The CAR final report was swiftly followed by the government’s response which said:

 We welcome the recommendations of the Review which share this aim and reflect its original intent:    that it should build on what is working well and address challenges where they exist.

 We will maintain the existing structural architecture of subjects, key stages, assessments and   qualifications … making improvements where the Review has recommended that change is needed. (Government Response to CAR Report, 5 November 2025)

For history, this means:

History

We agree with the Review on the importance of applying disciplinary knowledge, skills and approaches, including how the past is studied and how historical claims are constructed A high-quality history education should support pupils to understand Britain's past and our connections to the wider world, as well as develop knowledge about other civilisations and people in and of themselves. All pupils should have a robust understanding of our nation's history, and we will continue to include it, and strengthen it, in the national curriculum and the subject content of qualifications. Building on the current curriculum and subject content, we will improve the programme of study to support pupils to critically appraise historical sources and develop strong substantive and disciplinary knowledge. We will reform the GCSE to support the acquisition of that knowledge. In reforming the curriculum, we will ensure that teachers can reflect the innate diversity of British history,m including British Black and Asian history. Holocaust will be included. We understand the Review's concern about curriculum overload. We will be clearer about which content in the programme of study is non-statutory to provide more clarity for teachers on flexibility and optionality, including how local history and contexts can be studied to teach history through where children and young people live. [Government Response to CAR Final Report, p32] Highlighting as noted in the report

A tender process for drafters was issued to carry forward the elements of the Francis review that were accepted by the government response for Key Stages 1-3, GCSE and A-level. The Historical Association was the successful in securing the tender.

You can find a useful one page summary of the key implications of the government response to the Francis review, plus a brief timeline in the attached document below.

This module aims to support our members through this process and will grow over time as the reform timeline develops, starting with the Programmes of Study for Key Stages 1-3, and moving through to GCSE and A-level at a later stage to provide a complete one-stop companion to curriculum reform.