I had a great chat with a class at Northcote Intermediate recently and thought I would share some of their insightful ideas with you.
Firstly, we had a bit of a talk about some current ‘push factors’ on education, that people talk lots about at the moment – technology, wicked problems, changes in the job landscape etc. Following this, the class got into groups and had a good discussion about what this means for schools – what should they do to prepare the students of today for life? What should change and what should remain the same?
Here are their ideas, in no particular order:
- Teach science.
- Up skill us to get into jobs where we can find new planets.
- Lower the cost of education.
- Learn the right things to match the jobs we want (here we had a bit of a debate about when it is best to move from a broad education to more specialisation).
- Learn about sustainability.
- Learn history so we can apply this in the future.
- Have the opportunity to apply new learning.
- Learn from the teacher, not just the internet.
- Have supportive teachers.
- Learn about robotics, computers and technology.
- Learn the basics of reading, writing and maths.
- Have more of a focus on careers counseling.
- Don’t forget PE!
- Have a focus on health.
- Learn time management.
- Become good questioners.
- Learn patience.
- Have more choice.
- More of a focus on students’ passions.
- Learn practical skills like cooking.
- Don’t just focus on the academic. The social aspect of school is important too.
- Learn social studies.
Thanks to the class at Northcote Intermediate for all your great ideas. It is so useful for us adults to hear kids’ perspectives on these things.