During 2023 and 2024, Learning and Work Institute is working with Welsh Government and a range of partners on an exciting project to pilot a Citizens’ Curriculum for Wales. This follows a public commitment to a Second Chance Nation made by the Minister for Education Jeremy Miles MS at the 2022 Adult Learning Conference.

The Citizens’ Curriculum is an innovative, holistic approach to ensure that people have the English and Welsh, maths, digital, civic, health and financial capabilities they need. It is a holistic way of planning and delivering adult education, with a focus on a clear set of key capabilities needed to lead active, fulfilling, and rewarding lives.

The intended outcome from the pilots will be to:

• Develop an evidence-base to support a framework for a Welsh Citizens’ Curriculum linked to the four purposes of Curriculum for Wales. This will help to ensure greater coherence between pre-16 and adult education provision and a balanced adult education offer in Wales that helps equip people with the skills needed to lead healthy, rewarding, and fulfilling lives.
• Develop and embed effective participatory pedagogical practices and disseminate best practice across the adult learning workforce.

While a fundamental principle of the Citizens’ Curriculum is co-construction with learners, the pilots will also be guided by the four purposes of Curriculum for Wales and whether provision can help to meet one or more of them. The four purposes are set out below:

• Ambitious, capable learners who are ready to learn throughout their lives.
• Enterprising, creative contributors who are ready to play a full part in life and work.
• Ethical, informed citizens who are ready to be citizens of Wales and the world.
• Healthy, confident individuals who are ready to lead fulfilling lives as valued members of society.

The pilot includes 6 programmes lead by partners in different areas across Wales:

The project will employ a multi-faceted methodology, including stakeholder engagement, desk reviews, data analysis, and lived experience groups. By bringing together a diverse network of stakeholders, the project aims to create a robust evidence base to inform policy recommendations.

• Global citizenship – Adult Learning Wales (ALW) and Welsh Centre for International Affairs (WCIA) will collaborate to develop a ‘Global Learning’ pilot programme for the post-16 sector.
• Community focused schools – Cardiff and Vale College and Eastern High School will lead a pilot to help test the value of engaging the wider school community in adult education.
• Health and wellbeing – Adult Learning Wales (ALW) has identified an opportunity to develop a learner-led, contextualised and co-designed pilot Health & Well-being programme.
• Supporting the ESOL workforce – As part of the development of a Citizens’ Curriculum, a team of educators led by the Oasis Centre and the University of South Wales will research creative and participatory approaches to language education, focusing on the ESOL classroom and the particular needs of learners who are refugees and asylum seekers.
• Place based – Open University Wales working in partnership with Merthyr Valleys Homes (MVH) will deliver a pilot project aligned to Welsh Government’s aim of developing A Second Chance Nation; whereby it’s never too late to learn.
• Over 50s economic inactivity: Securing your future – Led by the North East Wales Adult Learning Partnership, the project will focus on co-creating a citizen’s curriculum that will engage adults from the identified local cohort and create a curriculum programme that is locally-led, responds to the needs identified and meets the economic priorities both locally and regionally.