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 may bin music. I think it's a difficult one to teach in secondary school as anyone learning an instrument/able to read music is miles ahead of the others. And most people who do not play enjoy and interact with music anyway in their day to day.

EvilTwins I think I was the person to bring up flat pack furniture making but that was in the context of DT (and I stand by that - I think it’s a good starting point to get children thinking about how things are constructed, if nothing else). I never suggested it should replace drama and wouldn’t suggest that - I think drama serves a useful purpose, as do music / art / creative writing (as part of the English / Drama lessons).

I think sociology is a fairly important subject and broad enough for GCSE level. Not sure what I'd bin in return though... Possibly citizenship and dance (yep, my school had KS3 compulsory dance!)

Evil, I only binned KS3 drama. I deliberately didn’t bin KS4 Drama because I knew they did plays and more serious stuff in it. If they’re meant to be doing that at KS3 too then I’ll take it out of the bin.

And replace it with, erm, war poetry on the basis that I didn’t like it.

😬 The problem with binning KS3 drama is that KS4 drama inevitably follows...

You’d hate my lessons BTW, I do a whole term of Brechtian Epic Theatre with yr 9 using war poetry as stimulus 😂

If you don't get them engaged at KS3 though the only kids you'll get choosing drama GCSE are the ones who are able to join youth theatre's or commercial drama classes.

I learnt about finance through ‘commerce’ gcse at school. I’d have better food tech, with nutrition and how to make basic meals that kids will actually go away and recreate.
I’d scrap PE. I doubt it helps obese kids, probably just puts them off completely. I’d put a gym in the school and have optional sports clubs.

I'd bin handwriting in KS2 and replace with touch typing.

Finance is taught but 14/15 year olds have no interest in it whatsoever as they still all thing they will earn a fortune and drive Brand new Audi's

D’you know Evil, I’d probably enjoy your lessons even with the war poetry stimulus. I’d be really surprised if our Y9s were doing that though, I think they roped in a teacher with space on their timetable.

Other subjects at GCSE do ok with kids not having taken it at KS3 though, like Business.

"I think they roped in a teacher with space on their timetable."

There is your issue. Drama really needs to become aught by a specialist if it's to be taught well.

To the poster who wants history and geography combined at KS3 - just move to Scotland - that's how it's taught here - Social Subjects as one class which combines History, Geography & Modern Studies. It's usually taught in rotation, so 6 weeks of one then 6 weeks of another and then 6 weeks of the last subject to cover, and then back to the start. (Or something similar) Some schools have subject specific teachers teaching their own subjects, but others just have one teacher covering all 4 subjects.

It's utterly crap hence my earlier post that I would bin some other subjects or combine them (like keep drama because I do think it's important, but combine it with English, and keep computing but combine it with ICT) to free up timetable space to teach these subjects separately.

Students here have to make their pathway choices at the end of S2 (yr8) and by that time they have only had 2/3 of a year's teaching in each of the social subjects - in our school this is the equivalent of 1 period a week - compared to science where they have 4 periods a week. It's insane! These subjects are so important and teach a way of thinking that isn't used in other areas of the curriculum, but in Scotland the education system is being massively dumbed down and it's an absolute shame. (In the literal sense of the word - the government should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves.) I reckon many of the suggestions made here would go down very well in schools in Scotland - particularly the less academically rigorous ones like my DC's school.

piss easy to pass at gcse
RE is not easy at GCSE! In the new OCR specification, you get 15 minutes to write a 15 mark essay, for example.

I should say that the combining of social subjects at KS3 is not a new government initiative - as far as I know it's always been like that - certainly my adult cousins were taught that way 20+ years ago - so it's not really an indication of the dumbing down of the Scottish education system - just an aside.

A lot of these posts worry me, so many people dismissive of the arts and humanities. The world would be a boring place without the arts.......culture is an important part of human life (always has been)

As for replacing these subjects (which help students express themselves, reduce stress etc) you want them replacing with finance (what you mean is budgeting and day to day money management), food and nut (day to day basic cooking skills) or assembling flat pack furniture! Good grief, you should be ashamed, these are life skills that parents should teach their children.......why is it the role of educators to civilise and raise your children?

