More Educational Games Played With The Curriculum
The biggest shake-up for 20 years in primary education? A reaction to the growing concerns over falling standards in maths and literacy, the proposals in the report from Sir Jim Rose has certainly taken the education sector by storm.
The staggering developments in technology over the past decade are to be harnessed as a central theme to the curriculum format. This follows the thinking of Professor Don Tapscott who has shown that children are becoming extremely technology savvy and learning faster than their teachers. The schooling process is a combination of teaching children how to learn as well as providing them with the basic learning blocks. But if we are failing to achieve these objectives, and clearly we are, it seems a travesty to pass learning onto Google. By- passing the pillars of wisdom contained in History and Geography seems a retrograde step.
The growth in educational games matched to Nintendo, Wii etc are encouraging examples of the scope and opportunity technology has to extend the learning process. This productive and enjoyable way for children to enjoy “learning in disguise†outside the school day is something that never existed in text and exercise books. Many good educational software titles already exist. Developed to support the National Curriculum they encourage the fun element of learning. The scope offered to children and parents to supplement the classroom activity is far higher using technology than conventional exercises that are school based. But children also need a wide and open platform of knowledge.
Reacting to the controversial emphasis on “teaching to test†the new curriculum is to change the prominence on certain subjects. A casualty of the focus on ICT is geography and history. These subjects are to be sidelined; incorporated into human, social and environmental understanding. Evidence shows a need to review the structure of the curriculum but are we throwing the baby out the bathwater? The reduced value placed on geography and history could affect the awareness of the cause and effect of environmental issues. Lessons learned from history reveal pitfalls in certain policies; the past effect of culture, creed, economies and conflict may be lost in the equation. The opportunity to nurture an interest in the subject that could affect the selection of GCSE’s and degree may be lost. Yet this key attribute could become of greater significance as the worlds boundaries and economies rapidly change.
The changes have merit in the removal of the “teach to test†syndrome, and the resultant increase in the breath of learning. Teachers will have improved scope to the teaching format and subject depth- along increased workload as teaching content and schedules need an overhaul. Lessons stand to become more interesting, fun based and could enlist proactive parents support. Yet this all invokes change and change is abhorrent. Whilst the hierarchy debates the implications and plans for the integration, considerable time and energy will be redirected from the teaching capacity. Children will inevitably see the system wobble for a while.
The greatest concern is the effectiveness of the changes. Past performance is not encouraging. The gestation period for any measurement is one generation. Let us hope the group of children that act as the guinea pigs relish the outcome.
Alistair Owens keen2learn
