Citizenship and the Curriculum Review: Key Panel Insights

On 25 November, ACT brought together leading voices from across Citizenship, oracy, and financial and economic education to unpack the Curriculum and Assessment Review Independent Panel’s report’s recommendations, which mark one of the most significant opportunities for Citizenship education in a generation.

Chaired by ACT Chief Executive Liz Moorse, the panel explored what the Review’s recommendations mean for schools, how the reforms could shape practice from primary to GCSE, and what teachers can do now to prepare.

What is proposed?

Liz Moorse opened the discussion by outlining the Review’s major recommendations: statutory primary Citizenship, refreshed programmes of study at Key Stages 3 and 4, a strengthened GCSE Citizenship Studies, and a new civic engagement enrichment entitlement. With programmes of study scheduled to be written in 2026 and first teaching in 2028, the Review signals a substantial shift in how Citizenship will be taught across England.

For teachers, this will mean:

• clearer national expectations for Citizenship across all key stages
• greater coherence between curriculum content across the school phases, GCSE progression and whole-school democracy education
• a renewed focus on impartiality, subject-specialist training and stronger Ofsted inspection

Liz also advocated for an early adopters programme that would give schools the chance to trial approaches ahead of full rollout and also reaffirmed ACT’s ongoing push for Citizenship’s inclusion across all Progress 8 buckets.

Building Voices for Democracy: The role of oracy

Voice 21 CEO Kate Paradine welcomed the government’s commitment to a national oracy framework, which embraces speaking, listening and communication in all forms, including British Sign Language and augmentative communication.

Kate emphasised that oracy is foundational to Citizenship education: pupils must be able to communicate clearly, listen with intent, and engage respectfully with diverse viewpoints. Citizenship teachers already model this daily through debates, deliberation, and structured classroom dialogue and this recognition gives the subject fresh visibility and influence.

She also paid tribute to Citizenship teachers whose practice has demonstrated the power of high-quality Citizenship education in shaping these reforms.

Strengthening Financial and Economic Education

When discussing the proposed changes to financial and economic education, David Butler of the Economics, Business and Enterprise Association (EBEA) outlined how financial education is well rooted in Citizenship education and stressed that effective financial literacy must be grounded in broad economic understanding and set within meaningful, age-appropriate contexts. 

Citing that financial and economic literacy is frequently referenced by school leavers as being something they are ill equipped with, he emphasised that making financial education statutory is just the beginning, as success will depend on well-trained teachers, robust inspection by Ofsted, and comprehensive professional development to ensure consistent, high-quality delivery across all schools.

Media Literacy: Essential Skills for Democracy

Helen Blachford, ACT Chair of Trustees and Subject Director at Bohunt Trust highlighted the Review’s strong recognition of media and information literacy as core democratic competencies and identified Citizenship as the natural home for this work.

The Review’s recommendations reaffirm what Citizenship teachers have long championed: that evaluating civic and political information, spotting misinformation, and building critical thinking skills are central to empowering young people to navigate complex democratic landscapes.

Helen noted that this renewed focus gives the subject “purpose and visibility that is long overdue”, particularly in an era of misinformation affecting elections, rights, climate issues and trust in public institutions.

Shaping the Future of Citizenship Education

Taken together, the Review’s recommendations represent a coherent, future-focused vision for Citizenship education one that strengthens the subject’s  place in the curriculum while emphasising cross-cutting skills such as oracy, media literacy, and financial education.

At this crucial moment for the subject, ACT will be continuing to work closely with teachers, schools and policymakers to ensure that the new curriculum is well designed to support young people to participate confidently in democracy.

Get ready for the changes

ACT’s latest free resource ‘Building a Better Citizenship Curriculum: 9 Principles to Guide Curriculum Design and Planning’ is designed to help schools evaluate and enhance their Citizenship provision, ensuring it aligns with the Government’s latest Curriculum and Assessment Review recommendations.