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| New on Minds and Models this week. |
This post should be of interest to anyone in education or working on creative pursuits such as writing or music. Click here to read on.
Showing posts with label education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label education. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 19
New on Minds and Models this week
This week on my psychology blog, I discuss procrastination, and why pressure can sometimes be a good thing and other times be very harmful.
This post should be of interest to anyone in education or working on creative pursuits such as writing or music. Click here to read on.
This post should be of interest to anyone in education or working on creative pursuits such as writing or music. Click here to read on.
Saturday, May 28
What should be taught at school?
I'm a teacher, so can't avoid discussions of how to make education better and what we should do to make students more successful.
Despite ongoing attempts to make education relevant, there is strange mismatch between what is emphasised in education and what people want to learn in the real world. My experience relates to education in Britain, but I'd imagine that experience in other places is not completely different.
This excellent list from marcandangel.com discusses the '50 things everyone should know how to do'. The list, which overlaps strongly with this book by Samantha Ettus, is an example of the kind of thing I mean: how many of these key life skills are taught in school? And how many does the average person leave school without knowing how to do?
Here are my picks on the ones which are definitely taught to most school pupils, at least to some extent:
- Operate a computer
- Handle a job interview
- Recite basic geography
- Sew a button onto clothing
Four out of fifty - not great going for 13 years of compulsory education!
To be fair there are many other useful things which are taught at school - reading, maths, appreciation of poetry... But I think that the mismatch is largely due to the emphasis for teaching knowledge at school - when most of the items listed are skills.
Technology and Psychology
Another interesting aspect is that many skills on the list relate to technology or psychology - two growth subjects, but ones which are still marginal in pre-university education.
Examples include:
- Use Google effectively
- Change a tyre
- Deliver bad news
- Manage time
- Remember names
The shape of the school curriculum owes a lot to tradition, and with people's needs in the modern world adapting fast, it will be interesting to see how educators respond.
Despite ongoing attempts to make education relevant, there is strange mismatch between what is emphasised in education and what people want to learn in the real world. My experience relates to education in Britain, but I'd imagine that experience in other places is not completely different.
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| 'School reform' by Funky64 |
Here are my picks on the ones which are definitely taught to most school pupils, at least to some extent:
- Operate a computer
- Handle a job interview
- Recite basic geography
- Sew a button onto clothing
Four out of fifty - not great going for 13 years of compulsory education!
 |
| 'Buttons' by andrea joseph's illustrations |
Technology and Psychology
Another interesting aspect is that many skills on the list relate to technology or psychology - two growth subjects, but ones which are still marginal in pre-university education.
Examples include:
- Use Google effectively
- Change a tyre
- Deliver bad news
- Manage time
- Remember names
The shape of the school curriculum owes a lot to tradition, and with people's needs in the modern world adapting fast, it will be interesting to see how educators respond.
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