Navigating GCSE and A level reform

Student-centred qualifications. For every future.


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Helping you navigate GCSE and A level reform with confidence

Curriculum reform is creating significant change across GCSEs and A levels. Following the publication of the Curriculum and Assessment Review, schools need clarity on what’s changing, what it means for students and how to plan with confidence. We’re here to help you navigate that change.

Why partner with Pearson during GCSE and A level reform? 

As reform evolves, we’re committed to giving you more than reassurance. We’ll provide clear, practical support you can act on—and qualifications designed to help students progress with confidence. You can expect to have:

  • Confidence – trusted qualifications and assessment that support student progression. 
  • Clarity – straightforward guidance and practical support to help schools plan ahead.
  • Coherence – a joined-up approach from Key Stage 3 through to post-16. 
  • Relevance – qualifications designed around the knowledge, skills and experiences students need for the future.

So you can move forward with confidence, and support every student to succeed, progress and prepare for their future.

Our approach: Student-centred qualifications

At Pearson, we see reform as an opportunity to develop qualifications that are relevant, empowering and fair, helping every student build confidence, make progress and prepare for what comes next. Alongside teachers, we’ve developed these guiding principles to underpin our new, reformed qualifications. 

 

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Relevant

Qualifications that connect learning to the real world and reflect the students in your classroom, with inclusive content, meaningful contexts and the right balance of knowledge and skills.

Purple outline of a human head with a brain inside, representing learning and critical thinking.

Empowering

Qualifications that build confidence, deepen understanding and support every student’s potential—helping them grow in capability as well as achievement. 

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Fair

Qualifications that work for all students—and for you—with clear assessment, accessible design and support that helps reduce unnecessary workload. 

What reform means for your subject 

Reform will look different across subject areas. Explore how student-centred design comes to life in each subject: 

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Maths

Supporting maths experiences that build understanding, supports lifelong learning and opens doors to future opportunities.
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English

Empowering students with the agency to speak, the empathy to listen, and the critical mind to navigate a complex, media-rich landscape.
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Science

Strengthening understanding and application in real-world contexts.
Purple flag icon marking a goal, representing achievement and progress in post-16 English and maths.

Post-16 English and maths

Rethinking how post-16 English and maths students achieve success, ending the requirement to re-sit exactly the same content studied at school.
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Geography

Making learning more relevant, engaging and connected to comtemporary global issues.
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Creatives

Championing creativity through more authentic and accessible approaches.
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The future of post-16 vocational qualifications at Levels 2 and 3

Qualification reform is also reshaping the post-16 landscape in England. Discover our guide to understand what is changing, when it is happening and what it means for your organisation.

Learn more

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Coming soon

Join our autumn-term webinar series for practical guidance on qualification reform, with Pearson experts sharing sector insight and support to help you plan with confidence.

Topics, dates and registration links will be shared soon.

Latest news

  • Everyone’s talking about catch-up

    School’s back – now how do you close the reading gap?

    Well, it’s finally happened – you’re back in school - with full classes (with or without masks) - and now it’s the moment of truth: what have your pupils been doing since March? Of course, you hope that they avidly followed your online lessons and dutifully completed all tasks set with the devoted attention of a furloughed parent… but the reality might be quite different. There will be many pupils who were not in need of additional support prior to school closure but who will now need a boost to get back on track. You might be tempted to think that the Number 1 priority is to test pupils to find out the extent of the damage of missing school, but it would be more beneficial to your pupils to give them enough time to tune back in to learning mode first.

     

  • Searching for the young World Changers of today

    Are your children striving to make the world a better place? We want to celebrate them!

    Never has it been more important to be aware of the world around us, to understand what is happening in communities, both near and far, and to recognise the power that every one of our actions can have.

  • Announcement of a new migration thematic study

    GCSE (9-1) History – new Migration topic

    We are pleased to announce that we will be adding a brand new Migration topic to our GCSE (9-1) History specification from this September*. Migration will sit alongside Crime, Medicine and Warfare as a fourth thematic study and accompanying historic environment (Paper 1).The Migration thematic study will be available for first teaching September 2021 and first assessment June 2022. This means that you can include Migration in your History curriculum for students starting their GCSEs this September (by delivering Migration to students in Year 11 from September 2021), rather than waiting until next year.

    As with any new content we are working hard to ensure you will also get lots of free support materials, including free online training on the new topic. Pearson will also be developing a textbook, teacher support and revision materials to support you in delivering this topic.

    The content of our qualifications constantly evolves and we always encourage feedback and take action on it where possible. We are aware of the importance of offering History curricula that appeal to and represent all the students they serve, and of the value to all students of curricula that reflect more fully the ways that Britain has been shaped by its interactions with the wider world. Recent feedback we’ve received from students and teachers is that a topic specifically on migration in Britain would appeal to students in this country and help make the specification more diverse and inclusive. While it was already our intention to include a migration thematic study in GCSE History at the next specification reform, in light of recent events we’re conscious of the need to move more quickly and have accelerated this work to introduce the topic into the current specification.

    The development of a new topic takes time and care, and we want to consult widely to ensure it is fit for purpose and works within the existing specification structure. We will also be working with key stakeholders to think about how future specifications can be designed to be more inclusive. We would therefore welcome input from teachers and students who would be interested in contributing to our research. If this is something you would be interested in doing, please contact our subject advisor Mark Battye.


    *subject to Ofqual approval

Next steps

Stay informed as reform progresses. Sign up for updates to receive the latest guidance, key milestones and subject-specific information. If you'd like to discuss what curriculum and assessment reform could mean for your school or college, our team is here to help.

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Pearson. For every future.