(no subject)

[nny]

If I was the minister for education, primary schools would be made to teach lessons geared towards developing creativity, logic and critical thinking skills as well as literacy and numeracy. Businesses wishing to sponsor academies would be invited to donate money and then politely asked to GTFO of the educational side of things. Local Education Authorities attempting to issue children with special educational needs with 19.5 hour statements, in order to avoid providing the additional funding a 20 hour statement requires, would be barred from working in education any more. And anyone attempting to attach value judgements and rankings to academic subjects or vocational ones would be loaded into a trebuchet.

Oh yeah. And Every Child Would Fucking Matter.

Comments

[gool_duck]

I would vote for you every day.

[uninvitedcat]

::cheers you on::

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

Golly, so much agreement (for schools on both sides of the Atlantic, tbh), but that would be just Too Sensible.

[apiphile.livejournal.com]

I love you. <3 I wish you WERE minister for education.

[Also I'd introduce education links to apprenticeships from 14 and stop making GCSEs mandatory, but that's just because I think that forcing everyone to demonstrate their intelligence and skills with WRITTEN EXAMS is fucking stupid. Practical exams for practical subjects, for gods' sake! Ongoing assessment!]

[villainny.livejournal.com]

ABSOFUCKINGLUTELY. I do not think that kids should be forced to do ANY GCSEs, and this obsession with maths and English is so STUPID. I think kids should take some kind of competency test in both, but that it should be geared towards SPECIFIC SKILLS THEY WILL NEED. If they were taught - and checked on - writing job applications/formal letters and FINANCES, they would be about thirty times better off than any number of numpties forced through a fucking GCSE.

AND I'M AN ENGLISH TEACHER.

[apiphile.livejournal.com]

Indeed! My school helpfully had a couple of classes on how to write cheques and fill out job apps. but that's because we were officially retarded I think.

[villainny.livejournal.com]

Obv. was not equating non-gcse-material with numpty, there. Frequently the reverse.

[requiem2adream.livejournal.com]

*applauds* Very well said.

[wildestranger.livejournal.com]

Hear, hear.

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

Yes please.

[rowanberries.livejournal.com]

When we rule the world, we will arrange for ALL OF THIS.



*Hugs*

[la-rainette.livejournal.com]

I love you. That is all.

[vivien]

Yup.

The creativity and critical thinking skills are what businesses here clamor for (we call them 21st Century Skills). The bastion of these skills is in my field (preschool - 3-5 yr olds) because we actually let children play and discover things in a scaffolded, structured way. So of course, play is on the chopping block because it's "more important" to drill letters into their little heads. BIG SIGH.

But we do what we can, including waving our legal requirements to keep the programs we fund developmentally appropriate and based within respected early childhood education research. It is always an uphill battle, so I hear your battle call.

Oh, and did you know that self-regulation and social skills are the main indicators of older children's academic success than any measure of intelligence or anything else? Guess how kids develop both? Through structured, creative play!!!

[innerbrat]

There is a book I would like you to read.

Also, at some point during the Christmas break, I'd love to have a long talk with you about OMG I'M AN EDUCATION NERD NOW.

[genarti]

Yeah. Yeah.

<3 I would support you for minister for education, my friend.