Category Archives: 2.2 Education Systems & Prof. Responsibilities

Learn for Life – Our new curriculum!

Leave a reply
Mindmap of our new curriculum

Mind-map of our new curriculum

In our education studies lectures, we have been have been looking at the education policies of the different political parties. We were then posed the question “If you could scrap curriculum for excellence and make up an entirely new curriculum, what would it be?” and additionally “Why have you come up with the curriculum you have chosen? What are the incentives, the morals and the underpinning values and missions behind it?”

During our discussion, a main point that was widely agreed on was the introduction of ‘Life Skills’ into the curriculum. By this we mean: Cooking, Health and Safety, First Aid, Animal care, Environmental care and Parenting Skills. Now I know the latter point is a contentious one. We understand that this is a delicate issue however, we educate our children about sexual health, alcohol and drug abuse and in doing so, we are not encouraging the behaviour associated with these things. We are exposing the dangers and the negative effects being involved in these activities could cause. With the teenage birth rate in the UK at 37.7% per 1000 population in (NHS, Information Services Division, 2013) there is a need to make teenagers and young people aware of the demands and skills required for parenting. The emphasis on sexual health and family planning will of course be a priority in the delivery of health and wellbeing section of the curriculum.

Another element that we were all keen to introduce was ‘Moral Skills’. We think it is extremely important to instill respect, kindness and generosity in our pupils. We want pupils to have firm and respectful relationships built within the community and work together to provide good public services to support people who are in less-fortunate positions. It was suggested that children could be regularly involved in volunteering with local charities and homeless shelters within the community. Classes and year groups could work on projects throughout the year to help raise money or awareness for things they feel strongly about in the community. The idea is that these projects would be student initiated and student led. They should feel a strong sense of independence and have the majority of control in order to work together to achieve something great.

We highlighted team building and school trips as a brilliant opportunity to introduce more outdoor and active learning experiences. No matter the weather, we want children to have hands-on educational experiences outside, working together to problem-solve, overcome challenges and develop real-life skills. I discussed the benefits of outdoor learning in a previous blog post about education in Sweden, and I feel passionate about bringing the attitudes and values towards outdoor learning into the Scottish curriculum. Children rarely get the opportunity within school to go to outdoor learning facilities and take part in air obstacle courses, abseiling, water sports and team building challenges and if they do, it is once and year and considered to be a luxury or reward. Why should it be like this? The learning experiences that children leave with after trips like this are rich, varied and can be applied in their day to day lives.

We decided that we would maintain all of the curricular areas, however there would be major adjustment to the topics being taught and the relevance of learning. We want children to be educated about things that will help them to live their lives when they leave school.  I believe we are still teaching children topics that were being taught in the 1970’s. Although the introduction of technology changes the way children are taught, the basis and reasoning behind these topics being taught is still the same. We discussed Maths as being a topic which is essential to daily life. However, in schools we do not use maths in a way which helps children develop the mathematics skills needed once they leave school. Children are not educated in budgeting, mortgages, loans and interest and even if they are, it is out of a textbook,not from real-life examples. Children are not encouraged to make the connection between the importance of school maths and the maths they deal with in their personal lives. This is a gap that our curriculum would aim to focus on.

The final area we discussed was ‘Work Experience’. One member of the group brought up a very important point. At 17/18, the majority of students apply to go to university to specialise in a subject or profession. This is a massive decision to make and most students only receive a 2- week work placement opportunity from their school to help them make their decision. We don’t believe this is enough. We want pupils to have the opportunity to take part in regular and varied work experience to introduce them to a variety of professions which they might be interested in. We want to build good connections and relationships with employers, apprenticeships and businesses in order to provide these opportunities. We thought that a morning or afternoon a week from 14 years of age would be extremely beneficial for students. It would build confidence, self-esteem, motivation and it would help many students who are unsure of the profession or subject they wish to study at university. Additionally, students who didn’t want to go on to further education would have a wealth of experience in difference areas which would help them to make an informed decision about  which career they wished to pursue.

