MEA Statement on the Interim report of the Curriculum and Assessment Review, March 2025

The MEA is pleased to note that the interim report of the Curriculum and Assessment Review makes a number of mentions of the need for media literacy and its potential place in any revised curriculum. However, the MEA believes that good media literacy is the result of good media education, and to leave the development of media literacy to the current computing and RSE curricula will not be adequate. While acknowledging that colleagues teaching these two subjects do an excellent job, the MEA believes that the full critical analysis and understanding of media texts needs specific spaces both within and across the National Curriculum. We await the full review with interest, but urge the review team to consider restoring the pre-2014 curricular obligation to deliver media education via school English, as well as supporting the delivery of Media Studies as an option for all young people at KS4 and KS5. This support requires that performance measures do not disincentivize young people from choosing Media - or any creative subject - as such an option. 

We also note that the interim review suggests that the number of students taking arts subjects at KS4 (including Media) may be more stable than people think because of the move from GCSE to technical and vocational qualifications. While there may be some truth in this , and the MEA supports all teachers of media, regardless of the courses they teach, some of the more pernicious ways of measuring school performance mean that not every school feels able to make this move, and so we urge the full review to consider the impact of these measures (e.g. EBacc, Progress8) and their long term effect on the uptake of creative subjects.

The MEA awaits the full Curriculum and Assessment review with interest, and shall continue to support and represent Media teachers across the UK regardless of what it concludes.

The MEA Executive Committee

March 2025