Over the past few months, the language of curriculum for all has moved from aspiration to expectation across the FE, HE and Skills sector.
As policy reviews, inspection frameworks and workforce pressures continue to converge, Christine has been taking time to reflect on what inclusive curriculum design really looks like in practice, not as a statement of intent, but as something lived and experienced by learners and educators every day.
This article forms part of that reflection, exploring how recent developments connect with the realities of teaching, learning and leadership across post-16 education.
The Curriculum and Assessment Review (November 2025) sets out an ambitious direction of travel: a world-class curriculum for all. It recentres the purpose of education, not simply to raise attainment, but to ensure every learner can belong, achieve and thrive.
For those of us working across Further Education, Higher Education, Skills and Adult Education, this is both affirmation and challenge. The intent is right. The question is how it becomes real, not in policy documents, but in classrooms, workshops and communities.
Because inclusive curriculum design is not a statement of intent. It is a practice. And practice starts with people.
From Policy Vision to Inclusive Curriculum Design
The Review confirms what many in FE/HE have long argued: too many learners leave education without the confidence and capability to navigate everyday life and work. Around 40% still leave school without a Level 2 in both English and Maths and the impact follows them into adulthood.
But qualifications alone do not create capability. Confidence, context and relevance do.
Across my work at Creating Excellence, I see how learner attitudes to Maths and English shift when learning becomes meaningful:
- budgeting for a first home
- comparing energy tariffs
- calculating dosage in care
- writing a confident email to an employer.
These are not “extras”. They are the curriculum.
Confidence grows when learners can see the point not just pass the test.
A genuinely inclusive curriculum treats Maths, English and Digital Skills as life skills, not gatekeepers. That’s the principle behind Making Maths Meaningful and Core Skills for Life – bridging formal learning and everyday agency.
Why Maths, English and Digital Skills Must Be Designed In — Not Bolted On
One of the most persistent barriers to inclusion in FE/HE is treating core skills as add-ons rather than design features. When Maths, English and Digital Skills sit outside vocational or academic programmes, learners experience them as hurdles rather than enablers.
Inclusive curriculum design means:
- embedding core skills through vocational contexts
- sequencing learning so confidence builds gradually
- recognising anxiety, SEND needs and prior negative experiences.
This aligns closely with Ofsted’s growing emphasis on secure fit, curriculum coherence and learner experience, not just coverage.
Digital Skills and AI Confidence: An Inclusion Issue, Not a Tech One
The Review’s call for stronger digital education and AI literacy is timely, but the risk is framing this as a technology challenge rather than a confidence and judgement challenge.
In FE and Skills, digital confidence is uneven, particularly for:
- adult learners returning to education
- those with limited access or prior negative experiences
- staff navigating rapid AI change alongside heavy workloads.
AI confidence begins with human confidence: the ability to question, adapt and apply judgement.
I provide support with digital confidence and training on AI for inclusion, supporting tutors to explore tools such as Copilot and ChatGPT safely and ethically, without losing the human heart of learning.
This matters as the Skills England agenda and Lifelong Learning Entitlement increasingly assume digital agility as standard.
From Inclusion to Belonging: What Ofsted Is Really Testing
The Review’s commitment to a Curriculum for All mirrors Ofsted’s Belong – Achieve – Thrive framing, where inclusion is judged through curriculum capability rather than policy compliance.
Belonging is not created by access alone. It is built through representation, relevance and respect.
Belonging is the heartbeat of inclusive curriculum design without it, quality can’t breathe.
Financial Literacy, Sustainability and Everyday Numeracy
The Review also reinforces that financial education should not live only in Maths. It should flow across PSHE, citizenship and vocational learning, helping learners make sense of money, work and wellbeing.
When learners explore:
- energy bills
- transport choices
- food waste
- sustainable consumption
numeracy becomes purposeful. Financial fluency is not just economic, it is social, environmental and personal.
This connects directly to sustainability, wellbeing and the UK’s green skills agenda.
From Pathways to Purpose in Post-16 Curriculum Design
New Level 2 and 3 pathways, including occupational routes and V-Levels, aim to improve progression, particularly for learners with SEND or from disadvantaged backgrounds.
But pathways only work if they connect to purpose.
The curriculum is not just what we teach, it’s what we choose to value.
Employability, communication, problem-solving and confidence must be made visible and explicit across programmes and apprenticeships, especially as the Youth Guarantee seeks to expand access to learning and work.
Turning Curriculum Reform into Everyday Practice
A world-class curriculum will not be delivered by policy alone. It will live — or fail — in everyday decisions made by leaders, tutors and learners.
This Review is therefore a call to practice, not just policy.
At Creating Excellence, my work focuses on turning this vision into visible change through:
- CPD across Maths, English and Digital Skills
- confidence-led, inclusive curriculum design.
The curriculum for all begins with confidence for all.
As we move into 2026, the challenge is clear – to turn curriculum reform into classrooms, workshops and communities where every learner belongs and every skill learned opens a door.
That is what Building a Curriculum for All really means.
This article focuses on curriculum as it is experienced in practice, through confidence, relevance and belonging. In a follow-on piece, I will explore what this means at a more strategic level, examining how leadership, quality systems and workforce development either enable or constrain inclusive curriculum design across FE, HE and skills. The two cannot be separated and neither can curriculum intent from curriculum impact.