Do you think the next generation will take education more seriously and view it as a privilege?

[Cortina]

I think there are very hard times coming which will see less of an emphasis on play-based learning in school? I think there will be a sea change in education in the next 20 years and we will take it far more seriously in the future. Serious work ethic and academic rigour will be what parents begin to look for in schools as the world becomes increasingly competitive.

No I didn't phrase it well in title I think, minipie. Having said that our Y1 & KS1 classes have a less structured more play-based curriculum now (think that's in line with NC though). Talking to teachers Y1 used to be more 'academically rigorous' if you like & issue was some were ready for more formal/structured work but many were not.

Take the point that AIBU not best place for thread but perhaps question I should have asked initially is 'AIBU to think we will begin to take education a whole lot more seriously in the next 5-20 years'.

I think this sort of time period is going to bring some dramatic changes and shifts, such as most will never have seen before, I really do.

Agree wordfactory, they are going to need an 'edge' and I fear just as many are burying their heads in the sand & don't take education as seriously as they might.

I think there is always an instinct to look around, see for instance the Chinese galloping ahead, and get the fear of god crossways about the state of schools, panic and start making noises about the degenerate nature of the current system (whatever it may be) and harrumphing about putting children's noses to the grindstone earlier and longer and a sharper grindstone at that.

Feelings like this wax and wane. There will always be a constituency moaning about the good old days (when 5 year olds did long division and everyone knew their place, blah blah) and baying for the return of the birch. Sadly, there are lots of people who vote who genuinely feel this is the One True Religion as far as education goes.

Meanwhile the Chinese will be falling over themselves introducing play-based kindergarten. The DDs of the Tiger Mother will send their children to independent schools where the children wander around forests in their bare feet all day every day.

I think the opposite. In the way that people are not ashamed of poor mathematical skills now they can do it all on a calculator/computer/till, I think the easy access to information will make people more lazy in terms of knowledge. We need to adapt the education system to reflect the difference in access, we are currently producing lots of people who know how to cut and paste and change the wording but not how to put real understanding into their own words. How to bodge something and bluff will probably get people far enough in life (see the Apprentice or current style of politics) but I think we, as a population, will suffer. We don't currently reward those with knowledge over those that can talk a good game, and we would need to increase the status of both teachers and university lecturers to fix this - neither or which I can see as on the cards. We have even become more disparaging towards medical professionals now we have access to Dr Google. The trend I see promotes a certain personality profile over any sort of academic rigour.

There might be a bigger divide between those who thrive academically (or play the system) and those who don't bother, perhaps the more extremes will shift in both directions, but I don't think the curve will shift as a whole.

I like your post mathanxiety and think you're right about the chinese - once they do all of those things (which they're beginning to, actually exactly as you say) they really will rule the world. You hit on something important if you combine the academic rigour/mindset for hard work with the creativity you've got a killer combination.

Runner agree with some of what you say but I think (sadly) there's going to be real economic hardship in time and with it will come big changes.

Speaking as an academic, I really cannot see play-based learning in Reception as any kind of threat to rigorous academic attitudes in secondary later life. The greatest threat to academic rigour that I can see is not an attitude of play but a lack of willingness to think. And you can achieve that lack of willingness just as easily by enforced rote learning (though some rote learning is clearly useful).

The main problem I see in the UK today is that it is too polarised. Otoh you have parents who care so much about education that they spend their days and nights obsessing over exactly what book band little Emily is on and how many minutes she has been listened to by the teacher this week, otoh you get parents who have given up altogether and decided education is not for the likes of us.

But I wouldn't advise us to rush to emulate China before we have had a good look at what works well there and what does not. Ruling the world is not the only thing that matters; it's also about the kind of society you want to live in, how we can keep our citizens safe and happy and refrain as far as possible from wrecking the environment. Uninhibited growth is not the only possible good outcome.

I would hope that my children grow up to value education as something more and more thought-through than just stealing a financial march on their friends.

The best performing countries in education have play-based learning until 7.

True, Damsel but they have a completely different system/culture/mindset. In Finland children will rise earlier, go to bed earlier, are less likely to watch TV, are more likely to muck in with the rewiring of the house, fixing a car etc.

In Asia they might be in a play based kindergarten before 7 but practically all will have been taught 3 Rs to some degree. The idea children know nothing before 7 is a myth.

I agree 100% with Cory about thinking. I would add that we live in a frenetic world where children feel the pressure of so much put upon them that they do not have the time and space to be left to think about things, including what they have learned. Educationally I also think that the curriculum is too packed - the emphasis is definity on quantity!

