Speech, language and communication skills in the Curriculum and Assessment Review

Last week, we made our submission to the Government’s Curriculum and Assessment review. The review is a process where the Government looks at what children are learning in school and how their progress is measured. The goal is to see what changes are needed to improve education and make sure all students are getting the support they need. Organisations like ours can make suggestions about what we think needs improving.  

Right now, there are 1.9 million children in the UK who struggle with talking and understanding words. By participating in this review, we hope to influence government to make changes that will better support these children. We want to see: 

• speech, language, and communication skills integrated into every subject 
• a lighter curriculum to allow more focus on these skills, and 
• better assessments to track progress.  

We want there to be a more inclusive and supportive education system for all children. 

From our own research, 50% of teachers feel that speech and language isn’t prioritised enough in the National Curriculum.. We have made many suggestions, but there are four key issues that we believe the Government should be focussed on: 

1. Include communication skills in all subjects: It’s important to teach children how to learn to talk and understand each other in every subject, not just in language classes. If communication skills are included in all subjects, then children will get better at communicating while they learn other things too. 
2. Simplify the curriculum: The curriculum should be a bit less packed. By cutting down on the amount of stuff children have to learn, there’s more time to focus on important communication skills that will help them in school and later in life. 
3. Make the curriculum inclusive: The curriculum should work for all children, including those who use things like signing or technology to communicate. Everyone should be able to learn and participate, no matter how they communicate. 
4. Better assessments for communication skills: We need better assessments to check how children are progressing with their speech, language and communication skills. These assessments should be part of the regular tests to help track their progress and make sure they’re ready for the future. 

By focusing on these areas, we can create a more supportive and inclusive education system that helps all children, especially for the 1.9 million children with speech and language challenges.