Schools not teaching the right stuff for the 21st century

[sammymum1]

I've often wondered whether school would teach DS (age 10) and DD (age 7) the right skills for the world they'll enter as adults. Being under lockdown recently and seeing their school work has got my thinking...

School is great for the social side and core subjects, I just feel a there are some basic skills (like good diet, exercise, money management etc) that are only ever going to be taught in the home and valuable skills for the 21st century (entrepreneurship, creative thinking, coding, Chinese etc) that aren't the focus of our education system

Anyone else feel that way or just me? Perhaps I'm overthinking it?!

Anyway, I'm wondering if anyone has come across any good resources online on the best ways to introduce some of these extra-curriculars without being overbearing?!

I think the most important thing is for parents to be engaged with their children, and what is taught.
This covers reading to them, taking an intetrest in their school work etc.
Especially, watching TV with them and discussing topics that are raised. Everything one does can increase their general knowledge about the world.
A walk together (Still allowed?), you can talk about the weather, clouds, the flowers, wildlife. (yes, even in my London suburb, houses have plants in their gardens, and we often see foxes or squirrels).
Giving pocket money and show them how to budget, etc (obviously age appropriate).
Their are children's books / picture books in every single subject that can add to their general knowledge; history books aimed at children (horrible histories, and other picture books); science books aimed at children, etc
Not everything can be taught at school,but the more one does as a parent, the more they will learn.

Christ yes Touch typing! I really wish I had been taught when I was at school but I wasn't allowed to. Back in the 70s when I was at high school, typing was 'women's work' and boys were not allowed to take it - or any other 'domestic science' at school. I know. I tried. Girls weren't allowed to do metal work or woodwork either. Men (other than journalists and authors) did not type. Nowadays we all do.

Back then we were being educated to fit in with the contemporary work structures. It's a landscape that has completely changed in my lifetime. All that heavy industry is gone. The retail sector exploded out of the High Street and is now probably dying on its feet in great big sterile Amazon warehouses. No one knew what a computer was or how to make money out of them

My first lessons in computing (I suspect some of the first High School computing teaching in the UK) were done on a teletype terminal connected to the council's mainframe. We typed in our very basic programs (in BASIC) one at a time into this great clonking machine in the corner of the room. Line by line. So many of the jobs people do these days have been invented in the last twenty years

These days my kids bring home school provided chromebooks with more processing power than that mainframe could ever conceivably have had.

My point is that we have no idea what we should be teaching our kids any more.

Chinese and touch typing would I think be a good start. And Art.

My DD is going to art school next year. People have been making art since the Stone Age - between 300,000 and 700,000 years ago. There's a solid market for it. Painting's a good skill to have.

Along with touch typing I would like to see a return to teaching word, excel and power point etc.

I've always thought First Aid training should be part of the school curriculum.

Critical thinking is essential. Teaching about logical fallacies and how to think through an argument wasn't taught when I was at school, and I'm amazed at the emotional immaturity of the people who are my age.

I do think practical skills should be taught more frequently. Things like plumbing, electronics and cooking from scratch.

Along with touch typing I would like to see a return to teaching word, excel and power point etc

They can do this at HCSE formally, although a lot of lessons focus on this as they use it for history geography English maths etc anyway

Plus they have other platforms to work on now as well

I agree with the OP. I can't believe how little IT our son has been taught. They did a bit of basic coding at primary school, but absolutely zilch of anything IT related at secondary at all. The school only started teaching computer science after he'd chosen his GCSE options. All his IT "skills" are self taught. Completely ridiculous in the 21st century when IT is part of nearly every decent job.

Even I was offered IT at secondary school back in the late 70s, but for a secondary school in 2012 (when my son started) not to offer anything at all is absolutely crazy.

Just shows the utter stupidity of allowing schools to choose what they want to teach. They were heading the right way with the national curriculum but now seem to have ditched it.

Overall, I've been very disappointed with the secondary system over the past few years as seen via my son. So much just hasn't changed since I was at school late 70s/early 80s. Only superficial changes such as teachers using computerised white boards instead of chalk black boards, and using photocopied "scrappy" worksheets instead of purple duplicated scrappy worksheets. So much change, but at the same time, so little.

I agree with the OP. I can't believe how little IT our son has been taught.