Children these days have long school days, packed full of activities. They have constant entertainment wherever they go. The abillity to think is not just learned but facilitated by your environment.

I remember when I was a child I was left long holidays on the beach with no toys, no entertainment. Yes I was bored but we used to love it overall, there was so much space for imagination and thinking. Nowadays I have revisited the same beach, there is loud music, it's more crowded there is always entertainment for the children, they never have a minute to relax!

Slightly off the point but I do believe, maybe controversially that children and adults alike have stressed lives and this is not conducive to learning or thinking.

My point is though, that drill-based education from a very ealy age does not necessarily work. Play-based learning is not unserious or devoid of content. Similarly, drill-based education often does not produce real learning (in the sense of critical thinking skills and I dependent creativity rather than memorisation and regurgitation).

Completely take your point Damsel. Play-based learning can often be devoid of content though IME.

Even when it looks devoid of content, it may not be. It's really amazing what kids get from apparently aimless activity.

That is a shame because in the case of very important maths concepts, the best way to introduce them to Reception age children is through play of all kinds, and through art and music. You never hear of parents up in arms about how their child doesn't seem to have any exposure to maths concepts in Reception, but imo this is what parents should be concerned about.

Maybe that is because the vast majority of parents can read and see reading as important in their daily lives whereas maths in underused except by what is perceived as an elite, and undervalued as an educational tool. It is undervalued because the importance of logic and thought is not understood.

Agreed. But there formal educational settings that allegedly push 'learning through play' that are woefully uninformed.

Yes, mathanxiety. Appropriate maths (and science) activities for young children often don't look at all like maths, or even 'learning'. For example, building blocks can be some of the best maths materials in an early childhood classroom.

No experience of woefully uninformed learning through play settings in infants school; I have always assumed it was the chance to develop her imagination at this stage that has made dd such a resilient and flexible learner.

What I'd like to know though is why British children are less likely to muck in with family jobs like fixing the car, though. It can't be that they all come from dysfunctional families who don't engage with their children.

My suspicion is that British families are so obsessed with book learning being the only "real" education, because they are constantly having it shoved down their throats, that it doesn't occur to them that spending the afternoon fixing the house in the company of a couple of parents without an O-level between them might actually have some educational value.

speaking as a non-british person I would say that culturally parents in the UK feel they have to "pay" their children to do jobs like that, whilst where I come from is seen as part of your duties as a member of your family to contribute to everything AS WELL AS doing well academically and get through huge amounts of homework!

PS I was gobsmacked when a friend revealed they had paid their 11 year old son 30 pounds to wash the car!!!!!

I don't think the Scandinavian children I know are heavily into duties tbh (they also tend to watch rather a lot of television), but they do seem to join in DIY for the fun of it, at least while they're little.

I was wondering about this just this evening - DS1 who is what, 8 weeks into reception has brought home another list of letter sounds to learn, and some key words - in, at and so on for us to do with him at home, make flashcards, and there will be a spelling test for some of the children - can't quite remember how they worded this bit

Anyway, I was rather at this, it seems really OTT to me, I didn't have homework at my state primary at all and did fine. So I was thinking along the same lines as the OP - are children going to be expected to do more 'rigorous' learning?

We can't compete on the same terms as China anyway, one of the things the UK is best at is creativity - am not sure that this kind of approach will work for us

I just wish we could somehow instill a "love of learning" which is precisely what the current uk school and exam system seems designed to completely kill off.

I disagree. There is already too much of a professional academic focus in schools that does not produce a wide-ranging workforce but just more and more service and professional jobs that are unsustainable in the long-term. A friend of mine recently moaned that her year 7 son was getting homework in a hobby subject, art rather than in Maths and English. Let them enjoy school and learn through play as this will make them more open to be flexible and think differently in the future. There are too many accountants, lawyers etc who are either suffering from stress or out of work due to cut backs as the service industry struggles to cope with a lack of manufacturing. We need more creative 'out of the box' thinkers that are more likely to be produced through learning through play rather than drilled academia.

I think we are all agreeing with the same thing, ie that as a society we need to encourage more "thinking". However I am not sure we are agreeing on how you encourage this. I am not sure "learning through play" in reception will encourage a nation of "thinkers" as it is too far in the distant past to influence your adulthood. Also, having had different children in different settings I have seen it deliver in an exciting and stimulating way and also in a terribly unispiring way.

I think the one biggest "thinking" killer is TV and computer games, but that's just based on my own experience.

The amount of hideously boring homework DS1 brings home is astounding. I don't think his education is characterised by play. (he's on year 7 and could easily do an hour of homework every night and still have more left over).