How to cite the national curriculum, Ofsted and DfE guidance

Education essays cite documents most subjects never touch: the national curriculum, Ofsted's framework, statutory guidance that changes every September, Acts of Parliament and the placement school's own policies. Each has an organisation for an author, a date that is easy to take from the wrong place, and sometimes a reference number.

EdCitation publishes this guide. Every example was built from the document itself, and every rule taken from APA Style's pages or from university library guides that set out Cite Them Right Harvard, all read on 27 September 2026. For a GOV.UK page, EdCitation's free Cite a source reads the title, date and publisher and builds the entry for you to check.

Choosing the books for a course is covered in education books for teacher training, and the routes into teaching in how to become a teacher in the UK.

What does each education document look like in APA 7 and Harvard?

Each education document takes the organisation as author, the year of the version used and the full title in italics; Harvard adds "Available at:" and an access date.

The Teachers' Standards follow the programme of study pattern, dated 2021 with the number DFE-00066-2011; the education books guide explains the date.

What do APA 7 and Cite Them Right say about group authors, report numbers and editions?

Both styles make the responsible body the author and date the version you read.

• Group author. APA names the most specific agency responsible and moves any parent body to the source position (American Psychological Association, 2020); Cite Them Right uses the organisation's name throughout (Open University, n.d.).
• Abbreviations. APA allows (Department for Education [DfE], 2013) once and (DfE, 2013) after, but never in the reference list (American Psychological Association, 2026).
• Report numbers. APA puts the number in brackets after the title (American Psychological Association, 2020), and Portsmouth's APA guide does so with a DfE code (University of Portsmouth Library, n.d.). The Cite Them Right templates we read number only command papers, as "(CP 1133)" (Robert Gordon University Library, 2026a).
• Editions and updates. APA takes an update's date when it belongs to the content, ignores a "last reviewed" date, and adds an edition as "(2nd ed.)" (American Psychological Association, 2026). Cite Them Right takes the year a page was last updated (Open University, n.d.).

Cite Them Right's own site is by subscription, so these Harvard rules come from library guides that follow it.

How do I cite the national curriculum in APA 7 and Harvard?

Cite the national curriculum under the Department for Education, with the year printed on the document you used and, in APA, its DFE number. Cite the document you read, not "the national curriculum" as a whole.

A programme of study

The mathematics programmes for key stages 1 and 2 say "September 2013" on the cover and carry DFE-00180-2013 on the back (Department for Education, 2013). Their GOV.UK page last changed in September 2021, only to add a link, so the year stays 2013.

The framework document, and which year

The primary curriculum page records a 6 May 2015 update that amended the science content, so the primary framework is 2015 (Department for Education, 2015); the secondary one was last amended on 2 December 2014. Given the primary page, EdCitation's Cite a source returned 6 May 2015.

How do I reference Ofsted?

Reference Ofsted as the author, with the year of the version you read and the document's own title; Worcester's Cite Them Right example follows that pattern (Purcell, 2026b).

The inspection framework

The renewed Education inspection framework 2025 applies to inspections from 10 November 2025. Its page was updated on 18 September 2026 to add prisons and young offender institutions, a change to the content, so APA dates it 2026 while the title keeps 2025 (Ofsted, 2026).

A school's inspection report

Cite a report under Ofsted with its first-page title and year of publication: Wembley Primary School was inspected on 12 and 13 November 2024 and the report published on 16 December 2024 (Ofsted, 2024). It lists a unique reference number and an inspection number, which neither Worcester's example nor the APA pages we read ask for. Never name your placement school; Worcester points to its appendix guidance instead (Purcell, 2026b).

How do I cite Keeping Children Safe in Education?

Cite Keeping children safe in education under the Department for Education, with the edition year in force for the period you write about. GOV.UK's change notes record a new version in force each September from 2022 to 2026, the latest on 1 September 2026, each published for information months earlier (Department for Education, 2026).

Two details matter. The page's title has no year, but the document's cover reads Keeping children safe in education 2026, subtitled Statutory guidance for schools and colleges: use the cover's title when citing the document. And the 2026 edition prints no reference number, unlike the Teachers' Standards, so add one only when the document shows it. The guidance is issued under section 175 of the Education Act 2002.

How do I cite an Act such as the Education Act 2002?

Cite an Act by its short title, year and chapter number: legislation.gov.uk shows the Education Act 2002 as "c. 32". The year is the year of enactment, though the site shows the text revised up to 2026.

