Some sensible maths ideas from Labour

Grantanow

Labour should avoid micromanaging the school curriculum. Governments should have an arm's length attitude to the schools - their job is to fund education, not to second guess qualified teachers.

I agree. A 'one size fits all' approach to education is never going to work.

Labour should avoid micromanaging the school curriculum. Governments should have an arm's length attitude to the schools - their job is to fund education, not to second guess qualified teachers.

Mojack26

Scottish curriculum is not like this

Not like what?

No fronted adverbials, no ‘disconnected’ maths, or something altogether different?

maddyone is right. Of all the subjects taught, PHSE is the one that is updated the most often in order to adjust to current times. Without digging out all the literature on this, in short, the emphasis is very much on enabling pupils to play a confident and informed role in society. This year's updated inspection courses have very much concentrated on welfare and economic worth.

M0nica

I think all these life skills subjects taught in schools, should be gathered together into one subject area called 'Life Skills'.

It can incorporate human biology sex education, which link in with good nutrition and cooking,which link in with budgeting and finance, which link in with saving short term and long, such as saving for a pension, which links in with how banks and mortgages work, which links in with housing options, which links with running a house and having children and basic child care/psychology, which links in with human biology and sex education.

There’s already a module on life skills taught in schools. It’s called PHSE and has been part of the curriculum for years, taught from Early Years upwards. However what it should include is a matter for debate, and more and more areas are dumped into it, leaving less time for the teaching of other subjects.

Scottish curriculum is not like this

I managed to get my degree which included English lit,without knowing what a FA is. Can't help thinking that reading good quality literature, doesn't have to be the classics, would help children in their writing
I remember in French lessons, which I only did til O level, learning the construction Apres Avoir, and apres etre, and having to use the construction in every composition. You got it in near the beginning, to get it out of the way.. Didn't prove the quality of our writing but it guaranteed a better mark

Yippee!! Now I know what a "fronted adverbial" is! Thanks to those who have explained it!
What defeated me a few years ago was when I heard Nursery School pupils talking about "phonemes". I discovered once I started learning Classical Greek. Obviously my education has been sorely neglected as the word apparently came into use well over 100 years ago!

Years ago I made a circular tablecloth and went to our local John Lewis ... before it closed down .. to buy some lace for the edge. I thought I would double check the length I needed with the young assistant saying I was multiplying the diameter by 22 and dividing by 7 (pi). Goodness she said that's what that was all about at school!

I remember taking my English language ‘O’ level in 1963 attaining a ‘A’ pass. I have still never heard of a ‘fronted adverbial’!

When my children were in primary school I went in regularly to listen to the children read. I got to know their teachers well and one of my daughter's teachers told me that they were no longer supposed to teach times tables but she thought it was important so she did it anyway. I don't know if that was commonplace but she was an older teacher so maybe had the confidence to stick to what she thought was best and not be dictated to. I wouldn't want to be without my knowledge of times tables learned by rote. If it has been reintroduced I'm glad.

ordinarygirl

I remember years ago when I used to have the Bunty annual at Xmas, that there was a story about a temporary teacher looking after fairground kids. They had no interest in maths. She changed the way she taught so that the kids weighed the circus animals and how they were fed. The kids learnt proportions etc. If you make maths relevant then people will learn. So get kids to look at doubling recipes, working out how to buy a carpet , or create a sports ground etc.

It’s a good idea to make it relevant. I like your examples. ( the doubling recipes already exists even at KS1)
The cost of clothes and cost of replacing them when you’ve lost them (including a % increase).
The cost of a shopping basket of foods that they like.
My most popular lesson was weighing and measuring antique swords and guns. How long would your legs have to be to wear a sword without it dragging on the floor?
How much would you need to grow before you were taller than a Brown Bess?
How far apart must the front benches in Parliament be to allow 2 sword lengths between them?
It’s not so easy making it attractive to a class of mixed ability children though. Children, especially those with ASC often have very specific interests, which don’t all match.

Fronted adverbial sounds like what my grandmother would have politely called her "front bottom" at the GPs!!

M0nica

In my province in Canada, much of this IS taught in school - in a course entitled Career and Life Management (CALM). It's usually taken in Grade 10 or Grade 11 - so 1-2 years before a student would finish school (here in my province students finish school in Grade 12 at 17-18 years old). This course focuses on things such as budgeting, moving out, personal relationships (although not necessarily intimate ones), and finding a job. When I was a CALM student I was fortunate to have a very good teacher and he required us to do assignments such as contact a funeral home and find out what it would cost to have a funeral, including purchasing a coffin/casket, etc., and also to contact an insurance agency and find out what it would cost to insure your dream car.

