A New Curriculum for a Conceptual Age!

Estelle Morris is right in the Guardian today that we need a curriculum for the future not the past. Every child needs to be taught what it takes to succeed but there is a profound gap between what most young people learn in school and what they need to become brilliant learners...

Surely, any revision of the National Curriculum must focus on the essential skills that our children need to succeed and reach their potential. Of course we need literacy, numeracy, functional and life skills, but increasingly we face a series of challenges that require us to look carefully at the other skills we all need in this new conceptual age. Dan Pink in his book 'A Whole New Mind' suggests that we need to focus on the following six key skills... design, story, empathy, symphony, play and meaning and our schools must re-imagine their classroom environments and their teaching and learning strategies accordingly. We face a wonderful opportunity to step forward into a curriculum for a new age. Let's make sure we don't step backwards instead!

Chris