Whither primary/basic education

Originally posted by alonso: ↑

Britain's not new Labour society looks like it will be the petrie dish for yet more fine tuning of education. Will it be a return to the future with more rigorous teaching and testing of foundational skills in language & maths or will it be a "chill out can't you" approach.

So will it be: Ministers are facing pressure to make the compulsory basic maths checks in Year Four optional as they can be a “waste of time”.The most difficult grammar questions would also be removed from year six SATs, under the ideas.

Or will it be: "All the evidence is that children knowing their times tables by heart is an essential precondition for more sophisticated mathematics, particularly things like simplifying equations and algebra. “It would be a huge mistake to abolish a very simple computer-based test which actually children enjoy doing.”

And this debate is going on or will be replicated in most countries that consider themselves advanced. Is it back to the future or forward to the past?

Maybe a boring question but certainly a potentially crucial one, more important, say, than "are you L?T?B?Q? or ? another option of your choice.

https://dailysceptic.org/2024/09/01/unions-demand-tests-on-times-tables-and-grammar-are-scaled-back/

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intersting post alonso.... education assessment is quite contentious in Britain as it is here in Aus.

indeed basics need to be effectively taught. the methods of teaching used have improve enormously since we were kids.

but also there are many subjects that are vital in todays society that were missed out in our day. one of the key subjects that were introduced by Gillard was ethics, critical thinking. this taught kids to question the validity of what they're told. and to understand when explanations satisfy all doubts then the questions are resolved.

but Abbott trashed that as soon as he could and reverted to "religious instruction", a subject which teaches kids to simply accept the most ludicrous proposition without question.

talk about retrograde.

but why hasn't @moondoong. told you that is is not the right forum for posts related to other countries? ahashhe....