow a more traditional subject-based approach, guided by the structure and cadence of the qualifications that learners typically work towards in 14-16 education. Yet, it is up to schools to determine how they will construct courses – including whether these will be subject-specific, integrated or cross-disciplinary – and what school-level policies they will put in place for managing learner choice. To provide support to schools in structuring programmes of learning for 14-16 education, Wales has developed statutory guidance that schools must take into account. This guidance includes a ‘14 to 16 Learner Entitlement’ framework which gives direction for how learning and experiences across the curriculum should be organised in conjunction with qualifications and post-16 planning (see Box 2.3 for a description of this guidance).
The Curriculum for Wales only applies to learners who are in compulsory education i.e. up to 16. In post-16 education, the teaching, learning and assessment that learners engage with is guided by the qualifications they take, primarily AS/A Levels and vocational qualifications. The post-16 phase also is overseen by the Learning and Skills (Wales) Measure, which places a duty on local authorities to maximise the availability of courses available to learners (Welsh Government, 2014[13]). A review of post-16 education found that in many cases the number of courses actually being delivered in some areas did not meet the requirements of the Learning and Skills (Wales) Measure (Estyn, 2022[14]). Medr, the new Commission for Tertiary Education and Research will also have a role in ensuring learners across Wales can access a sufficiently broad curriculum offer, building on the broader principles of the Curriculum for Wales (Welsh Government, 2024[15]).
To set expectations of the learning that 14-16-year-olds should be able to access, the Welsh Government has consulted on and launched a “14 to 16 learner entitlement”. The 14 to learner entitlement sets the expectation that:
All 14-16-year-olds access qualifications from the National 14 to 16 Qualifications offer of publicly-funded qualifications, including new made-for-Wales GCSEs
14-16-year-olds engage with qualifications that encourage breadth, and qualifications related to literacy and numeracy
Schools offer a broad and balanced menu of choices, including general, vocational and skills‑based qualifications at appropriate qualification levels.
Not all learning experiences within Years 10 and 11 (15-16) need to result in a formal qualification. This framework is also expected to inform schools’ self-evaluation and improvement processes.
Source: Welsh Government (2024[16]), The 14 to 16 learner entitlement, https://hwb.gov.wales/curriculum-for-wales/14-to-16-learning-guidance#the-14-to-16-learner-entitlement (accessed 16 December 2024).
This section presents analysis of the curricular frameworks which are in place in the comparison systems and Wales. It discusses the role of the curriculum in shaping teaching and learning and the pathways learners’ pathways.
The ages, levels of education and cohorts covered by curricular frameworks in comparison systems
As learners move through their educational journey, they typically experience different curricula, but this varies across systems (Figure 2.4). For instance, in Sweden, a single curriculum spans pre‑school and primary, but as learners enter upper secondary education, a new curriculum applies. Sweden’s upper secondary curriculum recognises the implications of adolescents’ development into young adults during this phase of education, emphasising their growth as responsible individuals actively engaged in professional and social life (Skolverket [Swedish National Agency for Education], n.d.[17]).
Transition points to different stages of education (e.g. primary to lower secondary, etc.) may gain greater significance when they are also associated with shifts from one curriculum to another. In Singapore for example, following Primary 6, learners not only transition to secondary schools but also shift from the primary school curriculum to the curriculum of their chosen secondary school programme and subjects, marking a pivotal moment in their education journey (Singapore Ministry of Education, 2023[18]).
Systems where a single curriculum spans the whole education continuum through to the end of upper secondary, as in British Columbia (Canada), may make it easier to promote consistency and alignment across educational levels and, for learners, continuity of learning experiences. The Curriculum for Wales spans early learning, primary education, lower secondary education and the first phase of upper secondary education (Curriculum and Assessment (Wales) Act, 2021[19]). Once its progressive roll-out is complete, from the 2026 academic year (see Box 2.2 for more detail on the implementation timeline), the Curriculum for Wales will provide a cohesive continuum of broad expectations for learners from 3-16.
Review of national documents and frameworks referring to “curriculum”.
