We believe we need to revolutionise the education system to include more practical and vocational learning. In today's job market it's skills that count. Tell us how you would improve the way young people learn and what they learn.
Posted by: charles beamish | 25.05.2009 11:43am
The practical skills I learned at school I still use. The reason is simple. I was at school in the 1940-50s. A Secondary Modern at that time, which meant I was not allowed to take any kind of examination. However, I was fortunate in being taught metalwork by a fully qualified fitter and turner, who taught nothing else. So we learned practical skills and actually made useful objects: a screwdriver, cold chisel, tinplate tray, brass toasting fork, soldering iron, poker, mechanics square, bull-plane and eventually a drill brace (like the Stanley brace, with pinions). This followed on from technical drawing and producing blueprints that we would use. So I learned to forge, braze, solder, turn metal and wood on a lathe, cut screw threads, drill, saw, file etc. Later, as a radar fitter in the RAF I used those skills, and still use them in my DIY.
Boys especially cannot sit at a desk all day but need to use their hands. But they have to be taught by men with real skills, so there is a real need to recruit engineers, and also to not only make full use of workshops but have the students make real things. We must get away from the Blue Peter attitude of sticky-back plastic and bits of card and use real materials, getting young people to appreciate the feel and smell of metals and woods.
Charles
Hands on Learning
Posted by: Ann Cook | 16.03.2010 02:03pm
As a teaching assistant I watch many boys struggle in class. A good number of students leave Primary School unable to read and have very low reading ages so lessons are not accessible to them. They disrupt as a result. Firstly we need to improve reading as early as possible. In year7 if it isa problem it needs to be tackled because by yr 11 we've lost them. Boys need practical subjects such as carpentry, car maintence and plumbing. They need to use up surplus energy as well! Our country needs plumbers, builders and electricians so why not get the boys interested while at school and get across the value of reading and Maths. My school is home to the Horizon Project which has installed machinery in our tech block - this machinery was there many years ago when I was school nurse. Education changed and the machines were removed. So much constant change does not benefit children or teachers and in the end we seem to go back to the old ways as if something new has been discovered!
Posted by: Edge | 29.06.2009 09:47am
Charles
This is a very valid point, in a survey just run for an Edge Learner Forum project, The Youth Commission, practical learning was the clear favourite. Aprenticeships are being brought in to give young people who learn best practically the real experience to stand them in stead for the workplace. However there have been some issues around apprenticeships that we have found through workshops including whether the theory work for them is relavant to the practical work and how well paid they are. Do you think that apprenticeships will adequately fill this practical learning void that young people feel is present currently?