I wouldn't drop any subjects but would like to see a wider range, eg Classics, photography, business studies etc offered more widely. Let's increase our children's outlook on life, not narrow it down.

Schools should teach the knowledge and skills that underly everything else. So they should teach DT to teenagers in order that when they are 25 they have a grasp of how stuff goes together. Then they should be able to handle that flat pack furniture and a whole load of other things. If you just teach the flat pack, they won't be able to build a go kart, or create some raised bed from old scaffolding boards. Or whatever.

So many people dismissive of the arts and humanities

Yes. Not all children want to be doing maths, English and double chemistry. Some are just much better at the creative subjects that give them more freedom to express themselves, rather than spending every day working through textbooks. I did drama and it did me no harm at all, it was a fun lesson in between all the maths and sciency shit I hated.

The only lesson I would ban is RE. If parents want to teach their children about religion, that's fine, but it doesn't need to be in schools, and especially not compulsory at GCSE level.

The only lesson I would ban is RE. If parents want to teach their children about religion, that's fine, but it doesn't need to be in schools
I think in the increasingly multicultural society we live in some understanding of what others believe is probably a good step towards promoting understanding and tolerance.
Plus it also covers ethics as well.

My worry is that without RS, students only get exposed to whatever beliefs their family have. Which is fine if it's agnosticism, athiesm but respect others, middle of thr road moderate faith beliefs.
Not so good if it's 'eugh religion is irrelvant and only idiots would be stupid enough to believe in anything', 'muslims believe in jihad becausr some quote insaw on facebook took a verse out of context', 'our version of our chosen religion is the only true path you should ever consider'

I’ve been mulling this over and have realised that I teach loads of useful life skills

I only really teach 6th form now but last week they built three clothes rails and four wooden boxes (flat pack) for set for a show. Last year, my 6th form group transformed my classroom into a circus tent for a play, which involved maths (measuring the circumference and drop of the room and working out how much fabric of a specific width would be needed) budgeting, ordering (fabric mostly) and problem solving (how to attach a parachute and strips of fabric to the ceiling so that it could later be removed without leaving any damage)

I also cover healthy eating - anyone who brings a pot noodle for lunch gets this look —>

maisy that would be fine, however my problem is that although school's are supposed to teach it as 'this is what some people choose to believe', it's more often than not taught as 'this is gospel truth'. The bible is taught as fact when a lot of people think it's fiction. It just confuses children. We're not religious in the slightest but my dc understand some people do things or wear things because their religion dictates it.

Evil I’ve just realised that for me this is a knowledge v skills debate. I binned KS3 Drama because, as far as I could see, there wasn’t much going on in the way of knowledge-transfer (Shakespeare, Stoppard etc). You are trying to defend it by illustrating the skills it develops, but that argument doesn’t appeal to me because it doesn’t counter what I see as the issue, iyswim.

I think I’m turning into Nick Gibb, who banned civil servants from using the word ‘skills’

Please don't get rid of handwriting! Surely touch-typing is something that happens naturally for many children with laptops at home and touch-screen mobiles etc...

Whether a subject is easy/hard is really dependent on the individuals strengths and weaknesses. I liked essay-based subjects, so did really well in my English/History/RE/HealthandSocial, but I'm horrendous at stuff like Maths and Science.

Touch screens are terrible for developing touch-typing skills. I'm using my thumbs right now, rather than good posture/correct finger placement at a desk with a keyboard.

Speaking personally and selfishly, I'd like to bin all the life-skills side of senior school; for those pupils whose parents teach them to cook, sew, change a fuse, put together a Billy bookcase, budget and invest money, being shown it again in school is pointless.
And I'd replace all that with a range of niche subjects, with an aim of imparting a real love of learning for its own sake. I'd never have discovered my subject (Classics) if not for a similar initiative.

But I do understand that some parents are not motivated or able to teach their kids important practical life skills, so I wouldn't ditch them in reality.

I would however bin PGL-type residentials and replace them with full-immersion language trips.