Note: The colour green denotes curricula which apply to learners in general education or which may apply to either learners in general or vocational education. The colour yellow denotes curricula which apply to learners in vocational education. Several of the education systems referenced in the table are currently reviewing or implementing reforms to their curricula, the curriculum as it is in the 2022/2023 or 2023 academic year is used for reference.
1 In Singapore, the Desired Outcomes of Education and the Framework for 21st Century Competencies also extend to post-secondary education, which learners progress to at age 16. For post-secondary general education, there are a range of options: the A-Level curriculum and subject syllabi provide direction for teaching and learning of learners at Junior Colleges and the Millenia Institute, and learners can also enrol in a Polytechnic or the Institute of Technical Education to access a range of pathways. Starting from the 2024, learners in Singapore will no longer be sorted into Normal (Technical), Normal (Academic) and Express streams and learners will have greater flexibility to take subjects at different subject levels as they progress through secondary school. In the Netherlands, the Curriculum for Primary Education is from 4 to 12-years-old, although it is only mandatory from the age of 5.
The length of the curriculum does not necessarily correspond with the period of compulsory education
In Wales, the Curriculum for Wales explicitly spans the period of compulsory education. However, this is not typically the case in the comparison systems. In six of the comparison systems (British Columbia, Estonia, Ireland, New Zealand, Singapore, and Sweden), the length of the curriculum spans beyond the end of compulsory education. Even though learners in these systems do not have to be enrolled beyond ages 15/16, it is still expected that the curriculum will shape the learning experiences of learners who do stay in education. For example, in British Columbia, the upper limit of compulsory education is 16, but the curriculum applies for as long as learners are enrolled in upper secondary education (British Columbia Government, 1996[20]). Only in two of the comparison systems, Portugal and Netherlands, does the curriculum also reflect the length of compulsory education. However, in these two countries, compulsory education lasts until completion of upper secondary or when learners turn 18 (Portugal Government Diário da República, 2009[21]) (Netherlands Government, n.d.[22]).
In Wales, the curriculum only applies to learners of compulsory school age (up to age 16). The Curriculum’s exclusion of learners over compulsory school age deviates from the approach adopted by the other comparison systems, and other OECD countries more broadly.
Most countries have a curriculum that covers the duration of upper secondary education
Wales is the only comparison system where the curriculum does not cover the full duration of upper secondary education (Figure 2.4). In the comparison systems, curricula guide the educational experiences of learners throughout compulsory schooling and beyond, to the end of upper secondary education. This approach recognises the evolving landscape of education, where a growing proportion of learners continue their studies beyond the compulsory phase to the completion of upper secondary education (Box 2.4) (OECD, 2023[23]) (Education and Skills Act, 2008[24]).
Historically across OECD countries, a minority of learners remained in school until the completion of upper secondary education. In the United Kingdom for example, it was only in the 1970s and 1980s that there was a major increase in learners continuing at school beyond 16. Between 1980 and 1994, the share of students remaining enrolled in education at 16 increased from 42% to 74%, and the share of students remaining enrolled in education at 17 increased from 27% to 58% (UK Parliament House of Commons Library, 2012[25]).
Today across the OECD, the vast majority of young people complete upper secondary education and universal or near-universal completion of upper secondary education is a common policy goal. Across the OECD in 2022, more than 8 in 10 (86%) of young people aged 25-34 had completed upper secondary education (OECD, 2023[26]).
To support increasing completion of upper secondary, several countries have recently raised the upper limit of compulsory education. In 2015, in England (United Kingdom) a requirement that all young people remain in education or training until 18 came into force (Education and Skills Act, 2008[24]). Other OECD countries, notably Luxembourg (from 2026) and Portugal (2009) have recently expanded compulsory education to age 18 to promote increased participation and completion of upper secondary education.
In Wales, the absence of a curriculum post-16 makes supporting continuity in expectations and experiences for the duration of upper secondary challenging
Many education institutions in Wales take steps to support continuity in expectations and teaching and learning pre- and post-16. For example, secondary schools which provide sixth forms (16-18 education) may naturally extend the ethos, aims and pedagogy of the Curriculum for Wales that they have applied in pre-16 education to their post-16 provision. However, this is not a guarantee and there are currently no expectations or requirements on such institutions to do so. For learners who transition to further education colleges (16+ education), the education they experience post-16 resemble to their previous experiences less, since further education colleges have no statutory relationship to the Curriculum for Wales. To ensure some degree of continuity, many schools and further education colleges collaborate and undertake strategic planning together. However, national sources acknowledge that there is a lack of consistency in how the collaboration between pre- and post-16 education is approached (Estyn, 2022[14]).
