Good morning. I’m Martin Belam, and this is my first time in your inbox for First Edition – though you may already know me from Guardian live blogs, my Doctor Who obsession, and the increasingly silly Thursday news quiz I write.
I’m also old enough to have been part of the first ever cohort to take GCSEs instead of O-levels, and that exam upheaval has been followed by decades of successive governments tinkering with how children get educated. The latest attempt is a Bridget Phillipson-commissioned review of the entirety of England’s national curriculum, led by Prof Becky Francis, which has recommended shortening exams, streamlining some subjects, and adding in new components she suggests will better equip pupils for the modern world.
