Developing key skills in the 14–19 curriculum: from an assessment-led to a curriculum-led approach

The policy pursuit of key or core skills as part of post-16 education and training programmes over the last 20 years might be likened to the search for the Holy Grail.1 There has been widespread professional and political support in this country, as in others, for all learners to develop broad transferable skills as part of their programmes of study but, to date, no effective model or strategy has been designed or implemented in England.