The OP was talking about coding not IT and in the curriculum, these are two different things.
Teachers on Mumsnet and in the news argued against Michael Gove taking it out of the curriculum (and abolishing the ICT GCSE in England) because digital skills/literacy is not the same as Computer Science but we were ridiculed at the time because the upcoming generation were great using computers, don’t you know!

Computer Science is actually taught very well in this country compared to other countries (plus some countries don’t include it at all in the curriculum) but that has come at the expense of ‘how to use a computer’ because we have a lot less curriculum time than other subjects and something had to give.

The government has also repeatedly missed the mark in trying to train and keep qualified Computer Scientists in the classroom (I haven’t been impressed with the White Elephant that has been the NCCE)

The majority of teachers currently teaching Computing/Computer Science would agree with you that IT skills need to be included again and a choice of GCSEs to choose from again!

GreenTulips

It was taught as a dedicated series of lessons in yr 7, before computer science took over, the amount of lesson time that is lost to pupils not knowing the basics is quite large.

@Longdistance Capital cities and flags are on the Key Stage 1 geography curriculum. I teach UK capital cities and U.K. flags to my Year 1 (age 5-6yo class) and my colleague teaches continents, oceans, works capital cities and flags to her Year 2 (age 6-7yo).

Teachers on Mumsnet and in the news argued against Michael Gove taking it out of the curriculum (and abolishing the ICT GCSE in England) because digital skills/literacy is not the same as Computer Science but we were ridiculed at the time because the upcoming generation were great using computers, don’t you know!

Absolutely. I think for a couple of years before that it was quite common for many families to have their own computer or laptop, often used for gaming or watching DVDs more than anything else in the same way that most now have ipads and mobile phones, so yes a choice generation (me included) grew up learning some basic IT skills at home. Unfortunately the government didn’t have the common sense to know that that obviously wasn’t going to continue with the emergence of more modern phones and tablets. It’s pretty common now to see young children who are beginning to use a computer to habitually poke the screen...

Child development, first aid and critical thinking skills.

The first so that everyone has some knowledge and insight before becoming a parent; the second so that injuries and accidents can be properly managed; and the third so that people can apply independent thought and accurately evaluate information for themselves. A patchy situation, at present, in the third case.

Oh and teach the geography of the British Isles well enough so that bright 12 year olds in Birmingham know approx where eg Leicester, Gloucester and Derby are.

This is a interesting thread.
Even now with all this technology, I still do cooking. We also spend time in the garden or park. And having a undisturbed reading session in bed appeals to me personally even in this day and age. But I do think that the schools need to focus a lot more on a good skill based curriculum when it comes to subjects like Math and English rather than cram young capable minds full of boring facts. What would you like to see? There is lots out there. I think honestly a revamp or overhaul is needed.
Common sense is important. I have grown wary of our hit and miss education system. It is not always as good as it could be, I feel especially when it comes to helping those who need a bit more help with numeracy or literacy skills but who could still realistically do quite well at a mainstream school. I believe it is time for a major overhaul of the entire system.

I strongly believe that schools are not teaching for the C21st, but it’s not a case of not teaching life skills or not teaching particular IT packages. The world and the workplace are rapidly revolving places and there is no place to be teaching someone to use a specific package etc. We need to be teaching school children to think for themselves, to investigate how packages work, to explore what interests them etc. I used to teach at universities and undergrad students expected to be taught for tests. They had no idea how to go off and research something for themselves. Similarly, DH manages a large global department, and finds it very difficult to recruit UK graduates who can think for themselves and solve problems. They all want to be taught exactly how systems work etc, and the problem is, they are evolving too fast for that.

Well I have 'delivered' in the weeks before Easter, a lesson on finanical choices to year 7, I have written two lessons to day for yr 8 and yr 10 about financial choices - all age appropriate. In my Maths lessons I always spend a lot of time when we discuss interest how banks work as students have no idea. I am covering, financial risk - why a debit card vs a credit card, pay day loans, choosing best savings accounts, discussing risk of different options. However I was taught this by my parents never at school.

I am shocked about general knowledge level in students, but I don't think that is something that comes from school completely, it is something that is absorbed in general life, discussions with family, whilst out and about. I will make a reference to something I would have known at the age I am teaching and am met with a lot of blank looks. Just general knowledge about locations of things in the UK, local towns in relation to where we are - less than 40 mins drive and some have no clue at all!