In Harvard (Cite Them Right)

Italicise the title, year and chapter, then add "Available at:" and the access date; the citation in your sentence is the title in italics, (Education Act 2002) (University of Wolverhampton Library, 2026). Robert Gordon's templates agree (Robert Gordon University Library, 2026c).

In APA 7, where the guides disagree

APA sends statutes to legal citation practice, without italics (American Psychological Association, 2026). Portsmouth's APA guide, adapted from the Bluebook, lists Education Act 2002, c. 32, and cites (Education Act 2002, s. 175) in the text (University of Portsmouth Library, n.d.). Swansea's says Acts stay out of the reference list and are named in full in the text (Swansea University Library, 2026). Your handbook decides; be consistent.

How do I cite Common Core or the Every Student Succeeds Act?

Cite the Common Core State Standards under their two authors with the year 2010, and the Every Student Succeeds Act in APA's statute form, as in the table.

Common Core

The standards' PDF shows no author or date. Both come from the release of 2 June 2010, in which the NGA Center and CCSSO announced the standards. Old links to single standards, such as corestandards.org/Math/Content/3/OA/, returned "page not found" when we tried them, and the site says the standards sit temporarily on one page. Link the PDF and name the standard's code, such as 3.NBT, in your sentence.

The Every Student Succeeds Act

Michigan's APA guide gives that entry, notes the Act is codified in Title 20 of the United States Code, and cites it by name and year (University of Michigan Library, 2026). It became Public Law 114-95 on 10 December 2015. The table's Harvard form is our adaptation of Robert Gordon's template for other countries' laws: title with year, serial number, country (Robert Gordon University Library, 2026c).

How do I cite a school's own policy?

Cite a policy published on the school's website like any organisational document: the school as author, the policy's year, the title in italics, and the link. A placement school's policy is usually anonymised instead.

Worcester's library suggests an anonymised extract in an appendix, names removed, with "(see Appendix 1)" in place of a citation and usually no reference-list entry (Purcell, 2026a). Where a reference is wanted, Robert Gordon's Cite Them Right templates use [Placement school] as the organisation and end with "Unpublished." (Robert Gordon University Library, 2026b). APA cites works readers cannot retrieve, such as memos, as personal communications in the text only (American Psychological Association, 2022).

Which details do students most often get wrong?

Library guides name four slips, and the documents above show two more.

1. GOV.UK as author. Newman University's library says GOV.UK is never the author: use the named person, then the department, then "UK Government" (Manning, 2026).
2. Today's department name on an old document. Oxford's official papers guide lists the department's names: the Department for Education and Skills from 2001 to 2007, the Department for Children, Schools and Families from 2007 to 2010, and the Department for Education since (Bodleian Libraries, 2026). A 2008 document keeps its 2008 author.
3. An Act set out like other sources. Wolverhampton says Acts "often catch students out": the citation is the title, and the entry needs the chapter number.
4. A named placement school. Anonymise it, as Worcester advises.
5. The wrong year. A page's first-published date, a link-only update or a "last reviewed" line is not the document's date.
6. Last September's edition. Annual guidance such as Keeping children safe in education needs its edition year.

How does EdCitation build and check these references?

EdCitation's Cite a source is the best tool for this job, because it reads each reference from the page or the publisher's record instead of composing one, which no chatbot can do; the date it read for the primary curriculum matched GOV.UK's own change note. It builds APA 7, MLA 9, Chicago author-date, Harvard (Cite Them Right), IEEE and Vancouver, free with no account, and lets you correct a page's details first. Legal styles such as OSCOLA and the Bluebook are not among the six, so write an Act by hand from the patterns above.

What it returned for a GOV.UK page and a study

Given the Keeping children safe in education page, Cite a source returned:

Department for Education. (2026, September 1). Keeping children safe in education. GOV.UK. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/keeping-children-safe-in-education--2

The date is the day the 2026 version came into force, and the entry is right for the page; for the document, use the cover's full title. Given the DOI of Hattie and Timperley's review of feedback research, it returned, from Crossref's record, with no retraction flagged:

Hattie, J., & Timperley, H. (2007). The power of feedback. Review of Educational Research, 77(1), 81–112. https://doi.org/10.3102/003465430298487

Given the Education Act 2002's page, it built a web page entry dated 1 September 2026, the site's latest revision; use the Act's own form instead.