After the discussion we reflected on what we had written and we could see that the connecting and underlying theme between all of our points was the notion of ‘learning for life’. We are educating our children so that they are prepared and ready to leave school and live successfully in the world. What they learn at school is relevant and helpful to what they will experience and need to know in the future. Our Learning for Life curriculum provides the foundation of knowledge that children and young people will need to flourish and be successful. There is no taboo about this curriculum, everything we do!! 🙂

 

Souces

NHS, (2013) Information Services Devision. Available at: ahttps://isdscotland.scot.nhs.uk/Health-Topics/Sexual-Health/Publications/2015-07-07/2015-07-07-TeenPreg-Summary.pdf?21798342467 Accessed 30/10/2015

I’m moving to Sweden! Part 1

Leave a reply

I left one of my recent lectures on comparative education ready to pack me and my son up and book the next flight to Sweden! Why? They have absolutely nailed early years education and after doing further reading and research, there is no doubt that I would love my son to experience pre-school life out there.

The pedagogy within pre-schools is built on the concept of experiential learning and developing the whole child. Social interaction plays a vital role in children’s development and the learning is based on interactions with each other as well as the adults and teachers involved in education. The pre-school environment is very welcoming for the children and very much resembles the home environment. There are sofas, game rooms, kitchens and the children even take their shoes off at the front door (that is one of my favourite bits – don’t you always feel more comfortable in a place where you can take off your shoes!). When children develop this sense of security, they are able to flourish and their development soars. The children also have the freedom to go and get a snack and drink when they need to without the permission of an adult (I’m not sure this aspect would work for my son as he would probably never be out of the kitchen! )

OUTDOOR LEARNING!!! And I don’t mean Scotland’s version of outdoor learning where we are outdoors until the first speck of rain falls and then it’s a rush back into the classroom because we can’t let the children get wet and drag their muddy boots back into the school!! Heaven forbid!! Pre-school education in Sweden is outdoors! The majority of the day is spent outside running through forests, climbing trees, playing by lakes, playing in parks, climbing hills and experiencing learning in a meaningful, hands-on context. The benefits of learning like this are HUGE! Children develop independence, awareness, self-esteem and resilience. The benefits really are endless. What do you think the answer would be if you asked a 4 year old what they were most proud of: learning how to decode and read the word cat, or finally managing to climb that big tree in the park? I bet it would be the big tree! They develop a massive sense of achievement when they finally have accomplished something which they have been attempting to do for ages! They develop intrinsic motivation and they learn about challenges in a real life context. They are doing exactly what 4-year olds should be doing! I hate it when I pick my son up from nursery and I see his clothes in the clean, pristine state they were in when I dropped him off 8 hours earlier. I’m one of those parents who would be overjoyed to see him with a muddy trouser leg and little rip in his jumper from playing in the bushes, or having to buy him a new pair of welly boots because he’d worn down the soles of his ones from playing outside all the time!

One of the notable differences between our education system and that of Sweden’s is the compulsory school starting age. In Sweden, children do not start school until they are 7. There is an emphasis on the freedom to play and for children to acquire their knowledge in a playful way without the pressure of formal education. By no way does this mean that children are not involved in meaningful learning experiences. The teachers have a very important role in observing, questioning and developing the children’s understanding of the activity they have chosen to do. Teachers work with the interests of the children to develop knowledge and extend their learning. By waiting until the age of 7 to start formal education, children have been involved and immersed in quality experiences and they have developed knowledge in real life contexts. This really supports the notion of waiting until the child is ready. When a child is not ready to learn, they will not learn. When a child is ready to learn, they will learn more, and then some.

I will be doing another post on Swedish Education which will discuss The National Curriculum, the goals of Swedish Edcuation and the implications for teachers. I just wanted to share with you my views on the Swedish system from a parent’s perspective! I just love it!