IT skills when it was taught as students didn't use it they vanished, like anyone - I had to get the students to use Excel for Statistical analysis and I had to teach it all again. Coding has now taken over but is optional.

Learning is not just done during 9-3, 190 days of the year.

Chinese? Who cares? Let the Chinese learn English. They are doing it already in hordes.
I honestly don’t know anyone in real life who speaks, understands or is learning Chinese. Useless language.

Thanks @Noodledoodledoo, have you found any useful third-party resources for teaching children the kinds of financial knowledge you cover?

@Potatobug strange that you think of the most spoken language on the planet as useless but I'm sure you have your reasons!

I teach in n infant scho and we teach several of these things already, and I know our attached juniors do. My dd has just finished her schooling, she's in year 13 and the three schools she has attended have also done so in a variety of ways.

• good diet - part of the science curriculum from ks1. Fruit snacks at infants. Part of pHSE. General activities often cover this too.

• exercise : we do a 'daily mile' (or half that for reception) in the playgroup, have pe at least twice a week, incorporate yoga and quick 5 minute physical activity into the school day. I agree it often slackens of as children get older especially secondary girls.

• money management - usually part of pHSE sessions at secondary level.

• entrepreneurship - at my infants we run an entrepreneur week each year. Classes get £5 and need to decide to make something, promote it and sell it to raise a profit. The profit is then split between the classes and the child get to choose what it is spent on. Most secondaries I know do a form of entrepreneurship challenge. It's also covered in other fund raising events.

• creative thinking : the way much of learning happens in schools actually encourages this in my experience

• coding - on the computing curriculum from key stage 1 up. I actually start it with the reception children. Our infant school teaches computing for one lesson a week and this includes a substantial amount of coding and ore coding skills. Dd has taken computer science, with a large coding element, at both GCSE and A level.

• Chinese : a range of languages taught at most secondaries. Chinese isn't in the general curriculum but many schools teach it as an extra curricular activity in their staffing gives them that skill set.

With the exception of the last two I'd also argue that the others are something parents should be teaching their children too, and probably to a greater extent than schools doing so. They are basic parenting elements mostly.

Oh and I do teach ict skills in computing too. It's part of the curriculum and taught weekly. I don't always use word and PowerPoint etc as they're not the only products around. Many of our children use Macs at home and don't use Microsoft so teaching only MS word would be daft. I combine a range of products, including a lot of online versions. I teach about word processing, presentations, online communication, spreadsheets, databases, animation, simulations, digital photography and videos, green screen technology, etc along with coding to children aged 4-7 every week. It's on the national curriculum. We teach using desktop computers and tablets, as well as other accessories and devices.

And actually it's been really useful right now. A lot of our young children are accessing our home learning pretty independently and some of been showing their parents how to do it.

We don't teach touch typing as part of our computing lessons at infants I admit. I know dd did it at secondary to an extent.

sammymum1 Chinese is the most spoken language based on numbers merely. There’s lots of Chinese people if you know what I mean. That’s why. But most of them congregate in China. So it is mainly spoken in China. In comparison English, Spanish or Arabic are way more useful because these languages are spoken in several countries around the world. So no, I am still not interested in learning Chinese.

Most banks have online learning information. Natwest and Barclays are the two I have used for financial education.

I will just say though that I know I have taught stuff to students, and I know I have taught it well as when teaching the students have been asking lots of questions and engaged but will almost definitely say they have never been taught any of these things when asked a few weeks later.

There is a phenomena that current students have which is the google generation - there is no need to remember stuff as google knows it - why do I need to know where a country is as I can just google it!

I've used English Type Junior for touch typing for DD who is 10 and very dyslexic - she loves it (lots of things you 'win' as you complete sections) and has learnt to touch type pretty quickly.

It's designed for dyslexics so doesn't use nonsense words - but can be used by anyone. They have a senior version for secondary children.

I bought direct from the people that designed it - they are available on email if you need help and with suggestions which is nice and useful!

Based on some of the recent grads I’ve had, there are a lot of bright young people with that have self esteem and confidence issues. I’ve had countless young women who are bright, incredibly motivated but lack so much confidence and voice. I think something must be contributing to that from the school system in terms of that lack of belief and confidence. Most of the young men I’ve managed haven’t had that issue at all. If anything they’ve been over-cocky.