The absence of a curriculum that covers the full span of upper secondary education raises challenges such as:
Promoting a cohesive learning experience underpinned by common goals
As the Curriculum for Wales does not apply to learners in post-16 education, teaching and learning and what is prioritised pre-16 may contrast with post-16. For example, the Curriculum for Wales places strong focus on cross-cutting themes, “within and across” Areas of Learning and Experience (Welsh Government, 2021[3]). In post-16 education, however, learners’ time and focus are driven by their qualifications - AS/A level subjects or qualifications for a vocational programme. The former in particular have a subject-specific focus, limiting space and focus for cross-subject learning.
National goals around which all upper secondary actors can coalesce may be unclear
Internationally, many systems use curricula, learner profiles or goals at the end of upper secondary education to drive and orient their education system. For example, Portugal’s Profile of Learners Leaving Compulsory Schooling and Singapore’s Desired Outcomes of Education set clear national goals for all learners until the completion of upper secondary education, regardless of the programme they are taking and the different certifications or qualifications they are working towards (Portugal Government Directorate-General for Education, 2017[27]) (Singapore Ministry of Education, 2022[28]). In the absence of a national curriculum or curriculum framework in post-16 education or another guiding document, there are no high-level, national goals for Welsh learners post-16. In Wales, the absence of broader educational goals risk that qualifications are left to define these, and effectively become the system goals.
Certification and programme requirements may fill the space of the curriculum
Given the importance of qualifications for learners’ future, assessment and certification requirements inevitably shape the “experienced curriculum” (i.e. the curriculum that learners actually experience in classrooms in contrast to the theoretical curriculum on paper) (Erickson and Shultz, 1992[29]). In the absence of any other guiding objectives for post-16 education, there is a risk that post-16 qualifications, such as AS/A Levels or vocational qualifications, become the dominant factor shaping learners’ everyday teaching and learning experiences. This risk is not inherently negative, provided that certificates focus on the right skills and knowledge and drive desirable behaviours. However, in all countries, this is not always the case. For example, there might not always be a national consensus or statement about what learning or behaviours are important nationally. Even in systems where this consensus may exist in the form of a document, it might not necessarily guide certification. Wales is an example of the former. In the absence of a national curriculum for post-16 education, the system’s qualifications determine skills and knowledge on which teaching, learning and assessment will be focused. The narrow focus of post-16 qualifications in Wales to subject specific and occupational contrasts with the Curriculum for Wales. The design and strong influence of poat-16 qualifications risk narrowing learning in upper secondary education, resulting in the neglect of skills and knowledge that would be important to learners in their lives beyond school (see Chapter 3 for a discussion on qualifications).
The pathways that learners take in upper secondary education are shaped by both the design and structure of curricula, programmes and qualifications and by the choices learners make as they navigate the different options. Internationally, countries tend to encourage a degree of standardisation in the courses learners take in upper secondary education to ensure that all learners access key fundamentals (OECD, 2024[30]). This also enables broader understanding across society of what completing upper secondary represents, as graduates of upper secondary education can be relied on to have certain common experiences, knowledge and skills. Countries across the OECD tend to achieve this either by: making it a requirement for schools to offer a core or a particular mix of courses via the curriculum or other rules placed on schools, or by using programme and certification requirements to ensure learners take a core or a particular mix of courses. This section examines how national curricula function as a mechanism – legal or otherwise – for influencing what schools deliver and, therefore, shaping learners’ pathways.
Curriculum requirements impact what schools deliver
Curriculum, as a complex and multifaceted concept, can refer both to what learners experience and what schools provide. National curricula may set out expectations for learners’ experiences and entitlements, and schools may be expected to ensure learners receive a certain curriculum, but the extent to which learners engage with the intended or expected curriculum is not fully within schools’ control (van den Akker, 2009[31]).
