What would you like to see studied at school?

[changedmyname24]

We have just been having an interesting chat as a family, about what we think should be taught at school.

I am in favour of a Life Skills subject for all students, incorporating:

• Growing fruit & veg in a garden, pots or an allotment
• Preparing said fruit & veg
• Cooking basic meals
• Basic car maintenance eg changing a tyre, checking oil etc
• Laundry - from sorting to ironing
• Mending clothes
• Budgeting
• Paying bills
• Basic first aid

I think that some of these would alleviate pressure on other services, such as the NHS, so would be of national benefit.

What would you add?

You think we should teach people how to fold laundry at school rather than this being a parenting activity?!?!

Most of those are parental responsibility really.

If you are adding subjects you do need to pick something to remove too.

Apart from a better understanding of finances, I think the other things you list should be taught at home.

Logic/critical thinking skills
democracy studies or something similar
civic duty/prosocial behaviour

Latin should be taught routinely in state schools.

As if teachers don't have enough to do.

In primary we were meant to do toothbrushing with pupils. We refused.

Logic, Latin and theology.

I learned Latin, have an O level in it. Complete waste of time for me, I really don't think I gained anything, I would have been far better off learning Spanish (or Biology).

Basic accounting

Car maintenance

Basic cooking

I agree you would need to remove something too. It was merely interested musing at lots of people don't seem to be able to do a lot of these things nowadays. Unfortunately, lots of parents seem unable to or uninterested in teaching these things themselves.

Personal finance.

I was never taught anything about this, frankly insane gap in teaching.

What would a lesson in ‘paying bills’ look like?

give electricity company bank details so they can set up direct debit. Wait for money to come out of account. Ummmm….its a quick lesson.

Also, common sense budgeting. If you spend £20 at the supermarket sensibly, you can feed a family of four for three days.

Or buy two trios from McDonald's for one meal, two people???

Which is best??

Basic stuff

If people want to learn how to do these basic things there are loads of YouTube or I guess tiktok videos these days.

Financial literacy I think should be taught, in maths, perhaps instead of some of the less routinely useful algebra.

Civics and prosocial stuff should be overed in pshe - make it an actually useful subject

Healthy eating etc should be covered in cookery which is already taught

How to change a tyre etc should be part of driving test

Agree with basic first aid and also how to use a public defib device (though they're pretty self explanatory already, they literally tell you what to do and when to do it with a recorded voice and very clear instructions if you ever have to use one)

I think religious schools should be allowed to primarily teach about their own religion, but not to exclusion of all the other major ones. Even if that's only up to year 8.

The big one I think is missing is philosophy /critical thinking, but of course that wouldn't churn out obedient little workers. History needs a massive overhaul too.

Definitely agree with personal finance.

I did latin too. It made French, Spanish and biology a bit easier

Gosh that’s a sad list - life skills you would think parents would provide

I was kind of hoping critical thinking and applied maths - partly because I think applied maths makes pure maths more interesting to many kids

I'd really liked pupils to be given a better understanding of our political structures and why they are how they are.

I also think there should be more about Ireland in history syllabus for England Like a dedicated statutory module.

Things to equip them in landing practical aspects of their lives
DIY
assembly of flat packs
basic plumbing -eg changing a washer and how plumbing works -when you call a qualified plumber
basic electrics /identifying when a fuse has blown identifying when to call a qualified electrician
painting (house: not art)
basic carpentry
The sort of skills that dads used to pass on to their sons and for all pupils not just those who do DT etc

Managing money - an understanding of the basic bills you will need to pay as an adult. Learning how to manage a budget, debts, a credit card, how mortgages work, how pensions work, how savings and investments work etc.

I can't help thinking however that you could learn the Latin bits that make subjects easier within those subjects, rather than have to have a full study of Latin.

Maybe we should teach kids that they’ll need to step up and actually be responsible parents one day and then we won’t need to teach kids all the things in your lists because they’ll do it themselves.

Personally I think schools are already covering for enough crap parents.

Some of those things are covered in PSHE.

More and better foreign language teaching, as a core subject, starting early in primary school and compulsory up to GCSE level. Like maths.
The earlier you start the easier it is to learn —and it can be made loads more fun — and you don’t get so much of the ‘languages are too hard — I can’t do it,’ complaints that you do from older children.
Yes, I know we will need more FL teachers. But that’s a good thing, surely?
(I am not a teacher.)