A piece in today’s Guardian by Simon Jenkins would if applied correctly have a liberating effect on the Primary Curriculum.
‘In the age of computers, maths beyond simple and applied arithmetic is needed only by specialists. Ramming it down pupils’ throats in case they may one day need it is like making us all know how to recalibrate a carburettor on the offchance that we might become racing drivers. Maths is a “skill to a purpose”, and we would should ponder the purpose before overselling the skill.’
A quote further down the piece is interesting
‘When Kenneth Baker invented the national curriculum in 1987, it never occurred to him to question its content. Science and maths lobbied hard and captured the core, alongside only English. Not just history and geography, but economics, health, psychology, citizenship, politics and law - with far better claims to vocational utility - were elbowed aside. Millions of pounds were and still are devoted to teaching maths to reluctant pupils who know that they will never see or hear of it again. Numbers studying maths and science since 1987 have plummeted. Baker’s attempt at centralist compulsion was a failure.’
Fascinating
How the hounds did roar the next day in the letters page. View of maths that doesn’t add up.
He certainly stirred up a hornet’s nest - 316 comments and counting.
Couple this with a bit from a report of Stephen Heppell giving a talk at the Super Conference.
‘Heppell asked a group of students what a literate teacher should be able to do, and they agreed that teacher should be able to:
upload to YouTube
edit a Wikipedia article
choose a safe online payments site
subscribe to a podcast and un subscribe
turn on and off preditive predictive text
manage a groups Flickr photos (and spell Flickr!)
look after a community in Facebook’
and a bit of fun with comics
Try the Graphic Classroom Blog.
And look again at the video three posts down.
Aren’t we just too slow in responding to changing times and environments.
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