To impact what schools deliver and, by extension, what learners can access, national curricula tend to reflect these two approaches:
Identify the compulsory and optional courses for schools to provide to learners
In Estonia, the National Curriculum for Upper Secondary Schools, which is established in law as a regulation of the Basic Schools and Upper Secondary Schools Act, sets out the compulsory subjects and optional courses and their volumes (Estonia Government Ministry of Justice, 2011[32]). This more prescriptive approach (when compared with the Curriculum for Wales) is relatively straightforward for schools to implement. Schools must ensure that the timetable they build, and how they organise learners’ workloads, includes all the compulsory courses as well as a sufficient amount of optional courses in order for learners to meet graduation requirements.
Establish curriculum breadth and minimum requirements for what schools must offer
In Ireland, the Rules and Programme for Secondary Schools sets out that schools must offer instruction in specific subjects, including English, History and Geography and Mathematics – even though all of these subjects are not compulsory for learners to take (Ireland Department of Education, 2004[33]). Schools in Ireland are also expected to ensure that learners take at least five subjects, including Irish.
While there is a strong overlap with what learners are expected to study and achieve, the requirements on schools can be different from the ‘requirements’ for learners to achieve certificate and complete upper secondary education (see Chapter 3). For example, even if learners in Ireland achieve fewer than five Leaving Certificate subjects, they would still receive a certificate outlining what they had achieved. This shows the subtle distinction between the curriculum expectations for what schools provide, and for what learners experience.
While systems that provide significant choice at the school-level aim to respect and promote teacher and school judgement and autonomy, this also creates risks for the actual qualifications schools encourage young people to take. In Chapter 3, Box 3.7 notes the challenges that have emerged in New Zealand of providing schools and learners with a large degree of choice around curriculum and qualifications. While schools might use their flexibility to offer learners what appears to be most accessible qualifications in the immediate term, these options might limit young people’s future options. Research from New Zealand finds that lower performing schools are more likely to provide courses that do not provide the foundations for learners to progress to higher levels qualifications in the final years of upper secondary education, limiting post-school pathways (Daniell, 2018[34]).
Wales is one of few countries where school-level actors have exclusive responsibility for deciding which courses are offered
In a system where learners do not have to take certain courses in order to graduate or gain certificates, there are limited levers to influence learner choice. This makes it is all the more important what schools choose – or are required (or not) – to offer to their learners. Wales, along with New Zealand and Northern Ireland (United Kingdom), allocate this responsibility entirely to school-level actors (OECD, 2023[35]). On average across the OECD, 63.7% of learners are in schools where the main responsibility for deciding which courses are offered sits with school-level actors rather than a local, regional or national authority, compared with 100% of learners in Wales (OECD, 2023[35]).
While Welsh schools have significant autonomy over their offer, the Curriculum for Wales sets expectations that 14-16 year-olds access learning from each of the Areas of Learning and Experience even if there is no expectation that they engage with the full extent of each Area of Learning and Experience (i.e. all learners should engage with the Expressive Arts Area, although they do not necessarily have to take art and design, drama, music and dance as subjects) (Welsh Government, 2021[3]). Beyond this, the Curriculum for Wales does not specify how learners must engage with each Area of Learning and Experience of how learning must be implemented, and there are not standard courses that must be delivered. In addition, there are no national-level requirements for learners to take particular qualifications. However, custom and the Key Performance Measures mean most learners are likely to take a fairly standard set of qualifications in maths, English, Welsh, sciences, etc. ( qualifications are discussed in greater detail in Chapter 3).
To help schools navigate the flexibility of the Curriculum for Wales and the traditional focus on qualifications, the Welsh Government has introduced a “14 to 16 learner entitlement” (Box 2.3). This is guidance which sets a clear expectation that schools offer qualifications in literacy and numeracy and a wider set of qualifications to support choice and specialisation. However, the new guidance does not mandate the exact qualifications schools must offer or must ensure that learners take, leaving room for school judgement and tailoring content for individual learners (Welsh Government, 2024[16]).
