14 DAY TRIAL // A newly-completed report, compiled by Sir Jim Rose, a former senior Ofsted inspector, says that the UK school system could do with a complete overhaul, especially in key areas such as the make-up of the national curriculum. The official says that the schools should stop putting so much pressure on kids accumulating vast knowledge, and that they should focus a bit more on how the children will be equipped to handle the world outside after they finish their studies.
Sir Rose says that children these days are not very well-thought on how to take on the world outside since school years. This translates into the fact that these young adults will have great difficulties in getting a job, or in keeping one, while, at the same time, fitting in among other similar individuals. The inspector says that social skills are also a must-have in the new curriculum, considering the large number of British teens who have anti-social behaviors.
"Good primary teaching deepens and widens children's understanding by firing their imagination and interest in learning. One highly promising route to meeting the demand for in-depth teaching and learning is undoubtedly emerging through ICT," says Sir Jim Rose, in his preliminary report. He argues that ICT (information, communication and technology) notions that are now taught in secondary school should be inserted in the curriculum for primary school.
"The primary curriculum needs to be forward-looking. Advances in technology and the Internet revolution are driving a pace of change which we could not have imagined when the national curriculum was introduced 20 years ago. Parents of our generation probably don't realize, for example, how fast children are picking up computer skills today. We need 21st Century schools which make the most of the opportunities technology offers our computer-savvy youngsters," he adds.