Music, drama, art, dance, health and social care - are they on the way out?
Discussion in 'Secondary' started by keyboard2, Dec 9, 2010.
As a consequence of Gove's new government, are these subjects becoming redundant in the near future? Are they pointless now?
The students are going to have only one free option choice in future. So out completely? Nope, but significantly marginalised? I would guess so.
I wouldn't be quite that negative. With the exception of health and social care, they will still be taught at KS3, and at KS4, pupils only need English, maths, science x 2, a language and a humanity for the new Bacc. That's only 6 subjects, and most pupils tend to do around 9 or 10 GCSEs, so that still leaves 3 or 4 subjects for them to choose from. There's also the fact that pupils only get the Bacc if they get Cs or above, so for students who will never get this, schools won't really have an incentive to push them to do it and they might still do less academic subjects instead.
English lit, RE and technology are also compulsory in some schools, taking your 6 to 9. Which leave one free option, just like I got at secondary school.
Yeah, it just depends on the school. I had 3 options, but none of them were free- one had to be a technology, one a humanity and one an expressive art. The school made the option choices much more free a few years later though, so I'm not sure how common it is to be so restrictive nowadays. I think English lit at least is probably still compulsory in most schools.
There's also the fact that pupils only get the Bacc if they get Cs or above, so for students who will never get this, schools won't really have an incentive to push them to do it and they might still do less academic subjects instead.
(I was thinking about media, photography, btec business and btec pe and most definitely btec science as the subjects with good value added at our place). but a colleague is of the opinion that ALL students will have to d the English bacc set off subjects. I'm not happy about this. A student who enjoys art and drama and is academic should be allowed to take art and drama, or music and drama? Surely?
I think all of the subjects mentioned have a place BUT BUT BUT when pupils have mastered basic skills in numeracy and literacy.
Once pupils have completed a nationally recognised EXTERNAL assessment of their ability their timetable should allow for some alternative education.
I have year 8s who have 3 hours of maths a week and have more in terms of the fluffy subject hours (I think its 4-5 a week)...I would be fine with it but many cannot do basic numeracy or literacy problems...why are they being taught all the 'creative' aspects when they have no basic skills.....yes some may make it into the fluffy world but realistically how many is that?
After school and lunch clubs would be open to such pupils.
Some pupils will NEVER be able to understand even basic maths and English. You can give them 20 lessons per week and they still won't use capital letters or be able to multiply numbers. It is a foolish policy to lumber these kids with an ever-increasing amount of maths and English. Other options at least afford them the chance to succeed at something.
I bumped into an ex-pupil a few months ago. When he was at school (in my form) he was barely able to write a sentence. The school increased the amount of English lessons in his timetable and removed one of his option subjects (resistant materials). Then they made him do extra English classes at other times too. He failed English GCSE (and hated school). When I met him again he told me what he was now doing: He's a joiner and has regular work. Why couldn't my school have helped him with that?
Thankfully my school's approach to these kind of pupils has now changed and the curriculum is more suitable.
Some pupils will NEVER be able to understand even basic maths and English.
A rough figure, nothing concrete.
Are you asking me to guess?
Sorry, I should have been clearer in my original post. What I meant was that students who aren't suited to the bacc might still end up taking less academic qualifications, eg BTECs, rather than GCSEs. Besides, just because something is less academic doesn't mean it's not as good, just different. Sorry if I offended you.
No, I am asking you to quantify your statement as I would like to know what % of pupils in mainstream fit into the bracket you have outlined.
What % do you believe you would be a ball park figure?
Hi All, thought you might like to know that one of my A2 students who achieved a Grade C in H&SC and took a year off is now trying to get a place at Uni. For some reason she rang her Uni of choice for advice on courses they offer and they told her to use one of her other 'A' Levels not H&SC...to apply for courses. Their reasoning was that in a few years they didn't expect H&SC to exist... this was a hurried exchange as my student called to see me in the midst of a school day. I will ring her back and try to get more details but I was reading this post and thought it offered food for thought! The places for nursing are drastically reduced this year and our local nursing and midwifery college has closed down.
However, we still have more than two classes of students choosing H&SC... so that's three years of teaching but I wonder if H&SC will be able to go further? I thought we had a shortage of social workers... perhaps it's back to the pathways/ routes before H&SC existed... what do you all think?