To thing school need to radically rethink their offer

[BlooDeBloop]

In lockdown everyone understood that schooling was optional. Everyone understood that missing a day or week didn't matter in the grand scheme of things

During lockdown students learned that rules could be arbitrary and not make sense

Lockdown taught parents that school was critical as childcare to enable them to work

Since then, kids are back in school. They are challenging the rules on an unprecedented scale. Parents are laughing at the SLT. Kids are cheering when they clowns are removed from class. The kids know there is no real punishment, no real consequence for deliberately, chronically disruptive behaviour.

Teachers are breaking down and leaving in droves, more than ever before. Leaving young, inexperienced colleagues in the trenches.

After having to educate their own children parents understand that Shakespeare, French, geography and more have no modern relevance in the UK. The curricula are unimaginative and disconnected from the future world of work. There is no longer home support for the suck it up attitude with which kids were once sent to school.

Once upon a time there was an understanding that the kids would go to school, get an education, leave to pursue training or higher education. Today, that understanding has broken down. Under the scrutiny and transparency that SM provides, we collectively understand this is not true. Schools are failing, not through lack of care or competency but a lack of relevance. Further, the social mores that governed acceptable behaviour have softened to such a degree a good 10% of every state secondary class will seek to destroy the locus of power in the room (teacher, SLT, whoever). To compound the issue, students are all seeing for themselves on SM how to disrupt and then go about emulating their heros.

This is a cluster fuck of gigantic proportions.

AIBU in thinking that there needs to be a big scale conversation (revolution!) around what schools offer in this new world? For starters, moving with the times to offer skills that are actually needed and valued in the workforce and in further ed (e.g. IT at all levels, from typing to programming, and not shoved into one hour a week). Real alternative curricula for non academic kids (let's not pretend these kids need Chaucer in their lives).

And when students are persistently disruptive over a long period of time, borderline encouraged by their parents, they should be sent home. Permanently. To be educated (or not) by their parents. That would sort out 90% of poor behaviour overnight.

Ahhhh. That feels better 😁. Thank you for reading if you got this far.

I had two children in school during lockdown and I also worked in a school. Not once was it optional or was I ever led to believe it was optional. Consequences were few and far between but their teachers were on the case when and if they missed any lessons.

What's wrong with 90% of the curriculum being the same...? Most things are pretty much the same as they were 30 years ago?

Maths doesn't change... history doesn't change... science doesn't change... English literature hasn't changed.... geography hasn't changed...

Sure things are slightly different and things have happened sonce. But at the end of the day algebra is Algebra and WWII is still WWII...

Agree with OP, schools need to modernise how and what they teach. Teachers are also reluctant to change how and what they teach. It's easy to teach a clever kids, kids who are harder to teach are to often left behind.
The schooling I had abroad as a child is far superior to reaching here in the UK.

YANBU at all, but the UK have already invested in studies and research to point them in the right direction in terms of moving forward and have failed to act on the findings. What will it take?

How can you say that Shakespeare, French and Geography have no relevance in the modern world? What everyone speaks English do they or do you just have such a narrow minded view of the world that you think the what 500-600mm who speak English should have the other 7.5BN speak it along with them? Geography teaches kids about the world we live in - about the challenges mega cities are facing - about the supply of wate - healthcare - education - about climate change about migration and how this is all linked and you think our town planners - house builders and politicians of the future don't need to know this? And Shakespeare - so you'd have all our kids grow up in a world of typing and computers without any of the art in life - without learning how to express yourself - about how to reach outside yourself and the stupid social media world in which our kids live and aim to reach for something higher - more intangible.... god if you're a parent I dread to think how you're bringing up your kids and if you're a teacher please leave your profession. What has happened to learning something for the sake of learning it - that is what education is about - to be able to know how we got here in the first place - what we're doing now to forge our path ahead and to be able to critically discuss and analyse events as they happen. To know why World War 1 started and how it led to World War 2 - to know why our rivers and seas are important and know also where they are. My kids speak 4 european languages almost fluently at 15 - and I marvel at their prowess of moving effortlessly from one to another - then can quote Shakespeare and they can explain the challenges the world is facing because of climate change and migration and I can discuss with them - they know their King Lear - Romeo and Juliet and Othello - they've read novels which will never be needed when it comes to doing their careers - but some of the characters in those books moved them to tears - no computer science or typing course will ever do that. And remember all the scientists who put rockets into space - who invented the internet - who designed apps - will all at some point in the secondary education have taken those subjects and yet still they managed to do all that and know a bit of Shakespeare. We don't study everything for a job you know...... everything a child learns helps them in some way - and the ability to flex your brain from algebra to Hamlet - from coding to languages helps you in your future in some small way....... which you may never even know!

