News : Pupils begin 'tough' new national curriculum

[Anonymous]

Headline : Pupils begin 'tough' new national curriculum.

"Five-year-olds will learn fractions and computer coding, while those in early secondary school will have to study at least two Shakespeare plays."

"Teachers' leaders say the timetable is unrealistic, but the Department for Education said its aim was to prepare children for "life in modern Britain"."



My thoughts :

I'm all for bringing knowledge and learning at school age, but computer coding for 5 year olds !

Source : BBC News.
Read more here : http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/education-28987787

More here http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-28984411

[Toby]

I thought pupils studied that much Shakespeare at that age anyway?

I've always thought (even while in school) that more variety could be brought to education; Different types of intelligence to be encouraged, varied apprenticeships and work experience.

[MI5]

Computer coding is good knowledge to have in this day and age, however, I am unsure as to the day to day value of Shakespeare !!

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure how useful either of them will be. I can't imagine a large proportion of the UK's jobs requiring the employee to know how to code. I actually work in IT and I certainly don't!

Similarly I'd rather they taught kids basic english again rather than Shakespeare. Lets try and get the kids using dictionary words, basic grammar and full sentences again!

[Bambino]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Lets try and get the kids using dictionary words, basic grammar and full sentences again!

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You only have to look at some of the posts in this forum to see that that's going to be an uphill struggle. 

[jonsie]

As I said in another thread, kids have lost the art of writing and spelling with almost everything done online. Punctuation is totally alien to many as demonstrated on the forum

[Cleoriff]

It all smacks of teaching them to run before they can walk ......:smileysad:

Every child is an individual with different learning abilities. If you don't get the basics right they will never achieve a level of understanding of anything....

I suppose it will all look pretty good on Ofsted reports though. Additionally it would improve our ratings internationally.....(as a paper exercise)

Whether it is good for the children we are teaching, is a completely different matter.....

I shall now step down from my soapbox!

[Bambino]

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@jonsie wrote:

As I said in another thread, kids have lost the art of writing and spelling with almost everything done online. Punctuation is totally alien to many as demonstrated on the forum

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It isn't just kids, also as demonstrated on the forum. Not knowing the difference between 'their' or 'there' or 'they're' is either laziness or just downright ignorance. Just my little pet peeve. 

[Cleoriff]

Agree @Bambino ....as I have just hastily scanned my post to see if I have made that error...:smileywink:

EDIT: No...all ok... phew...

[jonsie]

Yep. Their/There Your/You're......