Cross-curricular competencies and skills prepare learners for life after school
In addition to impacting the courses schools offer and how learners spend their time, the curriculum also shapes learners’ pathways by influencing their learning experiences and the skills they develop. Trends towards emphasising transversal competencies in curricula are the reflection of over 50 years of debates (Goodlad and Su, 1992[36]) (OECD, 2020[37]). They reveal changing ideas about how curricula should be designed and what learning experiences best support learners’ progress and preparedness for life after school. These approaches encourage learners to be active agents in their own learning, engaging in research and projects through which they can develop their skills, with the teacher acting mostly as a guide or coach. Moving towards this approach requires empowering teachers as leaders of curriculum design and devolving more autonomy to schools (OECD, 2020[38]).
While most countries’ upper secondary curricula classify skills and knowledge into subjects, many curricula now also emphasise learning between subjects and cross-cutting competencies and outcomes (Power, Newton and Taylor, 2020[39]). The latter is the case in British Columbia, Portugal, New Zealand and Scotland and also Wales, where the curriculum promotes “collaboration and cross-disciplinary planning, learning and teaching, both within and across Areas” (Welsh Government, 2021[3]).
Supporting cross-subject learning and holistic purposes is challenging and demands professional collaboration
While many systems have started to include cross-cutting competencies in their curriculum, Wales (and other systems with similar curricula) have gone further by orienting their education systems around a few, unifying purposes (see Box 2.2 for the four purposes in the Curriculum for Wales). The Curriculum for Wales integrates teaching and learning of competencies and knowledge – within and across disciplinary areas – to work towards the vision of a high-level curriculum requires high levels of professional collaboration and support. Supporting cross-subject competencies is particularly challenging at the upper secondary level where the downwards pressure of high stakes certification reduces room for broader learning and competencies (OECD, 2023[40]) In New Zealand, research on implementation of the curriculum suggests that teachers and schools need more central support and guidance to effectively use the high levels of autonomy the purpose-drive curriculum provided (OECD, 2024[41]) (OECD, 2023[42]).
Schools in Wales report the use of a wide range of teaching and school leadership practices to enhance professional collaboration and practice. There are policies in place to encourage teachers to reflect on their practice, individually and collectively, and to operate within a context of continuous learning and improvement (Welsh Government, 2020[43]) (Welsh Government, n.d.[44]). However, schools in Wales report using some practices for professional collaboration less frequently than across the OECD on average. For example, only two fifths of school leadership teams in Wales (40.3%) report providing feedback to teachers based on observation of classroom instruction at least once to twice a month compared to almost three fifths of schools across the OECD on average (58.4%) (see Figure 2.5). Activities such as classroom observations can support professional development by exposing teachers to different practices and feedback from their peers. In systems where schools have greater curricular autonomy, using teacher mentoring and classroom observations more frequently than the OECD average is associated with higher maths performance among 15-year-olds (OECD, 2023[35]). Classroom observations or teacher peer mentoring can also strengthen cross-teacher collaboration and the development of cross-curricular competencies in upper secondary. These professional collaboration and development activities are particularly important in systems such as Wales where schools and teachers have a high degree of autonomy.
Percentage of 15-year-old students in schools where principals reported that they, or someone in the management team, engages in providing feedback to teachers based on observations of instruction in the classroom
Source: OECD (2023[35]), PISA 2022 Results (Volume II): Learning During – and From – Disruption, http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/a97db61c-en.
Based on the analysis and evidence presented in this chapter, this section summarises key policy insights about how the curriculum in Wales supports students navigate upper secondary education. It also provides policy pointers to help support Wales as it implements the Curriculum for Wales (Table 2.1 summarises the policy pointers and relevant country examples).
Wales is seeking to implement a complex and ambitious – yet challenging – curriculum at 14-16
By design, the Curriculum for Wales leaves a lot in the hands of teachers and schools; schools will have more autonomy and responsibility over the curriculum in the first phase of upper secondary education (14-16) than even before. Curricular autonomy can empower Welsh schools and teachers by putting the tools in their hands to support learners’ progression and development towards the four key purposes. However, ensuring that curricular autonomy yields positive improvements in teaching and learning requires significant support, guidance and professional capacity across the education system (OECD, 2024[41]). High levels of curricular autonomy also risk wide variations in how schools choose and are able to deliver local curricula, potentially resulting in inequities (McIntosh, 2022[45]).
