A three-year study into the new Curriculum for Wales says the system needs clearer goals, stronger guidance and a shared understanding of how it should work in practice.
What the study found
The Camau i’r Dyfodol Project, a joint effort involving the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, the University of Glasgow and the Welsh Government, examined how the curriculum was being put into practice and what could improve it. Researchers say one of the main lessons was simple: when trying to transform a national education system, it helps to know what you want.
The Curriculum for Wales (CfW) was developed over eight years, from a commissioned review launched in 2014 to its official rollout in 2022. That earlier review was led by Professor Graham Donaldson of the University of Glasgow, whose work also influenced Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence.
Because of that history, the study sits within a wider pattern of Wales and Scotland looking to each other for lessons on curriculum reform. The University of Glasgow played a role in both systems.
Mismatch between theory and practice
Between 2022-205, the Camau i’r Dyfodol Project looked at how the Welsh curriculum was being delivered and how best to realise its goals. Midway through the project, researchers concluded that the curriculum built in theory did not match how it was being taught.
Dr David Morrison-Love, one of the University of Glasgow’s two principal investigators on the project alongside Dr Kara Makara Fuller, said that was a turning point for the team.
CfW was designed around a process model of curriculum design, with a focus on learner development towards set goals. In this case, those goals are the Four Purposes: healthy, confident individuals; ethical, informed citizens; enterprising, creative contributors; and ambitious, capable learners.
The study says the system initially lacked a practical, unified vision of what that should look like in classrooms, especially when it came to assessment and accountability. As a result, schools were at risk of chasing different outcomes that did not line up with the curriculum’s intended direction.
One participant said there was a need to have “the whole system talking as one voice, because it does feel at times as though there are lots of disparate messages” where messages can “get lost in the cracks”.
Why the message matters
Dr Morrison-Love said the project began to move forward once the mismatch became clear.
“What that allowed us to do, in a very practical sense, was to say, ‘Here’s how we’re understanding curriculum.’
“That gave us a bit of a flag in the sand, and we can work from that basis going forward.”
He said the system needed a clear throughline mission so teachers, schools and policymakers could tell when they were moving off course and trust that the measures being used were fair. Without that, staff are likely to fall back on models they were trained in, rather than a process curriculum approach.
The researchers said they found evidence that some practitioners were treating the Four Purposes as fixed outcomes to be assessed through rigid testing, rather than as long-term aspirations built into ongoing development.
Working with schools and teachers
Dr Sonny Singh, principal investigator from the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, said spending more time working directly with schools and teachers was key.
“When we started working with schools, even at the early stage, we found that people saw the four purposes in different ways.”
He said the co-construction group of teachers, senior leaders, inspectors and government officials was the most important part of the reform work. The collaboration helped surface tensions in the system and showed the value of designing the curriculum “with, not at” teachers.
“It wasn’t heavy academic stuff. It was just us saying: ‘These are the models. Where does your practice come in?’
“They could immediately see the tensions in what they were doing, and they could see how their practice could change.”
Recommendations for Welsh Government
The project has now published recommendations for the Welsh Government, including support for a consistent understanding of CfW as a process model, clearer framing to improve coherence, and more guidance on curriculum, pedagogy and assessment.
The researchers said those steps should not be seen as starting over. Instead, they argue there is already quality in the system and that practitioners are open to change if the messaging is clear.