It matters what subjects we teach in schools but we’ve been getting it wrong for a long time
Education includes increasing a child’s knowledge and understanding of a subject… but does it matter which subject? In the U.K., the government believes it to be of such importance that they regulate what is taught in schools to an enormous degree. Even outside the core areas of mathematics, English and science, almost every single lesson that a child receives during their time at a state secondary school is aligned to a topic prescribed by the Department of Education. The U.K. is not alone in this position, and there is a growing international consensus, as more countries sign up to the OECD’s programme of international student achievement (PISA), on what a child should know and be able to do by the age of fifteen. The prevailing position of those with the power to change the curriculum is that it matters very much indeed what children learn. What is more, they are confident they know what it is our children need to know… Continue reading “The Things That Children Learn”