Moreover, the Curriculum for Wales does not aim to prescriptively direct how programmes and pathways should be shaped, with few explicit or mandatory requirements for how learner programmes – in terms of courses and qualifications – should be constructed. Instead, the Curriculum for Wales specifies learner progression in general terms, i.e. learner progression is expected to be demonstrated via learners’ increasing breadth and depth of knowledge, deepening understanding, growing sophistication of skills, and by learners’ growing ability to make connections and transfer learning to new contexts. The Curriculum for Wales does not indicate how summative assessment and certification should come together in a full programme of learning and assessment. In contrast, in most upper secondary education systems, learners follow a programme that provides a comprehensive vision for how learners engage with content and are assessed. By not specifying via the curriculum the subjects learners should take, the Welsh Government has less influence over what schools offer and what learners engage with than is typically the case in many OECD systems, and the comparison systems focused on in this report.
Given the support and high levels of professional capacity required to ensure that curricular autonomy yields positive and equitable outcomes for learners, as the Curriculum for Wales is implemented in upper secondary education, it will be important to ensure that all schools and teachers can continually develop their pedagogical practices in line with the curriculum’s goals. Of particular importance is ensuring that support is equitably distributed across the country’s schools (Power, Newton and Taylor, 2020[39]). The recent experience of New Zealand, which has implemented a similar curriculum focused on a few, purpose-driven competencies, suggests that teachers need more support from the central and regional authorities (OECD, 2024[41]) (OECD, 2023[42]). The OECD recommended that New Zealand provide a clearer and more detailed roadmap for schools and teachers when designing local curricula (OECD, 2024[41]). To avoid similar challenges as those faced by New Zealand, the Welsh Government should ensure, and continually review, that schools and teachers have adequate support and direction during implementation of the Curriculum for Wales.
The Welsh Government has recently released the “14 to 16 Learner Entitlement” – guidance for how the Curriculum for Wales should be implemented for learners aged 14-16 (see Box 2.3 for an overview of the 14 to 16 Learner Entitlement). The Entitlement aims to orient schools and teachers on how they should consider their qualification offer in conjunction with the Curriculum for Wales, notably by setting an expectation that all learners are entitled to engage with qualifications in literacy and numeracy, qualifications in a broad range of areas and learning and experiences across the curriculum (Welsh Government, 2024[16]).
While the Entitlement provides helpful direction, it is important to note this guidance focusses on what learners are entitled to and expectations for what schools deliver, rather than how schools might achieve this. The number of subjects learners take and what subjects tend to be taken by most learners is, by and large, set through custom in Wales. However, this may not always be the case. The period of reform in Wales and the increased flexibility of the Curriculum for Wales may open the door for schools to reconsider the role of qualifications when designing teaching and learning for Years 10-11 – particularly since, as is further discussed in Chapter 3, it is not technically compulsory for learners to take any qualifications.
With schools having a high-level of flexibility – for example over what qualifications are offered by the school, the number of qualifications learners in a school are expected to take and which specific qualifications learners in a school are expected to take – there is no guarantee at a system level that schools will use this flexibility in intended and desired ways. New Zealand’s experiences (discussed in greater detail in Chapter 3, Box 3.7) provide a relevant example where, with high levels of local school autonomy, research has found that some schools structure courses in a way that enables learners to make choices that are “non-strategic”, and “ad hoc course-choice making” inadvertently limits their future opportunities (Daniell, 2018[34]).
In a context of high levels of flexibility and autonomy devolved to schools, it is important that the system can still monitor outcomes, to check that learners in schools following different approaches are still equally able to make progress in their learning and achieve the relevant recognition for this via assessment and certification.