Schools do need adapting to better manage Sen children, mh etc. the one size fits all approach fails so many children every day. Yes there needs to be better alternatives for the none academics and less pressure of university to have a career.

I doubt it

I'm sorry but most of what you write seems absurd. I do not know any schools that fit your description. In particular, your idea of redundant subjects suggests you know little about them. Geography, is a huge subject in which includes physical geography (and I assume you acknowledge the importance of the environment?) climate, energy, rural and urban development, migration and many other areas of study that come under the banner of cultural geography. It is actually a crucial subject if we are to plan for our future.
You mention French and single out Shakespeare from the English literature curriculum. Communicating with our near neighbours and showing them the respect of doing it in their own language seems important to me (and apparently King Charles). A knowledge of Shakespeare, even studied for a short spell at GCSE level, can enrich and enhance our understanding of language and its uses. Many schools now focus on the stem subjects to the detriment of Arts and Humanities and I don't agree with that. We are more than cogs in the machine.

geography and more have no modern relevance in the UK
OP, do you understand about climate change?
Exactly HOW is geography NOT relevant?

"Most things" certainly aren't the same as they were 30 years ago. We now have the internet and everyone has smartphones. We have a massive amount of data available at our finger tips. We no longer need to rote-learn dates, quotes, formulae, etc. We should be embracing the internet and teaching our kinds how to use it to search for facts, research, etc. We should be teaching excel formulae and data analysis methods in Maths lessons. We really shouldn't be spending a term making a wooden fish in woodwork when there's so much "tech" available to design and produce it using tech, likewise, 3d printers, etc. I couldn't quite believe my son had to make a metal trowel in metalwork - I remember doing that 40 years ago. Same with art, still faffing around with screen printing etc when there's so much tech available, i.e. design software, printers capable of printing on many different types of surface/material, etc.

Art and DT are wonderful for kids- sense of pride, purpose, creative problem solving.
What a miserable time kids would have if life was just digital.

Parent of 4.
20+ years of teaching in London state schools.
I do not recognise what you are saying.

I’ve never used Shakespeare in my job. I dont have to speak french to get paid. I don’t need to know how to play netball for my salary.

I am very very grateful that school gave me access to all these things and I’m richer for it.

When was the last time you were in a classroom? Do you have secondary aged kids?

because my children’s secondary has a 3d printer and their DT classes are cutting edge.

art is a wonderful combination of traditional art and using technology

Teacher here. Yes, teachers are leaving the profession. However, that is due to the government and Ofsted, NOT the content of the curriculum. Yes, some of it is questionable, but to be honest it's the incessant paperwork, Ofsted demands and government lack of funding that means teachers are leaving.
I'm disappointed you said French has no relevance. Languages are a fabulous asset.

I’m not sure schools should be beholden to the needs of industry. I think education should be broader than training you for a job when you are older. So no, I don’t think that Shakespeare is irrelevant or that schools need to teach ‘skills’ that are more relevant to what employers want. We will just end up with a system where the rich have a classical education and creative forms, benefitting from the wisdom and beauty of thousands of years of human civilisation. Everyone else gets trained to be a good little worker bee.

This is what is happening with HE at the moment. The concept of a university education is being shelved for all but the few. Go and read the governments skills agenda. Look at all the pushing of apprenticeships and the move to modular education/ lifelong learning (which is definitely set up to benefit employers and to stop them in having to invest in training). Look at the defunding of arts courses and the domination of the arts by the priveledged. It is truly grim.

It’s impossible to sit here and suggest what the free market can do. It’s iterative and depends on many genius minds.

Who would have imagined Uber, Amazon, TickTock, self service checkouts, automatic re-ordering, discord letting you chat whilst playing real time games with a friend in Hong Kong?

