The architect of the national curriculum says the current EBacc is ‘regressive’, ‘severely limits learning’, ignores the skills needed for today’s workforce, and fails poorer students. Pete Henshaw reports on his proposed alternative

The government’s EBacc measure should be broadened into a “new Baccalaureate” including opportunities for computer science, creative and technical subjects, the architect of the national curriculum has said.

Lord Kenneth Baker, in his role as chairman of the Edge Foundation, has published a report criticising the government’s current target to have 90 per cent of students studying the EBacc.

He says that the “narrow academic curriculum” of the EBacc is “regressive” and will do nothing to remove the barriers faced by disadvantaged pupils.

He points out that the current EBacc is “nearly the reincarnation of a curriculum first enshrined in legislation over a century ago” in 1904, adding that it ignores the skills needed for today’s workforce, including expertise in emerging technologies.

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