What will your child find on her desk when she returns to school in September?
Michael Gove, education secretary, recently published guidelines for a new curriculum that aims to bring the British school system up to date.
The proposals are far-reaching, covering most academic subjects from primary up to secondary school.
A major push to modernize comes in area of technology. Children as young as five will be taught simple computer programming, with an emphasis on Internet privacy (passwords, etc.). 3D printers will be found in all design and tech classes.
Key math skills will be brought forward a few years. Five-year-olds will grapple with fractions, and nine-year-olds will learn their multiplication tables 3 years ahead of when their older siblings did.
In English, kids in Years 1 and 2 will need to recite poetry by heart. By the end of primary, they should be able to spell 200 difficult words.
Take a look at a summary of the proposal here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/jul/08/michael-gove-education-curriculum-fractions
What do you think? Missing the mark or right on target?
—
Sarah Forrest is a Reading Solutions Consultant for Morgan Learning, an organization that helps match struggling readers with the right solutions for their specific areas of difficulty. Morgan Learning specializes in helping highly visual learners and children with dyslexia, auditory processing disorders, and other language-related challenges. Sign up for a consultation at www.morganlearning.com.
