Add a subject, bin a subject

[noblegiraffe]

Lots of cries of 'why aren't they taught X at school, it's really important' with the response 'what would you like to see binned to make the time for that?'
I would like to add all aspects of managing finances - mortgages, credit, car finance, gambling, loans, costs associated with owning/renting a home, savings, investments, interest rates, the general economy. I know it's supposedly done a bit in PSHE, but I'd want it done properly. With homework and tests.

In order to make space for this I would bin: KS3 Drama.

You don't have to bin a whole subject, so for example you could bin the study of poetry in English, or anything involving circuits from science, but you can't bin the study of oxbow lakes from Geography and replace it with learning Latin - they should take about the same time.

I always thought a better use of the DT lesson would be to learn how to assemble / customise flat pack furniture, unless someone really shows an aptitude to make things from scratch.

Why drama rather than music? Or Art?

Because I can think of unique skills and knowledge taught in music and Art, and not so many in Drama!

... I would ditch RE and replace with extra PE... But PE with plenty of options to include those kids that don't like team sports.

Kids don’t study playtexts as performance pieces anywhere else. And let’s face it, Shakespeare wasn’t writing so that people could write analytical essays. It’s a disappointingly snobbish attitude.

My son loves Shakespeare due to a drama teacher at his previous school (& Something Rotten) & that means he will now study the text academically without resistance.

(am secretly glad no-one's ditched ox-bow lakes yet)

Do they study plays at KS3, Evil? Whenever I've covered drama they've been making stuff up themselves.

I think I'm going to bin all three sciences to make room for art, music and drama.
If you want science you can learn it from a book. Not so easy with creative subjects which imo are far more important.

I too would drop bits of subjects rather than whole subjects.
Finance is not taught in schools. If it is, it’s taught badly. I certainly don’t remember any lesson on finance.
I’d drop things like simultaneous/quadratic equations and trigonometry.

noble I did a Shakespeare play every year of KS3: A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Year 7, Much Ado About Nothing in Year 8 and Romeo and Juliet in Year 9.

Although that was technically in English rather than Drama.

What a boring generation of adults some of you want produce by your utilitarian syllabus. Competent in finances and household maintenance but lacking experience in anything creative, fun and involving teamwork.
Fine if parents compensate but unfair for those whose parents don't.

Also bin history and geography and replace with loads more PE.

Jesus don’t add in loads more PE if it’s going to be the same as it is now. PE is miserable for many, many pupils. If there were other options rather than the usual boring rota of hockey/netball/rugby/whatever then that’d be fine. I hated PE enough in school as it was; doing any more of the same would’ve been horrendous.

noble, every time I’ve covered maths, they’ve been doing worksheets. Do they even do anything else?

🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄

Yes - a Shakespeare play every year, a modern play every year, a period of theatrical history every year, an issue based SOW every year and a genre based SOW every year. At least, that’s how it’s been in every school I’ve been HOD in.

But the worksheets relate to the area of maths they've been studying. I've never covered drama at KS3 where they said 'remembering what we studied of the character of Richard III, practice your own versions of the 'winter of discontent' speech' (or whatever). I've never seen the kids in the hall watching anything in lessons, or reading anything.

I'm going to ask them tomorrow exactly what they get up to :)

Practise. FFS.

SmilingButClueless
I always thought a better use of the DT lesson would be to learn how to assemble / customise flat pack furniture, unless someone really shows an aptitude to make things from scratch.

So how to use a screwdriver to turn a screw, you would have to be an imbecile not to be able to do that.

And how do you know if someone has an aptitude for designing and making things if all you are going to do is let them read instructions.

Noooo.....We're currently hating DS1's grammar for the lack of non-academic subjects. PE, drama, home ec/cooking/food tech/DT are great. They add interest and a bit of down time.

Personally I would combine RS with all the rest of the citizenship stuff/PHSE.
For personal reasons I would also bin art. (said as I hated art at school and cannot draw). Children can draw at home.

This thread is depressing and is also similar to how I imagine the current government pulls education reform out of its arse every now and then.
‘Cancel Drama! Waste of time!’ ‘Art is pointless!’ ‘Scrap PE!’
Well done to those who have defended these subjects. When taught well by subject specialists they are brilliant and give kids the chance to actually enjoy school every once in a while?! Not to mention go some small way to staying off childhood obesity in the case of PE.
Scrapping them in favour of ‘money management’ and ‘building Ikea furniture’. Who will those subject specialists be I wonder? Former art and drama teachers who don’t give a shit about teaching ‘life skills’ and as a result the kids won’t care either.
Why don’t you try teaching your kids those life skills yourself if you feel that they are so lacking in them?

Teacher them how to speak properly ie stop saying 'like' in every sentence and stop starting each sentence with 'so'. Teach them how to get through the day without looking at their phone a million times. Also agree with previous comments regarding budgeting, mortgages and how loans etc work.

Ditch Shakespeare. Utter rubbish used by snobs to show how clever and sophisticated they are.

noble maybe that’s because we drama teachers know the derision with which some of our colleagues see our subject and therefore never leave challenging cover work. Or maybe your school just has a shit drama department. This time last year I was doing Shakespeare with yr 7, Greek Tragedy with yr 8 and modern drama (DNA by Denis Kelly) with yr 9.

Evil I’m sorry, you seem to be taking this personally. Genuinely wasn’t meant to offend anyone. I will ask the kids tomorrow what they do, if it turns out that they’re doing what you describe then that’s great, I’ve just never seen any of it.

I would definitely not bin drama or poetry for teaching bills. You can learn how to pay bills as you go in ordinary life, school is the opportunity to study academic subjects would be a shame to replace the arts and science with everyday mundane subjects. Having been on mumsnet lots, I would however, teach relationships and how to spot a shit!

I think allot of issues with subjects in school is that they loose there focus because of the structured public exams. My Dd has said to me a few times in the last two weeks that the Art students have lost there interest in Art because they have had to sit in a controlled environment and produce a piece of Art - Is that what Art's about ? The Computer Science kids - got bored out of their brains because now they have an exam that is 100% theory - the teachers attempting to teach the subject didn't really know how to code themselves.

Its a breath of fresh air to see some teachers on this post who come over as motivated and passionate about what they teach - children do need to be inspired ....

noble I’m quite sure that you didn’t mean to offend me, but it gets tiring having people outside of education banging on about drama being pointless without having teachers I respect joining in. The school I used to teach in had a fantastic reputation for drama, and seeing the power it had in terms of giving students a sense of confidence and self-worth was phenomenal. When I moved on last summer, they decided to just take it out of the curriculum rather than recruit someone. I know I’m a bit over invested but it pains me to see something that I know has a positive impact shoved to the side, especially to be (on this thread anyway) replaced with flat pack furniture making and how not to say “like” four times per sentence 🙄