Personally, I found it painful to sit through slow maths lessons and my son was in mixed ability in year 5. Computers could enhance this. Also computer based French and Mandarin could allow for much quicker and more reinforced learning for smart kids. English, history, economics clearly need discussion.

Schooling is labour intensive because Govt regulation requires that. A few years ago, in my friend’s school, they banned text books and made her reinvent the wheel making her own lesson plans in every subject from scratch with their theme for the term. If that isn’t digging a hole then filling it in, I don’t know what is.

Im watching this space to see what innovations come out of Indian cheap private schools in the slums. They already beat their Govt funded free schools but I suspect have more to teach us.

And just how did all those facts get there in the first place - osmosis? No - by people who learned them and studied them - who wrote papers - who analysed their results and did empirical testing -those essays which describe a Shakesperian plot and the motives of the characters - someone who studied play put them there - the Internet is only a useful tool as long as the humans behind it keep learning - keep updating and keep the art of education alive. It will become a finite resource to us - if no one studies any more and just looks for what someone else has written - we will become lazy and for the first time in our history we will stop seeking to know more discover more and share more!

You completely missed the point!

My maths teacher didn’t discover Pythagoras or quadratic equations. She learned them. A teacher and a maths book writer are different specialisations. Often the best maths books will be written by teachers, but they are teachers who are particularly good at that skill. None of it is new.

Every teacher writing out her own lesson is a waste of time. They are all separately recreating something that has already been done better by a specialist text book writer. Again, none of it is new.

I don’t know what IT programs are available. It’s about time someone did a maths book online. Here there will be innovation. It will be in the method of communicating the content, not the content itself.

Professional risk and ethics training by contrast has changed unrecognisably changed for the better over the last decade. Big businesses choose for employee to do it at their own pace and on their own time and employees retain more information.

Completely agree, the kids at my child's school are feral. My child is being tortured daily by these entitled kids, the discipline isn't there, so they continue. Today's example DURING a lesson, my child hung their blazer on the back of her chair, 3 kids behind her made derogatory remarks about my child, laughed at my child, rubbed glue up & down the back of my child's blazer & up & down my child's forearm. When I have spoken to the head about previous incidents he said it's just low level disruption!

And Schools embrace technology in the way it delivers education.

It's great. They do teach kids to research and find facts.. like they always have.

Data analysis methods in maths lessons? But you need a sound grounding in mathematics to understand regression analysis...

Making a wooden fish requires the same planning and research as a 3D printed fish designed on a PC. And DT embraces technology. The child might design a fish keyring, doing the research, making a paper version, then translating that onto CAD software and laser etch or 3d print it.

And besides, tech isn't fucking everything... people still want handmade things, they want a bespoke design or unique hand crafted figurine etc. And if a child is exposed to woodwork,as well as metal work, textiles and CAD then those skills and passions will live on. There are companies making plenty of money screen printing t shirts.

I work for an organisation - a public body in fact - where Geography is probably single the most required degree subject.

Climate change, floods, droughts , earthquakes, carbon reduction, nature based solutions, town planning, green transport plan, overpopulation, sustainability - Geography is probably more relevant today than it ever has been! E

I use my geography degree every day in my (seniors) role and of the ten most senior people in my big organisation at least 3 of us have geography degrees... it's an incredibly useful subject plus I loved my 3 years studying it, genuinely enjoyed every moment

No I didn't. It is the human input which makes the difference. How many of us can still remember a teacher who inspired us when we were kids - or made us love a subject because of how they taught it or explained it to us - how many people are now pursuing careers because of how a teacher taught us at school. It is our humanity which makes us different. Professional Risk and ethics training has changed over the years- I do it on a regular basis for my work - and now it consists of a series of multiple choice questions- which we plod through like little robots - no interactions - no chance to question - no little stories to make us laugh or think...... and yes we pass the training for 2 reasons - 1 - it's been dumbed down beyond belief and 2 - the underlying principles are still in my head from when it was first taught to me by a human being! During lockdown I signed my kids up to several online learning platforms - where they had to answer a series of multiple choice questions or read a comprehension and answer the questions and yes they could do it but there was no joy in it - and when I spent time with them helping them to learn through discussion and questioning the impact was a lot greater!