Checking the finished list

Verify references, also free, returns each entry of a pasted list or uploaded paper as verified, doubtful ("check this") or not found, flags retracted papers, and never shows a reference it could not check as not found. Check your paper turns your assignment's instructions into a checklist, including the style it asks for. Pro, at $8 a month, adds Mechanics QA, which checks formatting against the style. The essay, the placement reflection and the argument stay yours: EdCitation looks references up and never writes any part of your work.

Quick questions

How do I cite the national curriculum in APA 7?

Name the Department for Education, the year on the document, its title in italics, its DFE number in brackets and the GOV.UK link: Department for Education. (2013). Mathematics programmes of study: Key stages 1 and 2 (DFE-00180-2013).

How do I reference an Ofsted report in Harvard?

Ofsted (year) Title from the report's first page. Available at: URL (Accessed: date). Anonymise your placement school rather than naming it.

Which year do I use for Keeping Children Safe in Education?

The edition in force for the period you are writing about. The 2026 edition came into force on 1 September 2026, replacing the 2025 one.

Do Acts of Parliament go in an APA reference list?

It depends on your university. Portsmouth lists them as Education Act 2002, c. 32; Swansea names them in the text only.

Can EdCitation cite a GOV.UK page for me?

Yes. Paste the address into Cite a source, free, and it reads the department, date and title from the page; check the date and add the document's full title before copying the entry.

References

• American Psychological Association. (2020). Report by a government agency references. APA Style. https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/examples/report-government-agency-references
• American Psychological Association. (2022). Personal communications. APA Style. https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/citations/personal-communications
• American Psychological Association. (2026). Nursing student references. APA Style. https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/examples/clinical-practice-references
• Bodleian Libraries. (2026). Departmental/government publications. Official Papers for Education, University of Oxford. https://libguides.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/opeducation/departmental
• Department for Education. (2013). Mathematics programmes of study: Key stages 1 and 2 (DFE-00180-2013). https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-mathematics-programmes-of-study
• Department for Education. (2015). National curriculum in England: Primary curriculum (DFE-00178-2013). https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-primary-curriculum
• Department for Education. (2026). Keeping children safe in education 2026: Statutory guidance for schools and colleges. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/keeping-children-safe-in-education--2
• Education Act 2002, c. 32. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2002/32/contents
• Manning, A. (2026). How do I reference sources from the GOV.uk website? Newman University Library. https://newman.libanswers.com/referencing/faq/278382
• National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers. (2010). Common Core State Standards for mathematics. https://corestandards.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Math_Standards1.pdf
• Ofsted. (2024). Inspection of Wembley Primary School. https://files.ofsted.gov.uk/v1/file/50264594
• Ofsted. (2026, September 18). Education inspection framework 2025. GOV.UK. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/education-inspection-framework-eif/education-inspection-framework-for-use-from-november-2025
• Open University. (n.d.). Quick guide to Harvard referencing (Cite Them Right). https://university.open.ac.uk/library/referencing-and-plagiarism/quick-guide-to-harvard-referencing-cite-them-right
• Purcell, S. (2026a). How do I reference a school policy? (Using an appendix). University of Worcester Library. https://libraryfaqs.worc.ac.uk/faq/172793
• Purcell, S. (2026b). How do I reference an Ofsted report? University of Worcester Library. https://libraryfaqs.worc.ac.uk/faq/182119
• Robert Gordon University Library. (2026a). Government documents. Cite Them Right Harvard Templates. https://library.rgu.ac.uk/harvard-referencing-templates/government-documents
• Robert Gordon University Library. (2026c). Legislation. Cite Them Right Harvard Templates. https://library.rgu.ac.uk/harvard-referencing-templates/legislation
• Robert Gordon University Library. (2026b). Internal company documents. Cite Them Right Harvard Templates. https://library.rgu.ac.uk/harvard-referencing-templates/internal-company-documents
• Swansea University Library. (2026). Act of Parliament. APA Referencing. https://libguides.swansea.ac.uk/APA7Referencing/Acts
• University of Michigan Library. (2026). APA Style, 7th edition. Social Policy and Programs research guide. https://guides.lib.umich.edu/c.php?g=283169&p=8859158
• University of Portsmouth Library. (n.d.). Legal and government. APA referencing. https://library.port.ac.uk/using-resources/referencing/apa/legal-and-government
• University of Wolverhampton Library. (2026). How do I reference an Act of Parliament (Harvard style)? https://wlv.libanswers.com/faq/257472