What would you add to National Curriculum ?

Isn't it funny how everyone thinks they are an expert about teaching and education. How can you post about what you want to see extra unless you know all the subject areas? And citizenship is already taught
In England, citizenship is a statutory National Curriculum foundation subject in secondary schools. The citizenship programmes of study set out what schools must address in their citizenship teaching. The GCSE Citizenship Studies also contains core content that should be addressed in teaching and preparing students for this qualification. GCSE Citizenship Studies is available from the three Awarding Organisations AQA, Edexel and OCR.

Delighted to hear that citizenship is being taught. Is it the same as the UK citizenship test? Eg I am amazed by how many young people don't understand the difference between local and general elections. I work in a library and by 2.30 we are inundated by children from the local high schools and not one of them is actually doing any studying or reading of any description. It is warm and dry and we usually chuck them out for causing mayhem.

I went to a girls grammar school (eleven plus in those days). Our spinster headteacher, a real "Prime of Miss Jean Brodie " type. We were all expected to go to university or teacher training college or a similar well regarded profession BUT domestic science was still seriously taught. Even highly intelligent professional women had to know how to cook and eat well!

Classical music appreciation. Many younger people are woefully ignorant about it.

Art history, including architecture.

We don’t question the teaching of literature, but art and music are just as important.

Speech training. I don’t mean elocution exactly, but just how to use the voice properly and speak clearly. I listen in despair to some young people and wonder how they will ever get a good job with almost unintelligible speech.

First aid, makaton, life skills, manners.

Lizbethann My school didn't even have kitchens for teaching cookery, so none of us learnt. My mother was an appalling cook too. Nevertheless, I learnt how to cook and, even though I say so myself, I'm pretty good at it. Sorry, but I'm so glad I spent my time at secondary school learning academic subjects.

Sadly the young people that need the most guidance are the ones that do not get support at home.
These are the children that need the extra curricular lessons such as etiquette etc.

As a retired teacher, I believe that psychology, public speaking, politics and child development would be useful subjects.

So many just don't have a clue how society works, what makes others tick and how they develop. Most will vote and be parents one day - still in blissful ignorance.

I don't believe that etiquettes should be taught as a separate subject. For a start, most children wouldn't take any notice of being told explicitly how to behave. There seems to be an assumption that teaching is the same as learning. Anybody who knows anything about teenagers realises that they're more likely to rebel, if told to do something by people they don't respect.

It is far more important that everybody within the school, including staff, shows good manners, leads by example and gently reminds those who don't. Once an ethos of politeness is established, the vast majority of pupils will conform.

I wonder if theres a way to do the same for the older section of society. Not making sweeping assumptions about young people maybe

Goodness, sewing on buttons? I think it’s up to parents to teach basic skills, and from my experience most do, and show their children how to cook, too, far better than I could. Teaching basic skills to all children would be taking a sledgehammer to crack a walnut. Schools should teach academic subjects, but the curriculum should be broader, and all children should have the opportunity to learn music and other arts, and not drop arts subjects before GCSEs. I also think homework should be banned until children are in year nine, formal education shouldn’t start until age seven, and infant school (KS1) children should have a shorter day, with more emphasis on play. However, this would require a commitment to providing affordable childcare with qualified practitioners for working parents.

I wish we had a system whereby education was left in the hands of those with experience of working in that field. Where government ministers, Mr Gove springs to mind instantly, just but out.

If a child isn't reading by seven, there will be difficulties the teachers in his/her primary school can identify. Maybe a specific ld like dyslexia or maybe the child's home circumstances prevent learning.
Good posts from trisher and DoraMarr.

Reality, you have have a skill that someone else is willing to pay for. When you leave school how are you going to live and pay the rent, realistic career based education needs to be reinvented.

David true up to a point, but what careers will be available in the future, and what skills will be needed? I had an academic education, but my IT skills, for instance, after only five years out of employment, are out of date. Creativity and flexibility are important as jobs change and today’s youngsters may have to change careers during their working life. Learning how to learn, to make links between disparate subjects, to process information and select that which is relevant ( meta learning) is crucial. We are also more aware of how creativity and mindfulness can contribute to better mental health.

There were three girls on Woman's Hour last week campaigning for lessons in self-defence. They certainly had a point. It could be included in PE at any stage. As should any form of team sports - if properly guided, surely a good game of football, hockey, netball, basketball or the like would surely cultivate the "teamwork" so often required in job descriptions. And, of course, the joy of producing something as a team that you get from singing in a choir, playing in an orchestra or band.

“It is far more important that everybody within the school, including staff, shows good manners, leads by example and gently reminds those who don't. Once an ethos of politeness is established, the vast majority of pupils will conform.”

Hear hear. You can’t “teach” politeness and rather a waste of time to be honest. lead by example is best. I once had a very recalcitrant student to deal with and decided to be so incredibly polite and charming to him that he had nothing to fight against. Job done.

The majority of the things mentioned are all taught in schools.

What school leavers don’t realize is that they have to learn a skill, it doesn’t matter what it is, clerical, engineer, bricklayer or accountant. Whatever they choose they will be starting at the bottom and will have to do whatever they are asked and if they do not give satisfaction they will get sacked.

All through school they have new experiences but learn nothing in depth and there are no consequences if they don’t, that is going to change, it’s going to get serious. Academic children are easy to teach it’s motivating the less academic that there is a good future for them that is not being done.

Secondary schools fail to address the needs of the children that are not academic, friends of mine find it impossible to find young people to train as apprentices, two are carpenters, one a large garage, one an electrician. They all try, but after a week or two the young person looses interest and drifts off.

They are just not willing to accept the routine of turning up on time and doing something useful.

should be taught basic cookery, basic needlework, how to sew on a button mend a hem instead of throwing clothes away, basic economics, how to shop for food and clothes, how to budget, claim benefits, open a bank account and refuse a credit card and loan,

Arggh JackyB my idea of a nightmare curriculum. Team sports, having to perform in a group. I’d definitely have become a school refuser! The little I had to do in that regard was more than enough.

That’s one of the problems. People who love something think that everyone else should do it too. Hooray for my school that made sure we could read, write and and understand maths and then let us choose what suited and interested us.

Good manners, basic cookery and budgetting!

interesting. so many of the comments suggest things that my parents taught me and i taught to my kids. manners, washing clothes, cooking, sewing, being articulate, love of reading, etc. perhaps a course on how to be a good parent might be best and incorporate all and more of these things!

I would suggest ways to increase self esteem, coupled with the practice of self compassion and compassion for others. The great thing about compassion, is that it is rewarded with the release of the happiness hormone oxytocin, whether giving or receiving compassion. What's not to love..?

I would make compulsory cookery lessons for everyone including where food comes from. I worked in a nursery 10 years ago where we would regularly make simple cakes, buns etc with the children. Many of the staff had never made cakes and did not know where to start. Many are now married with children presumably still not cooking/baking. I would also include politics, how our government and especially the EU works.

Useful foreign languages.
French may be the language most widely taught, but quite honestly, other languages should have more priority. French is useful if you go to France but its usefulness is limited now.

Mandarin, Spanish, Japanese and German.
At least two should be compulsory subjects.