What do you think?  (you can edit this later)

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• Richard Taylor

  The education system is largely (at a government level) supply not demand driven. Politicians say that they want to give parents choice but the reality is that the choice is between McDonalds and KFC (and often not even that). The ideas that all schools should…  more

  The education system is largely (at a government level) supply not demand driven. Politicians say that they want to give parents choice but the reality is that the choice is between McDonalds and KFC (and often not even that).

  The ideas that all schools should be good and all kids should have equal access to a great school are nice goals but impossible to deliver, so instread we provide kids and parents with a system that is more child minding that educational. If you look at what a teacher and a child minder earns, the difference is about the minimum wage which simply underlines this point.

  Without being too rude what the hell does the idea of 'to lead out -take places', have to do in terms of education when the reality of existence is a key aspect of education is preparing young people to enter into the world of paid employment. If they do not have the basic hard and soft skills to work in small groups (as most employers are already SME's of less that 50 staff) in an internationally competitive economy then they and their countries will go backwards and or have significant social disruption.

  This nivarna type of educational ideology has direct parallels to the choices faced by post colonial countries like Singapore and Ghana faced who gained their independence from the UK in 1965 and 1957. Each country faced two fundamental political choices, the promotion of democratic freedom or economic development. Singapore chose economic development and Ghana political freedom. Today Singapore which has no natural resources but which focsed heavily on education has is the 17th wealthiest country (in terms of GDP), has sovereign invesrment fund worth £100m+ and outperforms the UK in the OECD PISA education tests (by a large margin). It has moved from being a dictatorship to being a reasonably toterant 'democracy' (at least by South East Asian standards). Ghana by comparision which is rich in natural resources and has had more opportunity for democratic freedom but is still a 3rd world country with substence agriculture accounting for 50% of GDP (even after the discovery of huge oil fields) and yet it invests heavily in educationwith this sector accounting for 28-40% of of the annual budget.
  
  If we want to build our countryeducation system around nice sounding ideas like to lead out, the UK within a generation will probably be a failed state (economically). A good example of this philosophy formed part of a recent story in a major national newspaper where a childs grandparents wrote to Chros Woodhead askin what they could do for their 10 year old grandson who after attending a Steinder school based on these principles cound neither read, write or do even basic maths.

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  Graham Stewart

  I don't want to see schools as being places that 'educate' kids for employment. I want to see them as places where education in its original meaning - i.e. to lead out - takes place. That's a completely different enterprise, of course, and we don't…  more

  I don't want to see schools as being places that 'educate' kids for employment. I want to see them as places where education in its original meaning - i.e. to lead out - takes place.

  That's a completely different enterprise, of course, and we don't have the political or socio-economic system in place to deal with it. We'd need a whole new central purpose for what a school is for.

  I also agree with Euan.

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  Paul Miller

  Part of the problem is the time lag between kids being at school and when they're actually going to be working. It's incredibly difficult for schools or Government to predict what skills or knowledge will be relevant in 10 years time. The only way around…  more

  Part of the problem is the time lag between kids being at school and when they're actually going to be working. It's incredibly difficult for schools or Government to predict what skills or knowledge will be relevant in 10 years time. The only way around it I can see is to give kids access to an incredibly flexible learning system that carries on being useful well after they're beyond 'school age'.

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  Ewan McIntosh

  I reckon there are plenty of examples of those skills required being gained in schools, but whether students have any examples they could offer in a job interview is another thing. We're probably not getting enough 'explicit' recognition on the part of the student of…  more

  I reckon there are plenty of examples of those skills required being gained in schools, but whether students have any examples they could offer in a job interview is another thing. We're probably not getting enough 'explicit' recognition on the part of the student of what exactly it is they are learning at school. That's why kids' answer to "how was school today" is always: "fine".

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• Paul Birch

  The education system seems to at its heart still be focussed on delivering kids into the next stage of traditional eduction - ie University. Employer's like the ability of exams to filter the out the 'academically challenged'. But they don't like much else about it…  more

  The education system seems to at its heart still be focussed on delivering kids into the next stage of traditional eduction - ie University. Employer's like the ability of exams to filter the out the 'academically challenged'. But they don't like much else about it !

  Educators seem to pay lip service to listening to the employer community. I have been told that educators don't feel it is within their 'gift' to deliver on providing to kids the things that employer's actually want. I think this means that such skills are delivered via a kid's parents and social peer group.

  For a great list of what employer's are actually seeking - http://www.lboro.ac.uk/service/careers/section/apps_ints/apps_skills.html#

  Educational establishments being institutions it seems unlikely much will change anytime soon. For me the biggest move to meet employer's needs will come from new opportunities offered to kids out of school. Ultimately there appears to be a business opportunity here ! What are those opportunities?

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  Euan Semple

  I reckon that like most other institutions these days schools will eventually come under pressure from people's increased ability to do things for themselves.

  I reckon that like most other institutions these days schools will eventually come under pressure from people's increased ability to do things for themselves.

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  Geoff Jones

  Didn't think it was the schools job to provide employer fodder! I always thought it was to provide education and basic abilities for life in what ever form from academic to manual dexterity

  Didn't think it was the schools job to provide employer fodder! I always thought it was to provide education and basic abilities for life in what ever form from academic to manual dexterity

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  Judy Peritz

  I don't think it's the schools place to deliver kids the skills employers want. These skills are constantly evolving. Schools should help kids know how to assess what skills they need and then provide enough know how to be able to acquire the appropriate skills.…  more

  I don't think it's the schools place to deliver kids the skills employers want. These skills are constantly evolving. Schools should help kids know how to assess what skills they need and then provide enough know how to be able to acquire the appropriate skills. Schools are after all meant to socialise people. Although, in the last few years (maybe decades) schools have become babysitters rather than educators.

  Britain also has an interesting approach to schools as it works on a two tier basis, school for the masses and school for the privileged few that belong to the elite clubs. I am not too sure how this works in this day and age.

  Schools should expose kids, challenge them and develop their critical thinking skills. Schools can do this on the intellectual level as well as the physical level trying to develop the whole person as much as possible. But remember one thing, none of this works if we, as adults, as parents are not involved.

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