Survey

[JLEd]

Hello,

I'm a teacher and a mom of two young kids, and I've noticed a gap in our curriculum when it comes to building emotional and social skills. There doesn't seem to be a dedicated subject that addresses the daily social issues our students face, like life skills or managing emotions. I'm curious to know if others feel the same way. I'm interested in conducting a survey to gather everyone's thoughts on this. Thank you!

-Jo

Have you been in a school lately?

Yes I have but wondering if this applies to other schools or just the ones I’ve visited. Are you a parent or an educator?

Because that's the job of parents! There is a sinister movement to transfer parenting responsibilities onto schools and the state. I don't want schools/state teaching my child emotional skills. That's my job as a parent.

It's called PSHE

Are you in England? If so then as @OhCrumbsWhereNow says, there is a specific curriculum for Relationships and sex education (RSE) and health education

www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education

Which covers physical health and mental well-being.

Both.
PSHCE has been part of the curriculum in the UK for many years and covers what can be in school.

The rest is up to parents

I actually think the opposite - there's a scary amount of PSHCE at DD's primary, and it seems to be one of the few areas (along with core Maths and English) that they spend any length of time on.

As pps have said, a lot of the basic emotional literary stuff that used to be taught by parents has now been farmed out to the State, and IMO it's wasting a huge amount of curriculum time that would be better spent on more useful 'wellbeing-related' subjects such as art, music, drama and sport. A lot of the class discussion amounts to pointless navel-gazing as far as I can see.

Thank you. While I'm familiar with PSHE, I've noticed that it's not consistently taught as a weekly lesson in the schools I've visited. There seems to be a gap in the curriculum regarding essential life skills, such as social skills, dealing with bullying, conflict resolution, and mediation. Schools are central to children's daily lives, where they spend most of their time away from parents. Therefore, I do feel it’s crucial to include a dedicated curriculum that focuses on building emotional and social skills, as many parents may be too busy or lack the expertise to teach these important topics themselves.

All of these are part of the curriculum and will be checked by OFSTED. They are done in different ways depending on the school - form time, drop down days, rolling timetable ... how many schools have you been in? If you are supply you may not have seen the days that they are on and if you are a teacher in a school you will only be commenting on a small amount. Pastoral leaders, SLT and teachers deal with these issues daily.
I've been teaching 25 years and have taught in 6 schools where PSHCE is taught differently - so I wouldn't claim to be an expert and say I thought there was a gap.
I suspect that you are fishing for ideas to sell something!

How strange. My daughter has had PSHE daily for the whole of secondary (4.5 years so far) plus special assemblies and lessons on things like bullying, racism etc etc.

Personally I am more interested in academics, the arts and extra curricular. There's more than enough navel gazing.

Do you want to just cut to the chase and tell us what course/workshop/book you are flogging?

My kids had PSHE weekly too. They even covered knife crime one week. I’d much rather they were taught business, basic computing (excel, databases, bit of programming, touch typing) and enterprise/entrepreneurship.

Both my children have a weekly life skills lesson at school. (Both private schools).

Are you refering to states sector or private sectors?

thanks.

Could you please clarify if you are in primary, secondary, or university, and whether you are a parent or teacher? This information will help me understand your perspective better.

For context, I am completing my MA in Education Leadership and have been a teacher for 20 years globally, with the last 10 years in the UK. I am looking to bridge the gap with Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) because my children attend state schools, where there seems to be limited focus on these areas. I have also taught in private schools and worked as a substitute teacher. Thank you for your insights!

Could you please clarify if you are in primary, secondary, or university, and whether you are a parent or teacher? This information will help me understand your perspective better.
For context, I am completing my MA in Education Leadership and have been a teacher for 20 years globally, with the last 10 years in the UK. I am looking to bridge the gap with Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) because my children attend state schools, where there seems to be limited focus on these areas. I have also taught in private schools and worked as a substitute teacher. Thank you for your insights!

State comprehensive school - secondary (I'm a parent).

Primary did endless mindfulness classes on top of PSHE.

We also get a weekly newsletter where at least 2 pages (and often far more) are dedicated to emotional health with links to videos, websites, help guides etc.

There really is no need for yet more classes on this.

This is all very help! Many thanks for this!