Professor Becky Francis, chief executive of the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), has been asked to lead Labour’s curriculum and assessment review, Tes understands.
Professor Francis will be seconded from her role at the EEF for around 12 months from when she takes on the new role in August but that period could be extended, Tes has learned.
The appointment is due to be officially announced tomorrow.
Labour said it would launch an “expert-led review” of the curriculum as part of its general election manifesto to ensure a “rich and broad, inclusive and innovative” approach, adding it would consider the “balance of assessment methods”.
As confirmed in the King’s Speech, all schools will have to follow the national curriculum after the review is completed.
Back in 2022, Bridget Phillipson, who was shadow education secretary at the time, said a Labour government would reform the curriculum to value skills as well as knowledge.
Professor Francis has been CEO of the EEF since 2020, when she took over from Sir Kevan Collins. She was previously director of the UCL Institute of Education.
The EEF focuses on breaking the link between attainment and family income.
A report by peers at the end of last year said that the government’s focus on a knowledge-rich curriculum for 11- to 16-year-olds overloads students and stifles their engagement in education.
The House of Lords report also called for a significant reduction in the exam burden at key stage 4 and for the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) performance measure to be scrapped.
The EEF’s directors of impact and research, Chris Paterson and Emily Yeomans respectively, will take over as interim joint CEOs, while chair Dame Christine Gilbert will take on an executive chair role to provide extra support to the organisation during the secondment, according to a source close to the organisation.
Professor Francis was also previously a professor of education and social justice at King’s College London and a standing adviser to the Commons Education Select Committee.
Speaking to Tes as part of the How I Lead series last year, the EEF chief said she carries with her a commitment to social justice, transparency and equality, diversity and inclusion wherever she goes.
She added that any leader should retain the boring or difficult parts of their job and that she fits her leadership model to the organisation she is working with.
Also speaking to Tes back in 2021, Professor Francis emphasised that a “broad and balanced curriculum” provides the foundations for advanced studies.
She added that her favourite teacher when she was at school, Mrs Cross, was so good in part because she created “stimulating and challenging curriculum projects that engaged us all”.
The DfE has also appointed Sir Kevan as an expert adviser on higher standards in schools.
Sir Kevan was appointed as education recovery commissioner in February 2021 but quit when the previous government did not fund the £15 billion he said was needed.
For the latest education news and analysis delivered directly to your inbox every weekday morning, sign up to the Tes Daily newsletter
