A new dawn or false hope? Exploring the early implementation of Curriculum for Wales

Abstract

This discussion paper explores the evolution of Wales’ new national curriculum. Launched in 2022 and reflective of a new international trend in curriculum reform, Curriculum for Wales is founded on the idea that key decisions related to teaching and learning are best made in schools and at the site of practice. The principle of subsidiarity is championed as a way of empowering teachers and encouraging local ownership within the confines of a much broader national framework. But implementation of such curricula is not without difficulty. This paper reflects on early implementation and explores a number of familiar challenges, like how to ensure equity of experience in a system that actively promotes difference. It considers the strengths and weaknesses of decentralisation, and ponders the implications of curriculum reform, and its associated teacher freedoms, for both policymakers and the profession itself. A scarcity of resource that endangers not only curriculum realisation, but also the motivation of those responsible for making it work, is also contemplated. The paper concludes by plotting a possible way forward, and presents the case for a national professional learning programme to give teachers the confidence needed to make Wales’ curriculum vision a reality.