School curriculums

Fred

Fred

Winger
If you had your way, what subjects would you now place a greater emphasis on and which ones would you scale back/get rid of?

Also is there anything which currently isn't covered by school curriculums which you think should be?

Personally I would put more emphasis on PE, Science and IT.

PE obviously for better physical health. Science so we can get more involved in developing green energy to keep us sustainable in the future. IT should be more focussed on social media and the effects it can have on a young mind. Also teaching kids how to be safe online from misinformation and all the rest of the dangers posed.

Also more mental health lessons are needed desperately!

That would mean I would reduce hours for geography, history and maybe even Maths a little bit, all of which I enjoyed.
 


There definitely needs to be time spent on teaching young people how to function independently. I appreciate curriculum time is already stretched and this should be the job of parents just raising their kids right but so many don’t.
 
Charmless Man said:
I would have a special session that teaches things around personal values, mutual obligations to your fellow students and community, resilience, and techniques for learning.

I think they did something similar when I was at school which perhaps focused more on personal health and it could be woven into that.
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Its a worthy intention but I can't help feeling like the only students who will benefit from it are the ones who are brought up with something equating to decent values. Those that aren't will be unaffected by it. Excuse my defeatist attitude but the ones that most need this enrichment will be those who will not engage with it.
 
Frijj said:
There definitely needs to be time spent on teaching young people how to function independently. I appreciate curriculum time is already stretched and this should be the job of parents just raising their kids right but so many don’t.
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Looking after personal finances, learning how to cook a healthy meal and do odd jobs around the home. None of that would hurt anyone.
 
sambantam82 said:
Its a worthy intention but I can't help feeling like the only students who will benefit from it are the ones who are brought up with something equating to decent values. Those that aren't will be unaffected by it. Excuse my defeatist but the ones that most need this enrichment will be those who will not engage with it.
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I honestly don’t have the background in teaching to know whether it would work or not so that could be a fair criticism. As you say, it’s a good intention but I don’t know what the practicalities would be.

As you say, not sure you can question the intent. I know the headteacher who the Govt just appointed as Chair for Social Mobility would likely agree with you - her school pays massive attention to these things but it gets nowhere without parental buy in.
Botchie said:
Looking after personal finances, learning how to cook a healthy meal and do odd jobs around the home. None of that would hurt anyone.
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Do they do food tech these days? Think we did half a school year of actual design and technology and half a year of food tech up until the point we had to pick GCSEs.
 
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Fred said:
If you had your way, what subjects would you now place a greater emphasis on and which ones would you scale back/get rid of?

Also is there anything which currently isn't covered by school curriculums which you think should be?

Personally I would put more emphasis on PE, Science and IT.

PE obviously for better physical health. Science so we can get more involved in developing green energy to keep us sustainable in the future. IT should be more focussed on social media and the effects it can have on a young mind. Also teaching kids how to be safe online from misinformation and all the rest of the dangers posed.

Also more mental health lessons are needed desperately!

That would mean I would reduce hours for geography, history and maybe even Maths a little bit, all of which I enjoyed.
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Rid of re
Introduce a finance management/budgeting lesson
 
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Charmless Man said:
I honestly don’t have the background in teaching to know whether it would work or not so that could be a fair criticism. As you say, it’s a good intention but I don’t know what the practicalities would be.

As you say, not sure you can question the intent. I know the headteacher who the Govt just appointed as Chair for Social Mobility would likely agree with you - her school pays massive attention to these things but it gets nowhere without parental buy in.
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Its the parental buy in that is the problem. It's an impossible battle. Many schools have a strong value ethos. Those families who don't share those values will prevail unfortunately.
 
Botchie said:
Should be something to help kids who are good with their hands and aren't as academic. I work in a college and we get kids through that have a skills, but can't get an apprenticeship because they're shit at maths.
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See above. We always did design and technology which included wood and metal work, computer aided design, basic electronics etc’ up until GCSE choice time.

Definitely had the option to continue it as well.
 
Charmless Man said:
Do they do food tech these days? Think we did half a school year of actual design and technology and half a year of food tech up until the point we had to pick GCSEs.
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The oldest has just gone into year 10 and they done half a year of each up until last year. They missed most of the practical stuff because of COVID though.
 
Botchie said:
Should be something to help kids who are good with their hands and aren't as academic. I work in a college and we get kids through that have a skills, but can't get an apprenticeship because they're shit at maths.
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Agree 100%, some kids don’t get on well with academic work and the current system just casts them aside and labels them as stupid. They in turn become disinterested and leave school with few options available to them.
 
addicted_to_safc said:
I just said on another thread earlier today that first aid/heart compressions/how to use a defib etc should be taught in schools. It's probably the most important thing anyone can know yet millions don't, me included.
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I don't think it should be a lesson though. Maybe someone comes in on a 6 monthly/yearly basis and gives the kids a refresher course in all aspects of first aid, including using a defib.
 
A few more “life lessons” towards the end of secondary school. Most cope just fine but the environment change is canny drastic. One day they are having to raise their hand to ask to go for a piss the next they are working a full time job. Going from Being Treat like a child to a man/woman overnight will be a big shock to some. Work experience should definitely be done more often as well as I don’t think they even do it at all now.
 

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