What would you like to see taught in schools that currently isn't?

[EllieRosesMammy]

I'd like cooking to be taught, when I was in school it was taught till year 9 and then optional after that. Plus when it was taught we were making something like scones or bread - not something you'd make every day.

I've met so many grown adults who can't cook and waste a fortune on crap and takeaways, I think teaching people basic cooking skills throughout school would help to prepare them for when they move out :)

Natural science from a young age, identification of common species etc

Do they not in the UK? They teach environmental science from 3rd grade in my country, learn to recognise native flora and fauna (and what's edible or not), good stuff to know.

Something essential that I would hope is taught in UK schools but if not, should be, is how to spot fake news/disinformation, how to distinguish good quality sources from poor quality ones (all I remember being told is that Wikipedia isn't a good source but nothing about how to find good ones) and the importance of being wary about what you put on the Internet and the potential repercussions.

I would have been very peeved if I'd spent a fortune on my DC's education to find that they'd been learning cooking and gardening and how to open a bank account.

A good education should teach children how to think (which would cover fake news, social media etc, etc, etc) - and how to express said thoughts in perfect English (assuming that's the native language). The principles of literary criticism or historical analysis can be applied perfectly well to modern media without children having to be 'taught' about the latter.

My Dd is in year 7 and is learning mandarin

What should be removed from the curriculum to accommodate these things?

@offyoufuckcuntychops That's the thing though isn't it, if you can afford to pay a fortune for your children's education you're presumably in a good position to teach them about money & running a household yourselves.

It's those at the other end of the scale that could most benefit from that knowledge.

When I became old enough to vote for the first time, I had no understanding of how the political system works. I knew what my parents voted for and I’d listened to their political views and ideals before and heard others giving their personal opinions around politics so was familiar with political opinions. But, I didn’t know about how politics actually works.

So, I voted for whoever my parents voted for that first time. I understand more now, I understand enough to read the policies of different parties so I can make an informed decision, but really I don’t think I truly understand enough. How does the political system actually work?

And these people in various political positions are making decisions that affect me, my child, my family, friends and everyone else in the country. In fact these people in various political positions affect our country’s relationship with other countries too.

So, isn’t it in our best interest to actually know how our political system actually works? That when we turn 18 and become eligible to vote for the first time we can make our vote from a place of knowledge and understanding rather then ignorance.

How to be mentally robust.

I never use algebra and have no idea how to mentally keep my head above water a lot of the time.

We live in an age now where you can Google 'how to apply for a mortgage', ' what will the interest rates be for a payday loan'.

Those saying cooking... Its never ever been easier to Google 'how to make a xxx' and follow your pick of thousands of videos and step by step guides. How is it more useful to do it in a class of 30 children? It's literally just the motivation needed to do it and the time to practise at home. No one can claim they don't know how to cook XXX- there will be more support out there online than there ever has been in the history of mankind.

In my very humble opinion, it would be much better to teach children how to search for useful information, how to filter out 'false news', how to critically review the news, how to search for info and then review any information presented to you as 'facts', to question anything you see online, how to interpret statistics and question who put together the statistics and what their goal was, critical thinking, actual research, questioning, asking important questions... Much more useful than learning how to make a cheese sauce at the age of 13, then instantly forgetting it an hour later when you're online playing with your mates.

I agree about mortgages being easy to access anyway and I probably would have agreed about cooking, the older dc is very into it anyway but I quite like the yr 7 doing it. They have to prep a full meal in exam conditions a bit like master chef style. They do a lot of subjects and it seemed quite nice. It’s not something I would have thought of but it’s fine

Tell me about it, none of these people seem to have actually googled the National Curriculum subjects 🙄.
Stop voting for governments who cram our curriculum full of crap that leaves us struggling to teach effectively. We can't do everything!

Budgeting
Buying your first home
Meal planning
First Aid
All could be integrated into PHSE.

Pension planning too

Social skills - how to be a good friend, how to write polite emails, simple things like just learning how to listen when others talk, how to greet someone you meet for the first time etc.

Finances definitely.

Oh -also, mindset training

Most of what has been mentioned is covered.

My Ds did cooking from ywar 7-9.. although it was limited due to the pandemic,

He hasdone about abuse

First aid in primary school.

The thing with cooking it has to be done at home too.

The only one not done is sign language.

Not sure why people say that learning sign language is better or more useful than any other language ? I've never ever been in a situation where sign language would have been useful to know. I've been in many situations where my knowledge of other languages has been useful, in ly professional and personal life. Sign language is fairly specialized, not something I'd expect to be taught in mainstream school.

Anyway, I think basic orthograph is the first thing that comes to mind, as it seems to have gone downhill a great deal. Other than that generic life skills (first aid, what to do in an emergency, how to budget, how to be safe online, etc) is something that I think would be worth an hour every other week (it adds up to quite a lot over ten years).

I don't think investments and pensions will catch the interests of young kids though... It's also specialized knowledge and people who have a lot of money to invest are usually educated enough to learn what they need on their own (or pay someone to help them if it's a significant amount !)

I also think cooking would be a cool thing to do at school, especially if the kids then get to eat what they've made, but it does require facilities/ingredients that would be costly so not very practical in reality.

But a bit of time on nutrition, spices, balanced meals, could be worth it.

For those pp saying to look at the curriculum. What about people on Mumsnet who are in different countries from the UK. Are we not welcome to answer this question?

The question doesn’t ask what needs to be added to the curriculum in the UK. So calm down and don’t take other peoples suggestions so personally.

And remember the internet connects people from all over the world and we can all learn something from one another. No need to be patronising.

The unwritten constitution of the UK. How international bodies such as NATO, the UN, the EU work. How HMT is funded & what HMT spend taxpayers' money on.

Awkward, loads of fee paying schools have cookery lessons. And also gardening clubs.

:/

Compulsory Pilates in all schools from age 4/5 to 18yrs.

I agree with pp who mentioned teaching fake news/disinformation. I think this is so important, especially when we have a media that controls so much of the narrative in this country. amp.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/28/fact-from-fiction-finlands-new-lessons-in-combating-fake-news
I remember reading the Guardian article linked a while back about how they were tackling this in Finland and thought it was a really progressive approach. I particularly liked the way it was joined up, so teaching how statistics applies to this for example.

A language is statutory from year 3 onwards. Trouble is many schools have no money to pay specialist teachers, and class teachers, who often aren't very confident themselves, end up teaching it. Sometimes it works brilliantly but often, not. Then there's no link up with secondary schools who end up starting all over again rather than building on what they've already done.

Sign language