I do not know if it's still included, but my Grade 11 math class included a unit on personal finance. We learned things such as how a mortgage payment is calculated, how employment insurance and Canada pension plan deductions are calculated (these are mandatory deductions from earnings in Canada), and how income tax is calculated, and even how property tax is calculated. (In Canada taxes are handled differently than in the UK. Your employer withholds the deductions from your paycheck, but then at the end of the year you have to file your own taxes. Your employer provides you with a T4 form and you might also have additional forms, such as if you're in college/university. You can file taxes through an accountant, a tax preparation service, tax preparation software which is how we do it, or by printing and filing the forms yourself.)

Mind you, I took the academic math course (as opposed to the non-academic math which is easier) and this was still a part of it!

Hetty58 😃 I worked in the evenings in a pub

A pint of bitter 2s 4d
Babycham 1s 9d
A packet of ciggies 4s 11d
Bag of crisps 6d

Or thereabouts!

I did English A level, taught Literacy - but never heard of a 'fronted adverbial'. I must admit, it sounded rude to me - but that's just my gutter brain I expect.

grannysyb, I went into a small shop and picked up a drink and some crisps. The girl said she couldn't serve me - as the till wasn't working.

I had to write down the costs, explain my adding, show her how to check the total (by subtracting one amount) - then pay her the exact amount in cash.

She carefully put the money and my sum in a little plastic bag, to check it later. It struck me that, around her age, when at college, I had a part-time job in a pub, using mental arithmetic to add the cost of a round of drinks, packet of fags and some snacks.

I remember years ago when I used to have the Bunty annual at Xmas, that there was a story about a temporary teacher looking after fairground kids. They had no interest in maths. She changed the way she taught so that the kids weighed the circus animals and how they were fed. The kids learnt proportions etc. If you make maths relevant then people will learn. So get kids to look at doubling recipes, working out how to buy a carpet , or create a sports ground etc.

You knew it, you used them, you just didn’t need to label them.

I was taught grammar at school and also did A level English but never heard of a fronted adverb before, just had to look it up - now I know.

English at Uni, MA, lots of published books - and I had to remind my self what a fronted adverbial is. Can't say the knowledge is any use to me, which is probably why I've forgotten it!

M0nica

I think all these life skills subjects taught in schools, should be gathered together into one subject area called 'Life Skills'.

It can incorporate human biology sex education, which link in with good nutrition and cooking,which link in with budgeting and finance, which link in with saving short term and long, such as saving for a pension, which links in with how banks and mortgages work, which links in with housing options, which links with running a house and having children and basic child care/psychology, which links in with human biology and sex education.

Your idea is fine, but for it to be put into effect you would first need at total revision of how student teachers are taught to teach.

Since the 1970s Danish schools have tried to do what you suggest, but it always fails because to teach a course of the kind you indicate, you would need a maths teacher, a biology teacher and a domestic science teacher sharing the course, either taking lessons in turn, or better still, all three present all the time.

This is not possible due to the way school timetables are written and have to take into account not only how many lessons in each subject children at each level of education receive annually, but how many hours a year their teachers are in the classroom and how many doing other parts of their jobs, such as correcting work, preparing classes, monitering break or invigilating exams.

We were never able to implement a basic grammer course for all pupils doing foreign languages as well as their native language, due to the problems I have mentioned.

And no one teacher is at all likely to be competent to teach all these skills.

The way forward is obviously to include financial training and dealing with taxes in maths, teach cookery in conjunction with a biology teacher and have someone well versed in ethics supplement the biology lessons on human reproduction with teaching of the ethical and moral side of all human relationships.

By Jove, she has got it!

My adopted granddaughter effectively missed the first two years of school during the pandemic whilst in care. We've got her up to speed in reading but not in maths. They do seem to do maths in a very complicated way now, and no tables. My husband is teaching her tables and it seems to be helping.
The complicated grammar seems completely unnecessary, there are so many other important things to learn. Of course I can see the point in learning the basics.
I did maths to A level and beyond and perhaps see more use in doing algebra or trigonometry than other posters do, though for some it will not be useful.

What is often missing is the 'why

Agreement from another retired English teacher. Language is power; therefore teaching children how to use language effectively is empowering. However, there’s little point in children just being able to spot a fronted adverbial without an understanding of its power in the phrase / sentence.