DfE tells teachers to teach kids to knit, climb trees and skim stones

[noblegiraffe]

It’s the middle of the Christmas holidays, so the perfect time for the DfE (committed to reducing teacher workload doncha know) to release a bunch of stuff that will create work for teachers. This time its primary teachers who are the lucky target.

Pupils will have an activity passport with a checklist for each year group containing things like ‘explore a cave’ and ‘learn to moonwalk’.

And in the meantime, what will parents be expected to do?

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/767941/Schools_Enrichment_Booklet__web.pdf

[Cauliflowersqueeze]

Ffs. Yes “any split is for schools to decide”

How about schools: 0; home: whatever they want

[Nix32]

Erm, it's not statutory . . . Can't imagine many schools will even mention it.

[OddBoots]

I can't see a context to this but I imagine it it too much too much to ask that there is also a list of things teachers no longer need to do.

[HopeClearwater]

WTF

Where’s the bit saying they’ll stop compiling league tables on SATs results while we are doing all this knitting?

[GreenTulips]

Start making parents responsible for their child’s extended learning

Give them a list of expectations for Yx and see how many complete it

It just takes more and more away from parents

[4point2fleet]

Erm, it's not statutory . . . Can't imagine many schools will even mention it.

Until Ofsted come round clutching their new framework asking schools for concrete evidence of the quality of their curriculum...

[SalrycLuxx]

Wtf. But I don’t want y’all to be doing that with my girls. I want to be the one doing that with my girls (and not under direction from the school because that would make it ‘obligation’ and not fun).

[mumsastudent]

you tube - you search (& plagiarize - just print references!) on any of the above - sorted! or send out for help to local grannies (U3A!!!) see if there are any local amateur astronomers nearby who could show photos (U3A again :) )

[meditrina]

Perhaps one of the edits could be:

learn how to moonwalk teach your teachers to floss

[Mayra1367]

🙈

[MaidenMotherCrone]

I offer my services for free to teach anyone old or young to

Knit
Sew
Crochet
Skim stones
Build dams
Build a shelter
Fly a kite
Tickle trout
Moonwalk
Grow fruit and veg
Preserve the above
Raise poultry
Candle eggs

[noblegiraffe]

What on earth is candling eggs?

Damian Hinds is big on social mobility. I think he has seen that some kids don’t get these experiences and decided that schools could fill the gaps and also support parents.

But surely this is not the job of schools. I’m just not sure whose job it is to make people better parents.

[XmasPostmanBos]

This is funny because they seem to want parents to teach kids academic things and do ever more homework with them.

[HopeClearwater]

schools could fill the gaps and also support parents

We do that already. I’n getting a bit fed up of being so poorly paid as a primary teacher that I qualify in my own right for tax credits. Who’s going to help MY kids’ social mobility while I’m spending my own money on school supplies? The more we help children, the more some parents sit back.

[GreenTulips]

I’m just not sure whose job it is to make people better parents

I agree with this

We need a center that supports all manor of things run by elder volunteers

Grande I have cooking cleaning walking excersize time stargazing fishing - loads could pass their knowledge to people struggling couple that with mindfulness/bereavement/counseling etc that can be run as classes - give parents a break - give them knowledge support .... all possible

[RebelWitchFace]

How many more gaps can the schools fill and still tick all the boxes and jump through all the hoops set by the government?

[WhyDontYouComeOnOver]

I've pretty much done all of these in my time as a teacher. Gotta love the Welsh curriculum.

[Holidayshopping]

Where’s the bit saying they’ll stop compiling league tables on SATs results while we are doing all this knitting?

Exactly!

[MrsKCastle]

Meh. It's not statutory, but when you actually look at the lists, an awful lot of the items will be covered by decent schools in some form or other.

It would be great to see a change in emphasis in the national curriculum so that more children experienced a wider range of activities and opportunities. This passport idea won't do that, but I quite like the fact that it is being highlighted as a need.

[IceRebel]

We have students for 25 lessons a week, 39 weeks of the year and yet sometimes it feels like people expect us to raise children.

Wait MaisyPops you mean that's not the schools job.

[Holidayshopping]

These things should form the basis of the mandatory curriculum for small children.

They shouldn’t be an afterthought or an add-on to the rigid fact-based nonsense that schools are forced to follow and are tested in to within an inch of each child’s life .

[Heyha]

It's a ripoff of something the National Trust have been promoting for a few years (things to do before you're 11 and a bit or something), I'm surprised they haven't pointed that out. Unless they have. I haven't read it all yet as I know it will make me cross.

[MaidenMotherCrone]

It’s how you tell an egg is fertile and will produce a chick.
Children love it.

[thisisjustdaft]

What on earth is candling eggs?

You hold said egg up against the light of the candle, so that you can see through the shell to check whether there is anything wrong with it. I think.

A bit like shining a torch through your hand so you can see the bones.

[MaisyPops]

These things should form the basis of the mandatory curriculum for small children
Alternatively they are reasonable things for parents to do when parenting the children they chose to have.

It strikes me as the primary school equivalent of "here is an issue affecting teenagers... don't get parents to deal with is, make it part of PSHE". Obviously, some students will need more support for more areas than others but the principle seems to be an ever increasing 'this was always down to parents so stick it in schools'. I believe you get bonus marks if somewhere in any similar discussion you can get the smug 'well they need X but I've never used algebra in my life... hahaha' arguments going.