A few weeks ago I was having a conversation with a like-minded colleague about the importance of creative subjects within schools and how it is unfair that these subjects are being removed whilst academic subjects thrive. We were sitting next to one of the maths teachers and as I would have imagined, she was very much all for the continuing battle to improve A*-C grades in Maths, and cared very little for subjects such as drama. She made a good point, that every person in society needs maths to some extent when they leave school. I completely agree. Maths is everywhere. And is relevent in many areas of life and many different careers. What I have personally found however, is that I have never called upon my distant knowledge of trigonometery or pythagarus. Yes, I understand that we all need to learn how to count, know our times tables, even percentages, area and ratio but surely these come under 'numeracy' rather than 'maths'. I find it wrong that every pupil has to have 4-5 maths classes a week. I believe it should be an option to pupils to choose maths if they so desire, and have 'numeracy' as a compulsorary subject.
I think it is just as important that pupils learn to stand up in front of their peers with confidence and good diction- something that is taught in drama classes and is certainly beneficial in most careers.
Having recently sat through year 10 GCSE speaking assessments, I was horrified to witness pupils who refused to stand up in front of the rest of the class, due to a lack in confidence, who could not string a sentence together due to embarrassment and refused to work outside their friendship groups. I believe that we are letting down these young people. By concentrating so hard on A*-C grades in Maths, Science and English, we are not teaching them everyday skills such as speaking in front of a group. We are not teaching them about culture. We are not teaching them to express their thoughts, feelings and experiences.
I would be really interested to hear your thoughts about this
thank you ,
Sarah
Hi Sarah,
ReplyDeleteEverytime I read one of your posts I can feel your passion so strongly and it is great to feel that!
I completely agree with you. In the news this week they were talking about how A-level students are lacking in the 'skill set' required for university. So yes, they may have the knowledge of the subject but they don't have the skill set required of university level study. They don't have good communication skills, people skills, etc..
These are life skills which are just as important as English and Maths, if not more so!!
The problem is, how do we change this? Will things change?
I wish you all the luck with your inquiry and look forward to reading more as it progresses :)
Thank you Jo - I tend to get rather passionate about a lot of things! It is a massive question 'how do we change this?' and I really wish I had the answer. I feel that the way things are in education at the moment isn't working but I'm not sure i have the answers. All the targets, grades and results schools have to meet at the moment are, in my opinion, causing teachers to become unable to actually teach and pupils who do not keep up with the rate of the curriculum simply get left behind. That is what my job is all about - trying to diferentiate work that is too complicated for some pupils- but the fact that so many young people are, as you say, not socially equiped for university suggests that the system doesn't work. So maybe relieve some of the tension in terms of targets and grades? What do you think? It's a tricky one.
ReplyDeleteSarah, I 100% agree with you. It seems absurd that so much focus is given to Maths over Arts. If a student is unable to stand in front of a small group of people and speak, unable to express themselves and unable to muster any self confidence, then this is surely what should be focused upon!?
ReplyDeleteI keep refering back to a point I keep making over and over, *school is supposed to be preparing young people for adult life*. Essential expressive and social skills are being overlooked in favour of extremely specific academic skills that are most likely going to go unused.
What is more likely; that a child will one day have to express an opinion eloquently and make a good impression at an interview, or that a child may one day have to prove that they fully understand Pythagoras and Trigonometry!?!?
How this problem can be solved, however, I have no idea...it still very much feels like the battle is being lost!