Pupils will be taught how to identify fake news, practise ethical reasoning and develop an appreciation of the world's beauty under a new education framework designed for the age of artificial intelligence (AI) and being trialled in the UK. Alongside traditional subjects and qualifications, the programme will focus on five additional competencies, including adaptive problem-solving, ethical competence and developing a sense of purpose. The "human flourishing" curriculum for schools has been drawn up by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in discussion with the seven best education systems in the world including Singapore, Estonia and Finland. It is being introduced at Wellington College and 15 state schools in the north of England and the Midlands. Pupils will continue to study traditional subjects and take GCSEs, A-levels or the International Baccalaureate, but will also be taught five additional competencies. Speaking to The Observer, Anthony Seldon, founding director of Wellington College Education, welcomed the move, saying classrooms should be places where "creativity, social interaction, challenge, curiosity, independent thought, scholarship and originality are all nurtured alongside practical and social skills". James Dahl, the school's master, said schools have a "moral responsibility" to equip young people with both the knowledge and character traits required to thrive, adding: "The future facing children today is evolving more radically than ever and the frameworks which served the 20th century so well are not coping with the complexity of the 21st." By Rachel Sylvester.

Writing in The Sunday Times, Ian Emerson, senior deputy head at Latymer Upper School, explains why the school has reversed plans to replace most GCSEs with its own qualifications. He says that while the current exam system relies too heavily on terminal assessments and limits opportunities to develop wider skills, concerns from universities about admissions ultimately led to the decision to retain GCSEs. "We had hoped that Latymer's curriculum could have been shared more widely with maintained and independent schools looking for an alternative to GCSEs", he writes, adding: "We will continue to speak out about the need for change." 

Tes reports growing uncertainty over the future of the government's proposed special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) reforms following recent ministerial changes, with the sector awaiting clarity on what happens next. Speaking to the paper, Margaret Mulholland, SEND and inclusion specialist at the Association of School and College Leaders, said schools must be informed if there are going to be delays to the reforms. "This is a long process and nobody is pretending it is simple. Where we think there is room for improvement is the way in which the reforms are communicated and how the basis for decisions taken is explained", she explained. By Jasmine Norden. 

Julian Lloyd Webber has urged prime minister Andy Burnham to make music compulsory in schools. Speaking at the Cheltenham Literary Festival, the well known cellist who is also the younger brother of Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, said many children were leaving school without learning a single note of classical music. His comments come amid a decline in the popularity of music in schools, with fewer than half of state schools putting forward a music student for GCSE. Calling for change, he said: "Classical music has slipped out of our mainstream culture. The whole thing comes down to music in schools." By Ruby Cline, The Telegraph.

Babies who are smaller than expected at birth tend to have poorer school performances as teenagers, according to a study led by the University of Warwick. Published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, it found that children who weighed less than most babies of the same sex, born at the same stage of pregnancy, tended to achieve lower scores in subjects like maths and reading. More than 92,000 full-term children were tracked from infancy to adolescence, with the link between birth size and academic performance still evident in the teenage years. By Alice Cullinane, BBC News.

International league tables showing the declining performance of Scotland's pupils are only seen as important because of marketing,  Andrea Bradley, general secretary of the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS), has said. Warning schools against going down a Michael Gove-inspired "dark alley" that puts academic rigour before an "enlightened educational path", her comments follow intense scrutiny of the Scottish education system after the publication of the Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) league tables in September, in which Scottish children's scores for maths and literacy fell to a record low. Mr Gove has offered to work with the Scottish government's new education secretary, Màiri McAllan, to help to drive improvements in Scottish schools. By Daniel Sanderson, The Times.

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