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?

Do all schools do it? Is it compulsory for the schools to offer it?

Yes, can be either ks1 or ks2, but it is on the curriculum and must be taught.

Oh right thanks @NervousSheepy

In the 80s it was the lady from Colgate who did teeth cleaning demonstrations (with those pink soluble things that showed your plaque) and we all went home with a free toothbrush and tube of toothpaste.
Teaching by way of advertising 😁.

The lesson would be prioritise paying bills before anything unnecessary. You can only spend what's left, and remind them that you can only spend your money once.

Oh you’re right… memory unlocked of taking the tiny tubes home! They should get back on that!

@Canadanian It was going to take 15 minutes twice a day for 30 pupils. That's 2 and a half hours.

Sign language.

Critical Thinking
Debating, includin making a case for opinions you oppose irl.
Financial acumen
Emotional health

At secondary school one of my friends school at a different school to mine got the period talk by a lady from Tampax.
They got free samples, a booklet and a bright pink plastic holder that held a couple of tampons.
All of us girls at my school were well jealous because we wanted the (totally not discreet because it was magenta pink) tampon holder too.

Ah, got you! I thought you meant you’d all said no to a couple of sessions teaching kids how to clean their teeth, not no to doing it with them every single day!

It's really annoying reading stuff like "financial literacy" when most kids are taught that stuff but.... Shock horror.... Don't remember or retain it well enough to use when they live alone 5+ years after school. Just like the 30yos who claim they were never taught mortgages.... You were but people forget stuff after 14 years.

Anyway, parents need to parent. Let's get a national campaign sorted.

Stop blaming schools.

Financial eduction, specifically investing

It’s not a mandatory subject in itself though, so the extent to which it’s taught in Citizenship lessons will vary from school to school. it’s also not examined so basically, no one cares.

Parents do need to parent but if they are financially illiterate themselves, how do we break the chain?

I also don’t think anyone is blaming schools for not teaching stuff they are not mandated to teach - this is an issue for the government.

I speak to thousands of people a year with excess cash savings and many of them will remain poorer than they would have otherwise been because they don’t feel confident enough to invest.

Critical thinking is a good one! I think philosophy for the same reason, it helps us understand and question our thoughts.

But the lessons are so few no child actually learns to swim!

Ditch P.H.S.E complete waste of time!

My DD is studying personal finance this year in high school. It’s sneaking in !

conflict resolution
cognitive and unconscious bias
political/social philosophy and ethics

I think you're over exaggerating how much anyone retains and remembers stuff from school whether examined or not.

Even if financial literacy was examined, most students wouldn't remember the content at an age where it would be useful.

We're far better off teaching them how to use the Internet to access reliable sources of information and let them educate themselves at 25+.

We teach lots of things such as financial literacy, democracy and voting etc in schools already ' it's called PSHE/citizenship etc. Kids generally don't take it seriously.

So on the one hand it's "teach us useful stuff we need in life not boring stuff we need for exams" and when we do it's "we don't have an exam in this so it's obviously not that important". We can't win!

We should have something like general studies where psychology, sociology and politics are taught. English Lit needs an overhaul to overturn Gove’s ridiculous insistence on British literature. Less Dickens, more diversity. More creativity.

Personal financial skills (implications of debt, managing a bank account, budgeting etc.).
Proper music lessons.

(And yes - I know that the finance one has already been mentioned frequently above.)

Data and AI, business management (most people will go and work in a business of some form or another so should have a rudimentary understanding of how one works), economics, touch typing (I’m 57, use a computer for about 6 hours a day and still can’t do it!), a proper practical skill such as woodwork or car maintenance or how to use a sewing machine), rhetoric, statistics (so people can see though the stupid stats political parties keep throwing at us), critical thinking (for the same reason, and skills like team work, research skills, building confidence and staying healthy). I’m sure lots of these are taught already. I also agree with a PP about life skills being taught at home too and we should be promoting that - growing your own food, repairing things, car and home maintenance.

I also think English lit. should be an option at GCSE. Or there should at least be a rethink on which books are taught and how. Shakespeare is almost universally despised because we were forced to do it at school.