A lot of things that schools do, in fact, teach:

[LottieMary]

financial literacy and Budgeting - in PSHE and Maths

Mortgages - Maths basic functions plus compound interest skills. Usually also discussed in pshe and careers areas. English - Ability to read the info from mortgage companies and research, using critical thinking to recognise bias of companies giving said advice

Relationships including coercive control, red flags, support networks and agencies. Contraception. Emotional self awareness and self worth (schools try)

body - understanding of weight, calories, periods, pregnancy, menopause (it’s on the new curriculum).

plus whatever else it is this august that newspapers decide is schools responsibility not parents

can we also acknowledge that school curricula May have changed since you were there, and that it’s also not the school’s responsibility to teach absolutely everything in life - you’re not fully formed with everything you’ll ever need by 16 but you have the skills to find out.

The whole education system is at shambles!

It is. But that's not the fault of teachers.

We see the faults and the flaws. We see the contradictions, the incongruity and the dissonance and there's fuck all we can do about it.

It's simple that some parents dont want to parent and some are good at having children but not actually raising them properly and yes some do have brains and teach things to their children, but there is so much blame pit on schools because parents want to ttc but once the children reach school age think their job is done

It’s simple but for some reason people don’t it. Education is supposed to give you the tools, you then have to apply them. Maths is a great example of this.

People these days are lazy and want to be told exactly what to do and don’t want to take responsibility. Schools do a lot more now than when I went to school, if anything they do too much.

Agreed…irritates me when people say ‘life skills’ should be taught by schools. They are! Tax, banking, debt, mental and physical health etc. All taught by school!

It’s often the same people who think all this should be “taught in schools” who then proudly claim they don’t remember anything they learnt at school.

Even if we did teach mortgages thoroughly at 16-18, how many people would remember enough of it to be really useful when they buy a house at 30 or so? (Average age of a first-time buyer is around 32 I think.)

Why would anyone remember what they learnt about coercive control in PSHE 20 years ago any more than they remember what they were told about glaciated valleys when they go on the holiday in the Lake District?

So much learning is absorbed at home, by watching parental role models.

I learned a lot of Maths, English, languages, Sciences at school, but it was my parents who taught me about budgeting, living within their means, feeding a family, resolving arguments. Oh and how to use a toilet and wash my hands.

No-one in my day taught me about body autonomy, coercion, consent etc, and so I am glad that schools do this now.

Yep, it absolutely is all presented to teenagers, but they aren't in the right place to take it in. It doesn't relate to their life at that point, and so the information doesn't register.

Aao, many PHSE (or however they are labeled in your particular school) classes aren't respected in the same way as other lessons.

If they do teach about mortgages then, (in the case of my DSD and both DDs), they don’t do a good job of it.

Three separate institutions, two of which were grammar schools and all three are recent leavers with very good exam results.

Their collective financial literacy could just about fill the back of a postcard.

I think it is taught in schools, very well generally.

However, I dont think everyone can access the learning. Lots of people dont pass maths or english and have switched off to school and lots of people struggle transferring skills from one setting to another.

My kids are having a positive school experience (happy at school and doing well) so I don't want to moan. But realistically@LottieMary PSHE lessons don't tend to be taken that seriously by either teachers or pupils.

body - understanding of weight, calories, periods, pregnancy, menopause (it’s on the new curriculum).

menopause has been on the curriculum for decades, also contraception, infertility and fertility treatments

What specifically do you want to change?

I learned nothing of this at school so glad that kids are learning it now! When I worked in a bank, we had a financial education programme and I went out to high schools in our area to talk to older teenagers about managing money (compound interest and the evils of store cards) and job applications. I know a lot of it went over their heads but some were very interested.

Schools also teach how to calculate percentage increase, though reading another current thread you would think they didn't.
See also: Order of operations / BODMAS / BIDMAS.

There is a gap between what schools teach and what adults remember 10 years later.

I find it amazing that young people are so ‘tech savvy’ and all over social media yet cannot go and view and learn about all things financial including how tax and mortgages work. They are just lazy, pure and simple. Never before has so much information been available! It’s like cooking, people saying that it not being in the curriculum leading to young people not knowing about nutrition and cooking (I believe nutrition is covered in biology anyway?) - nope, people just too lazy to go and use all the info that’s out there - cooking videos, tv cooking shows, libraries full of cookery books.

I feel sorry for teachers actually. It must be so disappointing and frustrating to teach these youngsters and then see them and their moaning.

children dont retain much of this, you might have been told too, and forgotton

Yes it’s all taught in schools. Problem is the students aren’t always willing to learn. Trying to persuade them that leaning about how a mortgage works is really useful isn’t that easy.

It would help if they were examined on it and gained a qualification as they might take the lessons more seriously. (I’m am not seriously proposing this!)
Life skills are taught they just aren’t always learnt!

The condom putting on lesson is stuff of legend in our house!
Our teens tell/told us about their PHSE lessons, which were largely enjoyed, partially because there wasn’t an exam so no pressure, and that would spark of conversations - that we as parents could expand in a bespoke way for our individual child.

Shouldn’t education be a partnership with school and home? Regardless of age, subject?

School was/is fine, good even for ours.

What I don’t understand is if you as a parent think your child should be taught something why you don’t do it yourselves? Surely it’s much easier teaching your own 15 year old about mortgages, or how to change a plug, or budgeting, than it is for them to be taught in a class of 25?

We feel it is our job as parents, in support of their school, but also for our children, to instil in them that you never stop learning, throughout life, that what you are learning in school you just never know when or if you will need it, and yes they have looked at geographical features and applied taught knowledge to it, we say “see trigonometry in action” and such like.

Go to school prepared, ready and willing to learn some stuff, show respect to your teacher because they do know more than you, hang out with friends, do some sport, eventually get some grades. Not difficult really is it?