Policy pointers for Wales
Drawing on the evidence and analysis presented in this chapter, this section provides policy pointers for Wales to consider to ensure that the Curriculum for Wales supports schools’ ongoing self‑improvement and learners’ progress. Building on the themes discussed in the analysis above and reflecting international experiences in the peer systems, this chapter suggest that there will be a need for Wales to ensure that schools receive sufficient support and direction to ensure equitable implementation of the Curriculum for Wales across different classrooms and schools. Drawing on the OECD’s work on pathways and assessment in upper secondary education, and lessons learned and approaches implemented by comparison systems presented earlier in this chapter, Wales might:
Consider accompanying the 14 to 16 Learner Guidance with a wide range of tools, development opportunities, practical guidance, models and frameworks to support its implementation to ensure that schools and teachers have sufficient support and direction. This might include:
More detailed guidance or practical models for schools to design a learning programme which balances both breadth and choice for learners – taking inspiration from Estonia, the Netherlands and Sweden which set out carefully designed and coherent programmes for learners
Opportunities for teacher professional development for designing teaching and learning that supports the vision of the Curriculum for Wales, including supporting professional collaboration, teacher-to-teacher peer mentoring and school leaders providing teachers with feedback (an area which, as shown in Figure 2.5, Wales is below the OECD average)
Systematic networking and collaboration opportunities so school leaders and teachers can see how others are approaching local curriculum design and implementation
Access to case studies and best practice exemplars to inspire schools – taking inspiration from other British Columbia and New Zealand’s material that articulates and exemplifies how to deliver the curriculum in upper secondary contexts, such as the Career Education 10-12 Guide
Tools for schools to help identify practices thar are working well and how to work towards further improvements e.g. data on learner destinations, frameworks and a roadmap for self-improvement – drawing on insights gathered from the peer learning discussion with representatives from the Netherlands
Learn from the challenges at maintaining progression and quality standards equitably across diverse schools and learner groups faced by other countries (e.g. New Zealand) when implementing high-level, flexible curricula, by ensuring adequate monitoring and quality assurance is in place to balance teacher and school autonomy.
Carefully consider the framework for accountability and quality assurance under the Curriculum for Wales to provide schools, teachers and the system with sufficient opportunities to monitor implementation, identify good practices and challenges.
In the second phase of upper secondary, the Curriculum for Wales has little impact – which is unusual among comparison systems
The Curriculum for Wales, in a general sense, has relevance for post-16 education. The ‘four purposes’ are the shared vision for every child and young person and represent Wales’ aspirations for learners pre- and post-16. Similarly, the skills integral to the four purposes and the cross-cutting skills of literacy and numeracy and digital competence are skills that all learners need. However, from a statutory perspective the Curriculum for Wales only applies to learners aged 3-16, stopping once learners transition to post-compulsory education. Furthermore, there is a tension between the broad and balanced aims of the Curriculum for Wales and the current design of post-16 education – where learners typically specialise in a small number of subjects at great depth or towards an occupational area. This tension may make it difficult to carry forward the spirit of the Curriculum for Wales into post-16 education without significant revision and reflection on the aims and design of post-16 education.
The absence of a national curriculum at 16-18 leaves a notable gap in the overarching curriculum layer for learners in Wales. As shown in Figure 2.4, Wales is the only system with no overarching curriculum setting out expectations for all learners in this age range. Given that in Wales, most learners continue to post-16 education (and universal completion of upper secondary should be a policy aspiration for all systems) and that Wales does have common aspirations for all learners in terms of the skills, competencies and attitudes they will develop, it seems a missed opportunity that there is no overarching layer guiding teaching and learning in post-16 education. Assessment and qualification requirements are one way to influence the teaching and learning that occurs, but some skills and competencies that are important to build into learning programmes are also not always easy to assess. Skills that are more challenging to assess include social and emotional skills and transversal learning that are central to the Curriculum for Wales (see Chapter 3 for a discussion of qualifications in Wales). Without clear expectations for all learners in post-16 education, Wales risks that its investments in broader learner development at 3-16 flounder in the final phase of upper secondary.
Policy pointers for Wales
Explore ways, such as through iterative qualification updates and redevelopment, to connect the learning programmes and qualifications learners take in post-16 education with the high-level vision and four purposes of the Curriculum for Wales. Over the longer term, this could include implementing a common approach across 14-19 education, particularly for the transversal aspects of the curriculum related to the four purposes and cross-cutting skills.
Medr, the new Commission for Tertiary Education and Research, with its legal responsibility for the funding, oversight, regulation, and quality of tertiary education in Wales, could work towards a common approach across post-16 education for ensuring learners have the opportunity to develop and acquire key knowledge, skills and competencies – even when these are not assessed.
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