The Department for Education has said England's new national curriculum will tell schools not to start GCSE courses early for whole year groups, in an attempt to protect the first three years of secondary school from what the Education Secretary called the pressure of exams.
In a release issued on Sunday, the department said Key Stage 3, covering Years 7 to 9 for pupils aged 11 to 14, would be restored as "a distinct three-year phase". The new curriculum, it said, "will say schools should not start GCSE specifications early for large cohorts", while teachers "will still retain the flexibility to stretch high-achieving pupils".
The announcement is part of the government's rewrite of the national curriculum, which followed the Curriculum and Assessment Review led by Professor Becky Francis. The department framed it as a response to that review, to Alan Milburn's review of young people not in education, employment or training, and to the Independent Inquiry into White Working Class Educational Outcomes, all of which it said found pupils disengaging in their early teens.
Lucy Powell, the Education Secretary, said in the release: "What's more, the pressures of GCSEs and an overcrowded curriculum are resulting in too many children receiving a narrower offer during Key Stage 3 and being rushed towards exams without grasping the fundamentals or developing deeper understanding. I'm putting a stop to that."
She added: "The new curriculum and focus for these vital early teen years, will mean more children are excited to learn and more teachers are excited to teach. There will be more time to develop deeper understanding, as well as a richer experience that will engage more young people in their passions and prepare them better for the fast-changing world they will grow up in."
In an interview reported by the Telegraph, Powell said: "It will be there in black and white in the national curriculum that schools should not be pulling GCSEs into the curriculum early." The paper reported that drama would become a distinct module within English at Key Stage 3 and that modern foreign languages would become "more conversational and engaging". Neither detail appears in the department's release.
The direction is worded as what schools "should not" do within the curriculum text rather than as an outright ban. The national curriculum sets the subjects and standards for maintained schools; under the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026, academies will also have to follow the new curriculum once it is in place. The release does not set out how the direction will apply to academies, which make up most secondary schools, or how "large cohorts" will be defined.
The department said more than half of teachers surveyed reported that GCSE courses dominated the first three years of secondary school, with some schools starting GCSE teaching in Year 7. It cited research by PF Global commissioned by the International Baccalaureate and published in October. It also pointed to a 2019 survey by the National Foundation for Educational Research in which 56% of teachers said their school taught GCSEs in Year 9 for most or all subjects.
On attendance, the department said persistent absence, meaning missing 10% or more of school sessions, nearly doubled between Year 6 and Year 9, citing its own absence statistics. It did not state the academic year the figures cover.
Sir Hamid Patel, co-chair of the white working class inquiry and chief executive of Star Academies, the trust that commissioned it, said: "It is a time when a love of learning should be developed and when young people should experience a broad and balanced curriculum that exposes them to new ideas and new experiences - but instead too many white working class children are switching off and opting out. It is to be welcomed that the government is showing real commitment to renewing this important phase."
Baroness Estelle Morris, the inquiry's other co-chair and a former Education Secretary, said: "Our report highlighted the problems for children at points of transition, including the move from Primary to Secondary school - it also demonstrated how white working class young people and their families disengage from the education system through the Key Stage 3 years. This is why I welcome the government's commitment to begin to address these issues."
Becks Boomer-Clark, chief executive of Lift Schools and co-chair of the KS3 Alliance, a body set up by the department under Powell's predecessor Bridget Phillipson, said the first three years of secondary school "have been treated as little more than a preparation ground for GCSEs". She said: "This is not about lowering academic expectations, quite the opposite; it's about giving young people the time to build really secure foundations in knowledge, while also having the space to explore, discover new interests and develop confidence in what they can achieve."
The department said the full curriculum, developed by subject experts, would slim down content across all school stages and set higher expectations in oracy, reading and numeracy, alongside what it called a more engaging offer in drama, PE, music and modern foreign languages. The Telegraph reported that first teaching is due in September 2028.
The release says the full curriculum is "due to be published in full later this year". A House of Lords Library briefing in March recorded that the government had confirmed publication in 2027.
Powell took over at the department in July, after Andy Burnham became Prime Minister and replaced Phillipson. The release does not name any school that teaches GCSE content from Year 7, and no response from teaching unions or opposition parties is included in it.
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